Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I do not think anybody would deny that we have a serious housing shortage in the Northwest Territories and that it has been an ongoing problem. I have been aware of it more so since being a Member of this Legislature. I do not believe that we are getting any closer to solving that problem given our fiscal situation. I understand the Member's concern. We have a policy which determines who is qualified for social housing and then we have a problem with the numbers who qualify and how many houses we have. The situation we have is that as we move to get out of staff housing, we are at the point where we have, in some communities, had houses that would sit empty if we did not move them into a program that would would allow people to qualify for social housing to utilize them. Rather than doing that, this was seen as a way to deal with that problem in those communities where housing was available. There is no question that this is the best situation. We would love to be able to have the money to build social housing in every community, but since we can't, this was felt to be the best solution for these houses. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
Charles Dent on Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on July 30th, 1999. See this statement in context.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
July 29th, 1999
Page 732
See context to find out what was said next.