Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Debates of May 15th, 1996
Topics
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Goo Arlooktoo Baffin South
Mr. Chairman, I have a problem in that we do not have such a program for senior citizens, unless you're talking about the rent scale; that a person over a certain age living in social housing will not pay rent, depending on what kind of income is in that household.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Anything further, Mr. Steen?
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Vince Steen Nunakput
Mr. Chairman, I don't have a copy of the programs available to people in the NWT, in front of me here, but I recall in the program book, a program available to seniors. It could be that it's now obsolete, but at one point in time that program was there. I believe it was suggested that anybody over 55 years of age was entitled to a certain program. Perhaps the Minister or his staff could supply me with that type of information on the side or whatever, or maybe I clarified it for him now that he can recognize what I'm talking about.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Goo Arlooktoo Baffin South
Mr. Chairman, we'll look into it and get back to the Member.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Steen.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Vince Steen Nunakput
One another overall comment or question, I notice in my communities that there are getting to be more and more abandoned Housing Corporation units, all boarded up and closed up. I'm not sure if the buildings are still heated or not. For some reason or other, there seems to be more and more of these buildings. I wonder if the Minister or his staff could clarify for me if this is related to the amount of money we receive for O and M for these buildings, or is it related to some type of agreement we have with CMHC and we cannot write them off. Why are these buildings sitting there, taking up lots that are much needed in the communities?
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Goo Arlooktoo Baffin South
Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure if I got the last bit, but it is true that we have the largest number of vacancies of social housing in the NWT and it's a very unusual and unique situation. In that community, I guess they've boarded them up and aren't using them.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. General comments. Mr. Steen.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Vince Steen Nunakput
Mr. Chairman, part of my point was that these buildings, if they're moth-balled, I'm not clear why they're moth-balled. There are two things here. If these buildings are moth-balled without heat and power that's one thing; but if we're still paying for heat in them, I would be concerned about that.
The other thing is, the lots in my community are very hard to come by and they are in very high demand, especially if you want to go into home ownership programs. Therefore, I was wondering if Housing has some plan to either demolish these buildings or put them to use so we can have those lots available to people who want to get into home ownership programs.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Goo Arlooktoo Baffin South
Mr. Chairman, as I said, the situation there is pretty much unique. There are a lot of other communities that use those houses. But there are a variety of reasons for that, so I will ask Mr. Nelson to explain a little bit further.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Nelson.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Nelson
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have been trying to deal with the vacancy issue in Tuktoyaktuk for some time now. I was in Tuk about two years ago and recognized some of the problems. One of the problems related to the housing being built in Reindeer Point, and lack of interest by some of the community people to actually move out there. And there were problems with bussing. We hopefully have resolved some of that.
There was an arrears problem with some of the clientele in the community, and I think we're slowly resolving that problem. If a client has arrears, they're not entitled to move into social housing. There was another factor which was the overall cost to renovate some of the houses which were in fairly poor shape.
The district in Inuvik is looking at the matter, and we are looking to try and come up with some way to either use those houses that are available to the maximum we can for the community, because we recognize there are still people in need there. Or, where it's not feasible to either renovate or rent those units, simply tear them down and have some freed-up lots for future construction.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. General comments. Mr. O'Brien.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Kevin O'Brien Kivallivik
My last question or comment before detail, if there's time? Regarding the community consultation process and also the housing survey, what are the dollars that are involved, the cost of carrying out these two major programs; the housing survey and the community consultation process?
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 403
Goo Arlooktoo Baffin South
Mr. Chairman, the way the housing needs survey is being planned now, it would be at a cost of approximately $250,000 to $300,000, which is about a third of what a similar one cost the last time around.
This one will be designed and done differently. The community consultation meetings, I believe, will be worth about $250,000 territorial-wide. These are to get LHOs together in the regions to get input from the communities on how they see the corporation going, and get their suggestions. This came about after the NWT Housing Corporation board was dismantled, then they went into the community consultation model.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 404
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Are there further general comments? Mr. Henry.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 404
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I see lots of reference here to homes and home ownership and so forth. I go back to the corporate plan, and I notice that there's an estimated shortfall of 300 homes a year. When you're talking homes, are you talking about single-family detached homes, or units?
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 404
Goo Arlooktoo Baffin South
Units, whether they're detached or a unit in an apartment building. Those are the numbers of units we need because that's the number of families who are in need of housing.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 404
The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Henry.
Committee Motion 15-13(3): To Suspend Application Of The Business Incentive Policy
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 404
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do you bill departments in communities? Because of the number of units that you're short a year, the economies of scale, are there apartments built there?