Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason we did this is, as Members in this House know, we have $120 million that goes out every year as direct subsidies to people in the Northwest Territories. That is before we add the $6 million that we are putting into the Income Support Program next year. We were in a situation where we had 17 programs run by seven different departments that did not mesh. We had situations where a person would earn, or a family would earn, an extra dollar and have $200 clawed back by either the housing authority or by income support. We need to find a way to make sure that our programs work better together. We have families living side by side who are getting different levels of support right now because one family went to the housing authority and one family went to income support. It is not reasonable that governments provide two levels of support to two families in exactly the same circumstances. But that is what has happened because we haven't had programs that are coordinated and designed to help people effectively, efficiently and fairly. We need to make sure that we are properly targeting the people who need government assistance the most and that we are doing it in the right way. We think that the best way to do that is to ensure that we have a comprehensive and cohesive program. You can't do that if all of our subsidy programs are divided up among different departments. So we think that we have taken the best approach here. We know that we have resolved issues. We think that putting the subsidies together into one department will eventually mean that we will have a much better articulated program and one that is more supportive for all Members in this House. Thank you.
Charles Dent on Question 148-15(6): Assessment Of Social Housing Subsidy Program
In the Legislative Assembly on August 17th, 2007. See this statement in context.
Further Return To Question 148-15(6): Assessment Of Social Housing Subsidy Program
Question 148-15(6): Assessment Of Social Housing Subsidy Program
Item 7: Oral Questions
August 16th, 2007
Page 394
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