Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I stand today probably as the only voice for common sense to express my concern and opposition for the administration of the public housing where they’re going to switch it back from income support to the LHOs.
As we all know, there are challenges with any program, and when the government decided to switch the program over, the administration from Housing to ECE, it caused quite an uproar. Mr. Speaker, it also cost in the range of $1.5 million at that date to undertake that project. Mr. Speaker, now the government has announced, on page 14 of the budget address, that it will now be switching that back.
Amen.
I can only imagine what that will now cost.
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As you can see, the confusion continues. Mr. Speaker, we don’t have an endless pot of money, and I still think that the program initiative had foresight for the future as to what should really be going on. Mr. Speaker, ultimately our government should be supporting self-sufficiency and self-reliance, and having people go to one centre, a service centre of excellence to help people move forward on the initiatives that they need to get on their own feet was the best idea possible. It’s unusual for government to come up with a clear and simple idea that makes sense, and now they’re reversing it. That’s probably what happens here.
Mr. Speaker, communication, implementation and policy and programs became a confusing factor during this process, Mr. Speaker, I’ll tell you that happens in any program delivery of our system. Mr. Speaker, I can’t tell you about how much biasness I had heard at the start when people said that if they go to income support they’re getting welfare, but if they go to housing programs, it’s just assistance.
Mr. Speaker, a social subsidy program is simply a social subsidy program. It’s the label people chose to put on it, so there was a negative stigma at the very start. Mr. Speaker, I can appreciate the pain that it probably caused a lot of people by filling out one extra form and stopping in the program office to get their help but, Mr. Speaker, that wasn’t confusing. A one-stop-shop centre was the right way to go.
Mr. Speaker, as you can tell from the enthusiasm on this side of the House, that I’m the one voice in this regard, but, Mr. Speaker, I think this is a step backward and it’s going to cost this government more money wasted by switching it back. It had the right vision and the right direction at the time when they did this back in the last government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Mr. Speaker, I wasn’t ready to make a Member’s statement before until I heard Mr. Hawkins Member’s statement. Now I’m ready to make a Member’s statement.
---Laughter
I’m sure he was deafened by the sound of his own applause there, but…
---Laughter
...Mr. Speaker, he was the only one applauding, because I would like to thank the government for responding to the many requests…
Oooh!
...that were put forth by the Members on this side of the House in response to our constituents who told us of their concerns and their problems when this new practice came into place of having ECE manage the housing subsidy. There were problems. They were logistical problems, in some instances, where ECE and the housing authorities were not co-located and information needed to pass back and forth. We caused some great stress to seniors who were living in subsidized accommodation who, all of a sudden, got letters saying what the economic rent was going to be for their unit and they didn’t understand that they would continue to receive the subsidy. But I think we did the right thing as announced in the budget yesterday by Minister Miltenberger. I applaud the government for that, but we did do the wrong thing in transferring it over and I hope that any of the harm that was caused can be now reversed and mitigated by this decision to go back to the way that things were being done. I think that the LHOs did an excellent job of managing the housing subsidy.
When you have small northern communities where there is no market, people don’t have a choice to just go down the street like they would in Yellowknife or Hay River or Fort Smith and rent a place on the private market; it is not available. So, therefore, people are compelled to rent government units and their rent is assessed based on their income, and that is a very useful role that this government plays in those communities where we still do not have a private housing market. So to take all of those people who had no choice but to rent from the government and put them all, essentially, on income support and have their housing subsidy, which has been a traditional way of finding accommodation for them, putting them in that situation I think was not, I don’t want to overplay it, but I do not think it was a good way to approach things.
The realities in the North are different. The housing authorities, the NWT Housing Corporation did a very good job of managing that money. I know that Minister Dent at the time went off to some conference and thought this was a great idea to harmonize subsidies. However, it was not -- sorry, Mr. Dent, still talking about you – but, anyway, congratulations to the government, a good move. Thank you.
Oooh!
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The Member from Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
