This is page numbers 645 - 700 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 6th 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

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The answer basically is no, however, we do work with the community organizations in terms of private rental markets, and some of our programs were redesigned to address some of those critical questions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Mr. Nitah.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in Fort Resolution, we are anticipating that there's going to be a shortage of housing available for the upcoming school year. Is the Housing Corporation working with the community organization in that community to address that problem that's on the radar screen? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Currently, staff housing or any type of professional housing is not under the mandate of the NWT Housing Corporation, although I think our funding mechanisms will assist those communities that want to look at introducing rental market accommodations. And, yes, we are prepared to discuss some financing options with the local corporation, per se. Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Mr. Nitah.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, who has the mandate for that particular area of housing? Is it the department responsible for the delivery of that program and service?

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 680

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the conversations have evolved, there is no staff housing policy in the Government of the Northwest Territories, it is non-existent. Again, our emphasis then would be under our economic instrument to work with the local corporations to see if they would undertake that initiative. I believe if we do speak to supporting professional housing, that is done through a financing option. Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Mr. Nitah.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, what kind of financing option is available to local corporations so that they can provide the necessary housing for teachers in our communities; affordable housing, Mr. Chairman. Affordable housing is the key here. We know that teachers come and go on a very consistent basis, contributing to irregular delivery of education programs and services in our communities. The cost of housing is a major issue for the teachers. So the financing options that the Minister is referring to that's available to local corporations in communities, is the end result providing affordable housing to our teachers? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just for the record, we don't have a mandate to provide professional housing, per se. What we are saying is that we can and we have increased the loan guarantee program from $10 million to $30 million. That would allow private developers to enter into the commercial rental market at 15 percent equity, and that's what we're advocating at this point to try to stimulate that sort of professional housing development. Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Mr. Nitah.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that may very well work for a place like Yellowknife where if you build a building it's consumed right away. But if you're asking a development corporation or a private business entity to get into similar arrangements with the government to provide housing needs in the community for teachers, there's going to be two months a year that that house is not going to be occupied. Is that being recognized in this new financing option? I'd like to ask the Minister, who is responsible for providing housing to our professional people in the communities? Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll only speak in the context of the NWT Housing Corporation's mandate. Under the social housing agreement, we are responsible for public housing, providing home ownership programs, and I think we're on record as listing 16 different program deliveries. But we do not have a mandate to provide for professional housing. We have introduced a funding mechanism where we would provide loan guarantees. So it's really the initiative of the local development corporations or some other community entity to provide that to professionals. Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Mr. Nitah.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, again one of the problems that I see on a consistent basis on this side of the House where I'm responsible for the programs and service delivery of this government in the communities I represent and a lot of the communities in the Northwest Territories, is that when departments and corporations come to us and in this sitting they have a tunnel vision. It's not part of our responsibilities, so we can't help you.

So I'll ask a simple question. Has the Minister communicated, or is he in contact with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment to identify the possibility of working in collaboration to provide affordable housing for professional people in the communities, whether it's the Minister of Health and Social Services in his responsibility to deliver health and social service programs and services, or the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and the Minister and his responsibility in delivering his departments responsibilities? Now I think the government has to start working together, especially in the area of housing, so we can have quality educators in our community and that they can stay.

So I ask, has the Minister communicated with the other Ministers to see if they can help address their needs, the needs of the communities if you're not going to be able to provide a decent deal for corporations, the same kind of deal that's available in market communities? That deal is great for Yellowknife and for Hay River where there's a housing market, but there is no market... A teacher is not going to buy a house in Fort Resolution. They'll rent for a few years. That's what we're trying to make them do: stay for a few years. But we can't expect them to buy a house and expect them to sell it at the same price, because there is no market in our communities. So the Housing Corporation being the only entity of this government that provides housing, have they talked to the other departments to see if they could help with their needs? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Just with regard to your question, the Minister responsible for staff housing is the Chair of FMBS. So does the Minister want to refer the question to his counterpart on staff housing, because this is where the question is going but it is not really the responsibility of this Minister. So if the Minister wants to refer it to the Minister of Finance?

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

Roger Allen

Roger Allen Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think perhaps it would be helpful if we could address it this way. Under the NWT Housing Corporation Act and under its mandate we have our obligations under the social housing agreement. We provide for public housing, social housing and a broad number of other housing funding mechanisms. Yes, we do administer the staff housing portfolio for FMB, but I think it is the government policy that they will not enter into staff housing.

What we're trying to emphasize here is that we do have a mechanism, and I think it's a fair process, that would allow each community to access. If the Minister responsible for the FMB would be prepared to address the other component of the Member's question, then I would ask the Chair to permit that. Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 681

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the FMBS, Minister Handley, in regards to staff housing.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

March 11th, 2003

Page 682

Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Chairman, I don't know if I got all of the question, but the question is why don't we get back into staff housing. Let me put it this way, a number of years ago we got out of staff housing and we only have a few units left that we're ready to turn over to communities. It's our view that housing is very much a community issue, that it's best if a lot of this is handled at the community level.

With regard to staff; the problem we have and the reason why we got out of it in the first place is the cost of it. When we got out of it, it was costing us about $25 million a year just to manage and own housing for staff. To get back into it is going to cost us at least that much money, and the operating costs of doing it. Because we can't do it for some public servants and not do it for others, under the collective agreement we would have to do it for everybody, everywhere if we did it. The cost is horrendous. We would instead prefer to encourage people in the community as businesses to build and provide rental housing. We might even consider getting into long-term leases as a government on those kinds of things if private businesspeople in the communities want to do it.

The other one is if teachers, professional people, want to get into mortgages and own a house in a community which is a natural way to do it, then we'd look at creative ways of doing that. But we don't want to get into owning houses as a government. It's too expensive. Thank you.

NWT Housing Corporation
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 682

The Chair

The Chair David Krutko

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation.