Return to Written Question 3-14(6), asked by the Member for Tu Nedhe, to the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation on public housing data.

There are 2240 public housing units in the Northwest Territories. Not counting income support clients, there are 545 senior-led households. Some 82 families in public housing had students. Single parent households in public housing comprised 525 households. Later, at the appropriate time, I will table a breakdown of this information by community.

Rents are determined by the amount of assessable income a household makes. Assessable income is calculated by taking the gross income from all members, those 15 years and older. A number of incomes are considered to be exempt and are deducted from the gross income. The result of these deductions is the assessable income. Among the greatest income deductions are income earned by seniors, income earned by income support recipients and income earned by students. The assessable income is then applied to a sliding scale, which levies rent at a rate of 6.4 percent to 30 percent of income. Included in the scale is a household income deduction/exemption of $400. This $400 applies to all households in all communities. A cost of living deduction is then applied to the rent. The deduction is community and family size specific and is based on the northern cost index established by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs for communities in 1994. A unit condition rent adjustment may be applied to the rent where units lack basic facilities or the overall condition rating is less than 60 percent. Seniors 60 years and older have their rent 100 percent subsidized. Their rent is zero. Currently the monthly income of seniors in public housing which is not being assessed is in excess of $565,400, 2000 statistics. The minimum rent for families with assessable monthly income less than $500 is $32. This minimum rent also applies to tenants who receive income support. Due to the harmonization efforts started in 1997, the implementation of a four-year phase-in of the 1995 rent scale was delayed by Cabinet and remains at 60 percent.

A new rent scale would treat all income as assessable. Minimum rent would be reduced from $32 to $20. Rent calculations would be based on a scale starting at four percent to a maximum of 30 percent of gross income. A new rent scale would retain the household deduction of $400. A revised cost of living adjustment would be implemented as well as an income rent reduction.

The rationale behind assessing all income the same way no matter what the source is that it will eliminate any disparities the current exemptions have created. The different treatment of the various types of income also creates a level of confusion with tenants.