Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister for Education, Culture and Employment. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask a bit about the policy or the rationale that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment income support division has with regard to transition housing.
My first question to the Minister is: Can he tell me what definition of transition housing is used by Education, Culture and Employment?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The Income Security Program assists with those individuals who are in need of basic subsidy. Part of the transitional housing obviously falls into that as well. We’re providing a shelter for those individuals who desperately need shelter in the Northwest Territories. It’s not only my department but we work closely with the NWT Housing Corporation to identify those areas. Those are just some of the subsidies that we continue to support those individuals who are in need.
Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t hear a definition in there so I guess I have to assume that the department does not have a definition of transition housing.
I’d like to know from the Minister, if they don’t have a definition of transition housing, is there a written policy that they use when they are determining whether or not somebody is in transition housing or not? Certainly, there are people who, in the city of Yellowknife, for instance, because of the almost monopoly that Northern Properties has on housing, if they’ve been banned from Northern Properties, if they have a family they can’t get into the Salvation Army, and if the YWCA is full they are left with no option but to use a motel.
I’d like to know from the Minister, is there a written policy that ECE uses for income support clients who are living in transition housing, and if so, what is that policy?
Through our Income Security Program, the Income Assistance program directs all individuals who are considered transient directly to an emergency shelter. That’s why we work very closely with the NWT Housing Corporation and NGOs to deal with these matters. Depending on the person’s circumstances, an individual’s family may become eligible for income assistance after their stay in an emergency shelter. There is food and shelter available through that venue.
But we, again, work with those NGOs and the Housing Corporation to assist those individual clientele as best as we can as a department through the Income Security Program. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. So, as I heard the Minister then, I have no home, I have two children and I need some place to stay and the Minister is telling me I have to go to an emergency shelter. So, I’d like to know – the YWCA is full, I’m not accepted at the Salvation Army because I have a family – what emergency shelter is there in the city of Yellowknife for me to go to? Thank you.
Mahsi. We’re dealing throughout the whole Northwest Territories, it’s not only Yellowknife. There are other shelters that we work with. Through the NWT Housing Corporation and my department, we find the best solutions that we possibly can for those individuals in an emergency state. If there are no emergency shelters, obviously we work with the Housing Corporation to identify a suitable accommodation on a short-term, temporary basis. We provide income assistance through that venue for how we can assist those individuals. It’s all based on a case-by-case basis and there are many parties involved, whether it be the Housing Corporation, my department and other NGOs within the communities. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister: I guess I have to say that I’m asking specifically about Yellowknife. This is my constituency; it’s my community. So, I’ve been blacklisted by the Housing Corp. I’ve been blacklisted by Northern Properties. There’s absolutely no place that I can get into except to go to a motel.
Why is it that it’s okay for income support clients to get assistance from the YWCA, which is transition housing, but it’s not okay for me to get assistance when I go to a motel because that’s the absolute only place where I can live? Thank you.
Mahsi. These are the very reasons why we transferred to NWT Housing Corporation to identify those 75 housing units throughout the Northwest Territories, and Yellowknife is a big factor in that. I believe there were 55 slated for Yellowknife.
These are just some of the areas that we’ve identified as core need and we need to work with it, with the various parties involved.
We’re doing what we can to the best of our ability as income security, along with our partners such as the NWT Housing Corporation and NGOs as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
