Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement spoke of the lack of a preventative maintenance program at the LHO level. This could be for all LHOs in the Northwest Territories. Can the Housing Minister advise if there is such a program at the LHO level and who conducts these checks? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for their question.
As of today, the Housing NWT does fund $13 million annually for preventative maintenance and also $250,000 is offered to the local housing authorities for training. Housing does conduct the preventative maintenance program in place for all local housing organizations, and the checks are done annually. And we are also having a preventative maintenance managers meeting in the coming weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi to the Minister for that answer. But where I live I know for a fact that no servicing of heating appliances were done this year.
Mr. Speaker, I've been apprised that the Housing NWT headquarters in Yellowknife controls the purse strings of all LHOs. What is the relationship between headquarters and their LHOs in terms of budgets and surpluses? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And for the budgets that are established and that are worked on through the Northwest Territories, we do have a funding formula. But with the policy review that we are currently doing right now, that is under review as well, on how we do fund the local housing authorities as well, but we do also work very closely with the LHOs to determine whether they have a surplus. If they do have a surplus, we do identify operation and maintenance deficits and also surplus units and also further units that may have to be renovated. And also if there is a deficit as well too, headquarters work very closely with the local housing authorities to try to help them to get back on track as well. There is a lot of support provided from headquarters to the local housing authorities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that. It would have been interesting to ask for financial statements as to the surpluses that go back to headquarters because it may show a lack of a preventative maintenance program.
Mr. Speaker, I'm certain headquarters can determine if and when a preventative maintenance program is not being adhered to. Is there a reporting mechanism that is available to headquarters to determine if a preventative maintenance program is being followed at the LHO levels? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for the question. And I just wanted to just emphasize that when there is a surplus at the local housing authority level that headquarters does work with the local housing authority to spend that money that is there. Some LHOs do carry over a certain amount of funding but that does also provide them with a financial security should they be dealing with any floods, any freezups, or whatever that may happen over the coming months. But also headquarters does work very closely and monitors the preventative maintenance of our units as well too.
I just also wanted to just speak about the budget that we do have. We did get allocation of $60 million over two years from the federal government, and $30 million of that funding is going to be allocated and put towards home repair programs for or I mean, sorry, public housing repair programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and mahsi to the Minister for that.
Mr. Speaker, many of the heating units, whether they be furnace or boiler units, have ceramic firepots within to prevent burning a hole through the metal heating chamber from the burner. The state and condition of the firepot is extremely important as this will prevent carbon monoxide poisoning to residents. Tenants are not aware of how they can get carbon monoxide poisoning as there is no education material afforded to them. Tenants usually are alarmed when they spell diesel fumes which may not be related to the carbon monoxide. Will the Minister ensure tenants are made aware of how carbon monoxide occurs and if LHOs will install carbon monoxide detectors in the homes? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member as well too. And I just want to appreciate his work as well, that he did work with the local housing authority and also in his community and also with the technical questions as well. I'm not too familiar with the metal heating chamber and terms such as those. But I can assure you that we will be looking at the monitoring of carbon monoxide detectors within those public housing units, and I will follow up with the department to making sure that we do have them installed in our public housing units. Safety and health is a priority of mine as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
