Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some other concerns that were raised in committee were design features in the units. There was one which had the furnace room right by the entrance in and out of the house. If there were problems such as fire, the furnace room being right by the door limits access to windows that are set high and do not open significantly to allow an alternative exit, if that was ever required.

And the other feature was the height of the buildings off of the ground. They were set very high on blocks or piles. Can the Minister speak to that issue? I am assuming all these designs must meet building code standards for safety and fire. Could the Minister or the president speak to that issue please?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to speak to part of the question regarding the design. I believe in our community consultations, we spoke about lowering the units to a more accessible level for tenants. Again, the idea here is to go into the communities and discuss this with the community membership. That provides an opportunity for them to have input on how we deliver future seniors' housing. That is all encompassing to the prerequisites. I believe in the future we can build homes that are more satisfactory. From the standards side, Mr. Chairman, I would like to again call upon the president of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to answer that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was watching the clock down there, and I have just one quick follow up. If the Minister or the president could clarify the issue of the location of the furnace rooms. If it is two doors, I can see that it is not as big of an issue. But I see on those units that only have one door, it is an issue when the furnace is located right by the door. If there was a fire, access and exits would be impeded. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Since that was a fire safety issue raised by the occupants of the buildings, we have suggested that we look at alternate heating sources. From that, we have asked the person responsible for that to provide us with information. We were hoping to have that information provided to us this week. Unfortunately, we do not have it. If the president would like to add on to what I have already said, I would welcome him to speak to that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Presently, there are still many government owned units in our communities. What is your department doing to try to retain those units so we can use them for public housing? They were on the market for sale, but the majority of them have not yet sold. It has been a couple of years in this process.

For example, in Aklavik, there are two three-bedroom duplexes which are shutdown, and yet there is a housing shortage in Aklavik. I would like to ask the Minister what is his department doing to try and take advantage of the offer made by this government to turn those units into public housing, since they have not been sold?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would ask Jeff Anderson to respond to that question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the question is when will the Housing Corporation take over these units from the government of the Northwest Territories, the Financial Management Board Secretariat?

This has been going on for some three years now and yet, there are still units in the community that could be used but are instead sedentary. They are shut down. If the units are there and they are not being used by the government, they should be automatically transferred to the Housing Corporation so we can make use of them wherever we find the need. We should definitely be using these homes if there is a shortage in the budget for the Housing Corporation to build houses. Let us find a new way of making use of these units and turn them into social housing where they can be used.