Thank you. Mr Steen, we have two other Members who wish to speak who have not spoken yet. Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it is very important because this question has been asked before, that perhaps my definition of the government getting out of housing is not quite fully understood. The position that we have taken, is that the government is getting out of housing that it owns and operates and has a responsibility for. There is still a requirement, in some cases, for us to provide some leased guarantees and some long term leases for developers, privately owned people, development corporations, individuals, et cetera, to get their mortgages to provide the housing requirements to this government. When I say we are getting out of government housing, I mean the ones that we own, so we do not require maintenance guys to maintain them, so we do not have the ongoing operational and maintenance costs, etcetera. That is not to suggest for one minute that we are going to get out of leases at this time, and I made that clear.

The overall costs in terms of leasing, budget requirements, my understanding of the year 1997/98 is $9,170,000.

Thank you. Directorate. We have Mr. Henry, Mr. Barnabas. Mr. Henry to Directorate.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of questions on the appraisals. When were the appraisals performed? Who did them? My understanding, the Minister said the department had received 80 percent of the appraised value. If we could confirm if that is right, around 80 percent? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, first of all it was done, the appraisals were done right across the Territories over the last two years by Yellowknife appraisal companies. I think it was important to point out that what I was indicating was the average price that we received for all these units was 86.15 percent.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. We did not record the last statement you made. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was saying the average price received was 86.15 percent of the appraised value.

Mr. Todd.

The appraisals were done over the last year and a half to two years, I believe. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister has told us that the sale of staff housing is ahead of what his expectations were, and I think that is great, especially getting 86 percent, I think that is good. How many units are left, and what condition are those units in? I guess I am trying to find out if we are down to the dregs now in the quality that is left. Thank you.

Thank you. That requires some detail. Mr. Todd.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do not have any dregs. What we have done so far, and I do applaud the fact that the real estate agents have done a wonderful job and met the criteria that we set for the sale of those staff houses. Again, primarily in the Yellowknife area but it was also Hay River real estates as well. We are about half way, 50 percent, 60 percent there now. We are probably, again this is just a rough figure. I can get the actual figure, but we are probably sitting with somewhere just under 200 units to sell. I am optimistic that the majority of those will be gone by the end of March, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Thank you. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a final question. If a building contractor purchased one of these units in a community during construction of projects, will he be able to use that residence as accommodation for workers, or will he still have to use hotels? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

The way we have structured the sale of staff houses, there is an understanding that the sale of those staff houses be used for exactly that, staff housing.

Thank you. Directorate. We have Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Todd, my question is, if there is government staff housing in a different community, let us say 20 miles from the community, and they are not being purchased, is FMB or the Housing Association taking over those units? Is FMB providing funding to maintain those units?

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

Yes, if my honourable colleague is alluding to the 35 units in Nanisivik, which I think he is, I could be wrong, but if he is, then we are paying for those at the present time.