Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, according to the 2004 housing needs survey, the percentage of households in core needs in my constituency ranges from 25 percent in core needs in Rae Lakes and Wekweti, to 36 percent in Wha Ti, and 37 percent of households in core needs in Rae-Edzo, respectively. These are the percentage of households that are dealing with issues of suitability, adequacy and affordability. Quite simply, Mr. Speaker, these percentages are extremely high.

I'm aware, Mr. Speaker, of several constituents in Rae-Edzo who live in social housing that have very good paying jobs at the diamond mines. These people have turned their lives and fortunes around, but cannot get out from under the arrears they owe the housing associations. Many people have told me the reason they owe arrears to the housing association goes back many years to when they worked seasonal work or when they could find work. Rents were calculated, Mr. Speaker, based on what they made. Sometimes the higher rent continued after the person was either laid off or when they moved or else when they went to a different job. That's where the majority of the arrears came from. Now because they make good money, they pay really high rent. Because they pay high rent, Mr. Speaker, they cannot afford to deal with the arrears they owe the housing association; a classic catch-22 situation.

Mr. Speaker, there are people who need social housing who are living in substandard units or are overcrowded. There are people who are living in social housing units who can afford a mortgage on their own houses if they could deal with their arrears. It makes no sense, Mr. Speaker, to me to write off a debt of $20,000 and gain their social housing unit rather than spend $200,000 to build a new one.

In the smaller communities I represent, there is not as much social housing, and people look after their own housing needs. The problem there is that...