Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week, Cabinet announced the transfer of public housing and rental subsidy from Education, Culture and Employment back to the NWT Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with the decision.
I know many of my colleagues support this transfer. Since public rental subsidy moved to Income Support, there has been a disconnect between the rental subsidy and the local housing organizations. A gap was caused when subsidized rent changed to market rent. The market rent and the gap wasn’t something the client did, but was caused by the lack of communication between ECE and the LHO. There were serious delays in getting rental subsidies to the people who rely on the program. These people had to contact two offices to accomplish one thing -- pay rent -- and the result was that many clients and LHOs developed arrears. Some people even got evicted because of this, Mr. Speaker, and the rigid policies that surrounded the record of assessment.
Mr. Speaker, the arrears that people developed since the transfer of the program in 2007 should be forgiven. Seventy-five percent of housing tenants do not receive income support. These tenants are now called income support clients, and a lot of people feel their dignity has been compromised. They fell into arrears that developed because of the administration problems created by the Government of the Northwest Territories. We should own up to this mistake, Mr. Speaker, and forgive the debt.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister told us he wants us to keep some of the improvements ECE tried to make when the program returns to the Housing Corporation. That might be a good idea, but when they sit down to review the policy, they should consider the people first, Mr. Speaker. The Cabinet should bring forward a bill to forgive all the arrears that are a result of the transfer in the 15th Assembly. Mr. Speaker, our people deserve a fresh start. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
