Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Often a community may have a certain amount of funding or access to funding and may just need a little bit more. In this case, what I am wondering is, if a community was willing to take on the added cost for the Level II or Level III care facility, would they be able to use money that had been allocated for the independent housing four-plex facility. Would they be able to use that for the Level II or Level III care facility if they were willing to take on the rest of the costs? Thank you.
Debates of April 26th, 1999
This is page numbers 321 - 355 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 7th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.
Topics
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 344
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 344
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 344
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The added costs as I mentioned earlier, are not only in the area of construction, but also ongoing costs because of the level of care that would be provided and discussions would have to be included with the Department of Health and Social Services in the area of the added costs and how they would be managed. If the community was looking at providing the extra cost above and beyond the seniors' independent housing, discussions could probably be undertaken between the departments and a successful community at that point. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 344
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 344
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is good to hear, because probably some of the seniors that would be in the Level II or Level III care facility might be in other housing now and if they were able to move into such a facility it would free up the other housing so that other seniors, perhaps, could move into the housing that has been freed up. The other area that I want to find out about is the social housing policy and the flexibility that the housing authorities have which the Minister had indicated in answers to Mrs. Groenewegen a little earlier. Sometimes people are currently living in public housing in one community and they may wish to move to another community but they are not eligible for public housing in the community they want to move to for six months. Recently there was a lady who wanted to move to Yellowknife and she had about four children, four or five, and she was in public housing in another community and wanted to move to Yellowknife. She was told she would have to wait six months. She would have to move here and find some place to live while her kids are going to school, perhaps the womens' shelter or wherever. She would have to wait for six months before she was eligible for public housing.
It seems to me that if someone is living in public housing in one community they should be able to make a deal with another community and say look, this lady wants to move here and in this instance she wanted to move because of her health, much better health facilities, more doctors, all the rest of that kind of stuff. It seems to me that when you are already living in public housing you should be able to cut some kind of a deal with the other housing authority in the other community that you wish to move to. So what I am wondering is, the flexibility the Minister had indicated earlier, would that flexibility allow this type of cooperation between local housing authorities?
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The local housing authorities have the ability to set their periods of waiting in the communities and can deal with each case on a case by case basis. They do take in a lot of concerns as to, for example, if there was no waiting list, or a very short one, the transient nature of some tenants can prove to be very costly to an LHO when it comes to repairs, if somebody has been in the community for a short time. So there are those concerns that they have to address, but I believe they have the ability at the LHO level to look at things at a case by case scenario and deal with the issues that would go before them. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So what the Minister is saying is that it is totally up to the housing authority where the person would want to go? Is that correct?
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If there was a person in a social housing unit in one community and they wanted to move to another, potentially the LHOs could work out an arrangement, but that would be up to the community that they would be moving to. The control is in their court so to speak. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If there was to be some type of an arrangement that was worked out, would the best course of action for the tenant to work through the local housing authority they are currently renting from to work with them, to contact the community they want to move to and set up an arrangement? This has happened more than once that I know of and really those people have been left to try and fend for themselves rather than being able to work through the local housing authority which they are renting from at the time.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I stated earlier, the waiting period is developed by the local housing authority board and they have the ability to deal with these situations on a case by case scenario, but it would all depend on the individual or family that wants to deal with this. If they approach their existing board in the community they live in to support them in this initiative to make the contact with them, but it would be up to that board then to deal with that request if there was a request for their support in setting this up. As stated earlier, in the move to bring more control and responsibility to the communities we have given the local housing authority boards that responsibility. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, do the local housing authorities ever get together in order to discuss situations like this so that they might be able to establish global policies rather than the housing authorities just passing their policies in isolation from each other? Thank you.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am aware that the local housing authorities organizations do from time to time have workshops where they get together and discuss their concerns in areas of common concerns and responsibilities so they do get together from time to time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is the Housing Corporation involved in these workshops?
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are times when the Housing Corporation is involved with information and at times suggestions, but again the authority lies with the LHOs for how they see it structured and I am aware in a number of areas where they do work together in the different regions. There is already that sharing of information, so they do that, as stated earlier, in a number of different ways and one of them is when they get together for workshops. Thank you.
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Committee Motion 8-13(7): Housing Funding Targeted For Aboriginal Housing (nwthc)
Item 20: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 345
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I ask the Minister if perhaps the corporation staff may be able to bring up this issue the next time there is such a workshop or conference or whatever it is called so there can be some sort of a policy established so that when this type of thing occurs there is a method for the tenants to work through because right now there doesn't seem to be any policy in place for these type of people?