Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Speaker. I recently received a complaint from an elderly Tuktoyaktuk couple, aged 77 and 67 years respectively, with regard to the difficulties they are having in applying for funding to renovate their home. They applied on numerous occasions under the home repair program and have been turned down by the NWT Housing Corporation.
They know of some individuals in the community who have received funding from the NWT Housing Corporation, and they are not even elders. The husband has been retired for a number of years now, and the wife will be retiring from her employment this year. Mr. Speaker, to give the Members a brief history of their dilemma, the information provided to me by this elderly couple is as follows. If the Members may recall, government provided subsidized housing to their employees. Eventually, government decided to get out of housing their employees and put the units up for sale, with the first offer going to the employees. The elders decided to purchase a unit, and I am happy to say that today they own the unit. Mr. Speaker, prior to purchasing the unit some 20 years ago, there were a number of deficiencies with the unit. The Housing Corporation was to replace the wooden windows and the window handles and renovate the floor. For your information, that was 12 years ago, and he fell through the rotten floor. The corporation installed one window because the rest of the windows did not fit. The corporation took measurements and said that they would come back the following summer to install the windows. It is 14 years later, and they still have the wooden windows, not to mention the floor.
Mr. Speaker, the elderly couple are wondering why they have to wait all these years and yet she never let the Housing Corporation wait for one payment on the mortgage. The elderly couple indicated to me that if they could have afforded the renovations, they would have done it years ago. Many elders today cannot afford to purchase their own unit let alone pay for operations and maintenance. Mr. Speaker, I will be asking questions to the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause