Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of NWT Housing. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if, to start, the Minister can let the House know how or what portion of arrears, rather, are held by elders? Thank you
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question as well too, and I just wanted to just speak about our policy review that we are doing now, and I want to make this a priority when we are reviewing and considering the changes.
Right now, we don't have a database that separates those details. It's just mainly looking at arrears as a whole. I would have to get back to the Member with that information, specifically for arrears for seniors. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll be honest, I'm hoping that the information can be provided to the people of the Northwest Territories and not just myself. The principles of arrears collections states that arrears should be forgiven where collection is not possible but elders, not working and without income, are still expected to repay their public housing arrears. So I'm wondering without knowing how many of their residents are elders, how does NWT Housing or Housing NWT, sorry, determine if repayment is not possible from their clients? Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our main goal is to be working closely with the clients as best as possible for their current situation. In public housing, rent payments are calculated based on the Canada Revenue Agency information that is provided annually. Tenants at that to determine the tenant's income level. But I also want to include that the rent calculation is at 4 percent of their gross income, and the maximum rent is 19 percent of their gross income. Nationally, the standard is 30 percent. We are one of the lowest jurisdictions throughout Canada.
I also wanted to include that Housing NWT does follow the Financial Administration Act as well too, just for consideration if we are looking at forgivenesses or writeoff, we have to make sure that we are in accordance with the legislation and required approval from the Financial Management Board. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that calculation that the Minister was talking about was for rent, not for the repayment of arrears. And so currently in the Northwest Territories, we have elders, at the age of 87, paying over half of their monthly income towards their arrears and for their housing. So their combined amount that they're paying back to Housing NWT exceeds half of what they're bringing in. That means an elder living in a small community in the Northwest Territories is trying to pay for all the rest of their monthly expenses with less than $300. And by my calculation, from my trips to the grocery store recently, that's about three and a half bags of groceries for an entire month.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister also stated that Housing NWT works closely with their clients to figure out what works for them, and if an elder is paying that much money towards their arrears, then that's not working closely with our elders.
So, Mr. Speaker, given the policy change that occurred earlier in this Assembly, where it was prohibited for elders to be charged rent based on income of adult children living in their unit as a means to prevent elder abuse, does Housing NWT intend to address the arrears that were accumulated by elders before the policy change that are still being held accountable for the arrears accumulated from the incomes that are not their own? Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question as well too that, you know, we are just in the middle right now of really working with our new mandate that we had published earlier this year as well, and I really appreciate the comments that are coming forward as well because it really drives the change on how it is that we're going to be looking at our programming and changing them as well too.
For the public housing tenants, they are encouraged to be going into the local housing authorities as well too, and moving to a monthtomonth rent assessment as well and looking at the work that is done with the local housing authorities that we are we will be working more closely with our tenants so we could flag those issues and being able to provide more opportunity for the rent calculations and also for collecting of the arrears. This is something I would like to bring back to the department as well too and really look at those numbers that we actually do have that are outstanding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, currently 487 former tenants of Housing NWT, and I'd like to point out that only 51 are from Yellowknife, so over 400 former tenants of Housing NWT currently owe about $7.8 million in arrears owed to Housing NWT. These tenants are unable to put their names on waitlists for public housing, and they live in public housing dominated communities. They're unable to access homeownership programs or home repair programs.
How does Housing NWT plan to address these arrears, given the reliance of many communities on Housing NWT public housing and programs, and is there a mechanism where residents can again gain access to these programs while they are still working at paying down their arrears? Thank you
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing NWT does allow applicants with rental arrears to be on the waitlist if they provide a repayment agreement in place to follow up with their application that they are submitting. For private homeowners, Mr. Speaker, homeowners in zone B and C in communities with mortgage arrears are still able to access our repair programs. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
I'll ask more if you let me.
Oral questions. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
