Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to the issue around individuals who may have been evicted for one reason or another, especially who have families and children involved…. As a government we still have units in our communities that may not be perfect in the sense of a modern house, but the Housing Corporation still has these units. They still maintain them. I think that everything should be done to deal with the homeless issue to have some sort of transitional housing or shelter in communities. Like the Member for Nunakput tried to state, where do these people go once they are evicted from housing? Housing still has units in our communities that could accommodate that family. It might not be as good a dwelling as they had just left, but at least it puts a roof over their heads.
I think that as a corporation and as the Department of ECE, dealing with the homeless issue, we spend a lot of money dealing with institutions here in Yellowknife. We have transitional housing. We have the youth facility here where there is homelessness money being expended, but when it comes to our communities, it seems like there is very little being done to deal with the homelessness issue. You might not see people sleeping on the streets or sleeping under buildings or in the doorways, but I think it is real. It’s there in our communities. A lot of
these people have been evicted from housing for one reason or another. Most of it has to do with substance abuse or drugs. But for these people it’s still a problem.
As a corporation we do have to somehow…. I can’t say forgive and forget, but these people, despite arrears or whatnot, are still citizens of the Northwest Territories. They should have an opportunity to have some sort of means of maintaining some lifestyle by being able to provide for their family members. I know I raised the issue previously. We should have designated one or two units in the communities, which may be the old SHAG units that basically are over 35 years old anyways. We are either going to mothball them or get rid of them. So maybe make arrangements with that individual and Social Services that they work with that individual to — they won’t pay the costs — at least provide some means of housing for these individuals regardless of the condition rating of that unit.
We have to do something by way of homelessness issues in our communities. What we are seeing are problems with people in arrears and also problems of people with substance abuse. These people are still citizens or residents of our communities, and we still have to find ways to accommodate them. In the larger centres we do have organizations like the Salvation Army or the drop-in centre for youth that are providing means for these individuals to accommodate them to sleep at night and put a roof over their heads. I think that we should find some system to deal with that in isolated, smaller communities where this government does have surplus housing that isn’t being used, basically accommodate these people in the interim until they work out their problems with Social Services and whatnot.
I’d like to know: has the Minister, as Minister responsible for housing and as a member of that homelessness group with other Ministers, ever considered that as an option to deal with the homelessness issues in communities, knowing that we do have these units? They might not be perfect, but at least that puts a roof over people’s heads, a home for people who have children and whatnot, when you can’t just throw them out on the street.