Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under the policies of the NWT Housing Corporation with respect to public housing, I have had a number of incidents in my constituency where people have decided to try living some place else. They have perhaps been in public housing and they are good candidates for public housing and things have been going along smoothly and they decide to try moving to another province or another community and, when things do not work out or if they have not worked out, they come back and they, even though they have been long-term northern residents, are not given any access to public housing until they have been residents of the community again for six months and that, along with the issue of emergency housing, where you have a family in need in a community and there is nothing else available but maybe empty housing units. How could the policies of the Housing Corporation be amended to be more practical in their application in instances where there is obviously an emergency need and there is housing available but it does not comply with those policies? 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 341
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 341
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 341
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the area of allocation of units in each community, I believe the standard that is set out is the six month waiting period when you first arrive in a community and there is a number of reasons for that. One of them is the supply of units and being able to meet the demands out there. As well, in the a case of emergency the LHOs do have some ability and flexibility to deal with the situation that comes up before them. That goes in tune with the idea of more community controls in that area. So we do have policies for the LHOs and they do follow them but they do also have some flexibility in how they implement 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 342
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 342
Jane Groenewegen Hay River
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, what the Minister is saying is then that the Local Housing Authority in a community like Hay River, for example, could designate housing for emergency applications and could allow students even, for example, who go away to upgrade themselves and get more education can be gone for the school year and come back, and if there are empty housing units, they cannot even access for them for the summer months and it is quite often families that are involved. So, I just wanted to get confirmation then the Minister is saying, there is latitude to implement those kinds of policies at the community level? 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
April 25th, 1999
Page 342
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 342
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A little more clarification in the area of that six month waiting list. I am told that in fact the LHOs for each community can lay down the terms of the waiting period. In the area of students, I believe the practice is, and I am speaking more from experience dealing with the LHO out of Inuvik, is that if you were in public housing and went out for education your name would still remain on a list on priority, I believe, and you would still be able to get back into the unit as long as you made arrangements with the LHO of the day. So there is flexibility for the LHOs in a number of areas so they would be able to address those concerns pretty well right at the community level. 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 342
The Chair David Krutko
Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Henry and Mr. Morin. Mr. Henry.
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 342
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My comments and questions are surrounding statements made by the Minister in his opening remarks on Friday. It is to do with the statement that the Minister made that the department was working hard to find new markets for northern manufactured homes. The Minister went on to inform the Members that they were producing or shipping homes to Barrow, Alaska. Could the Minister maybe advise me if he is working at all, or the Housing Corporation, is working at all with economic development and tourism because it sounds more of an economic development initiative or that the Minister of economic development at issue should be involved with. If the Minister could elaborate a little further on what work he may be doing with that department. 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 342
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 342
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have been working with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development in this area to keep them in touch. The corporation does work quite closely with that department in our initiatives and we hope to be successful to the point of growing in the area of exporting our expertise and our units. 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 342
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 342
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would thank the Minister for that. Could the Minister elaborate on the home packages that are being shipped to Barrow, Alaska. It looks to me, at least from the Minister's comments, it looks like it is a pilot project. I am wondering if in fact that is what it is, if there is a cost to the residents of Barrow for these units? 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 342
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 342
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the area of Barrow, Alaska, the community was involved with us and all units that are being built have been purchased so we are making money on this in the sense that we are selling our packages with the northern manufactured products included and, once shipped to the location, the owner or, at this point initially it was the Development Corporation of Barrow, Alaska, would build those with their contractors. I believe we would have, we were discussing at one point, to have one of our people go in there to supervise the initial building of the units. 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 342
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 342
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This sounds like an extremely good news package. The Minister is telling us that in fact we are able to design and produce manufactured goods here in the territories and sell it cheaper to Alaska than they can purchase it themselves. I believe the Minister told me that the corporation is making a profit in this. Does he have any numbers that we could get excited by? I mean, I am impressed that there is a profit in it. We have always been told about how high the cost of manufacturing and how much was subsidized here in the territories. If the Minister could elaborate a little bit on that profit component, I would appreciate it. 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 342
The Chair David Krutko
Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Minister, do you have any numbers that we can get excited about?
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 342
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe we could share something, but not in this forum. We would not want to give away our trade secrets. In this area, we have been dealing with them. One of the things that makes it profitable to deal in the U.S., especially Alaska, is the Canadian dollar has a significant amount of play in how we are managing to be profitable. Offhand, I could not give the Member an accurate figure to go by. We do know that it is not costing the corporation any money. There has been interest from other communities in the northern part of Alaska who are interested in our packages. We are going to see how these initial units work out. I believe this summer the packages should be sent up via the Mackenzie River. 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 342
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 342
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a final question. I certainly agree with the Minister that the payment for these units would probably be a lot easier to obtain from Alaska than it would be some of the ventures that the government has participated and supported, northern contractors in Russia and China. Could the Minister advise us if there are any outstanding funds that the department was involved with northern contractors, in particular in Russia? 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 342
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 343
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Housing Corporation itself does not have any outstanding amounts dealing with, for example, the work that went on in northern Russia. Those concerns raised were from the private companies that were involved in the deals that went on there, so that the corporation itself does not have outstanding balances. 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 343
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 343
Seamus Henry Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did indicate that was my last question, but it prompted another one. Regarding the Russia situation, has the Housing Corporation been approached by private businesses for some assistance in obtaining outstanding monies owing to them? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.