Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity today to highlight some situations that are being created by our inhumane policies that lack compassion regarding social housing, homelessness and women. This crosses the board with departments responsible for housing, social services, and employment income security.
Mr. Speaker, I have three examples of these issues. The first one is the fact that, currently, the Yellowknife Housing Authority policy states that if a family gets evicted from social housing, they are not entitled to get any more than $32 from the Income Support Program. Anybody who knows anything about housing in Yellowknife could tell you that there is no way you are going to get anywhere to stay for $32. This could potentially create a situation where you have dozens of families who are literally homeless and have no place to go.
A second situation that I am aware of, that I am really stuck with, is the fact that there is a woman who wants to live with a child, but social housing will not provide them a home. She cannot be united with her child unless she has a home. Without the child, she doesn't qualify for a home, and she is in a women's shelter. She is stuck in this place where it is really very difficult.
A third situation, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about is a situation where the housing association office in Yellowknife is becoming, for some, very punitive in the way they deal with those who they consider to be problem tenants. Instead of taking these concerns to the rental office, who I think they feel are being too lenient to tenants, and I think it was meant to be that way, they're bumping up a lot of cases to the Supreme Court. That requires a lawyer for these people who cannot afford that. This is one of the reasons why I thought the new legal aid office should have gone into. Anyway, I'm dealing with a lot of issues but, Mr. Speaker, I just want to highlight these three very difficult situations that people are dealing with in our community and that takes coordination on the part of all these three departments to work out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
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