Thank you. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I know for a fact in my ridings, especially in Aklavik and Fort MacPherson, there are government units that have not been sold that are still being heated by this government but have not been transferred over. Why is that?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. We have a number of housing units, in fact, 30 in the Northwest Territories right now in which sales are pending. They may be closing in the next few months because of conditions that were on the sale of the financing. But if we are unable to sell those units, they will certainly, in the not too distant future, be considered for transfer to the social housing arena.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Is there some sort of time-line or deadline on how long these houses are going to be left on the open market, because this program has been there for about two years now? I am just wondering when are those units going to be given to the community. I just tabled a letter today from Tsiigehtchic to the Minister basically saying they are having overcrowding and there is a shortage of housing where people are having to leave the community because they do not have housing for the residents of that community. I would like to ask the Minister exactly when do they intend to allow for all these other surplus housing in the communities which have not been sold to the local housing authority?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. We are hoping to have everything wrapped up in this fiscal year. I did leave out one important step when I talked about units that we found we were unable to sell and being transferred into social housing, and that is that if we cannot sell the units, typically the next step is to try and talk the community into taking over the ownership of those units, whether they are occupied or vacant. We would want to take that step first and then if we are unsuccessful with the community taking them on, then we will look at transferring them to social housing. But as I said, Madam Chairperson, our goal is to try and conclude this program by the end of this fiscal year.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Is there a possibility that we can get a list that you mentioned there of the different communities and where the allocations took place so that we can see which houses are still left in which communities that have not been sold and ones that have been transferred to the local housing authority, can you make that information available?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. We have already provided to Members a summary of staff housing sales and transfers within the Northwest Territories 1996 to 1999. We can certainly provide that again to the Member, and I will find out from him if he has any specific information that is not included on it and endeavour to also provide him with that information.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Krutko.

Can we receive it now so we can have a chance to review it in case we have other questions in that line?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. This information was provided to the standing committee subsequent to our appearance in front of that committee with the supplementary appropriation, but I have copies available here if the page could take a copy to the Member right now.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. In regard to the question about need and where we do have a lack of housing especially in a lot of the smaller communities where there are no more social houses being built, there is a real problem especially with overcrowding and also people not having adequate housing or living conditions where there are people that are raising their children in homes where they still have honey buckets and having to heat it by wood stove and wood. You talk about Fort Simpson and Norman Wells where there is a large real estate market where you are able to sell units. There is also the private sector who is into supplying housing. You also have apartment units available. Who determines whose need is greater than the other's? A community where you have overcrowding or basically a

community that has surplus housing?

Thank you. Mr. Dent.

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.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. That is the other area that you touched on is the question about having housing available for our teachers, our nurses, and our social workers and whatnot that come to our communities. Because of the decision from this government to do away with housing for the nurses and the teachers, that has caused a real impact on the communities, especially now not only dealing with the social housing problem, you are also dealing with the demands of the professional people that come to our communities to serve in our communities.

A lot of these people that come to our communities are not able to find housing and are not able to take on those jobs because of either units that they do find are not adequate for their needs, because you are dealing with renting a housing unit which may have only a wood stove which people are finding themselves in regard to a culture shock going into these communities where they are not used to that lifestyle yet you get in these communities. That is all they have to offer. What is this government doing to ensure that we find a formula or a system to deal with this major problem in our communities not only for the residents but also for the professions that come to our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson. In many communities, teachers and government employees have bought their own houses. In other communities, the staff housing that we have had has been offered to communities for them to provide to teachers and other professionals that they need in their community. I think we are prepared to deal with the needs as required on a one by one basis. In most communities, I think that people are being adequately housed. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.