Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The present criteria used to award HAP units do not reflect the reality of the North. For example, if a couple are both working and making a little bit over the limit for qualification, they do not qualify. In most of the Eastern Arctic there are no real property communities, so the banks are reluctant to mortgage a private housing development because there is no real property. It is usually the persons who are not from the North who have qualifications to get into government housing, buy the government housing, and they also have qualification to get HAP units. whereas the long-time members of the community -- and if a wife and husband were both working, they do not qualify because they have to go by combined income.

Motion To Review Criteria Used For Awarding HAP Units, Carried

I move that the committee recommends to the NWT Housing Corporation that they review the present criteria used to award HAP units to ensure that it meets the needs of all residents; and further, that upon completion of this review, that the policy and any recommended amendments be brought before the Legislative Assembly for consideration.