Thank you, Mr.
Chair. I have a
number of comments which have already been made, so I’ll just highlight them. I don’t expect answers. I think they’ve been answered already, but I wanted to point out some concerns which I have.
We just discussed housing for seniors. My concern is housing for seniors — I don’t know a better way to put it — who have money. I believe there needs
to be — probably more so in Yellowknife than in any other community — some sort of housing source for seniors who have a certain amount of money. There needs to be some sort of a subsidy for seniors who can afford their own place but can’t afford the full cost of it.
I am concerned about the lack of housing for disabled persons, particularly those who have a family, who have children. Yellowknife certainly has units right now for disabled persons, but they don’t accommodate somebody who has a family.
I am concerned as well about the success or lack of for the transfer of the Rental Subsidy Program over to Education, Culture and Employment. I appreciate that we’ve been getting regular updates from both the Housing Corp and from ECE, and I hope this will continue because there’s still a lot of concern out there on the part of residents. I am a little dismayed at the reductions in the repairs and enhancement programs. I feel very strongly that that’s one of the areas that we need to enhance, not to reduce, and as has been mentioned earlier, repairs for seniors…. That program, as well, needs to be extended or made easier to get at.
Something that hasn’t been mentioned yet but which is a concern for me is the reduction of the internal audit function of the Housing Corp. I understand that these two positions will be transferred over to the Audit Bureau, but it means that the Housing Corporation will no longer have their own auditors to perform an internal audit function.
I’m particularly concerned that the corporation is losing its ability to monitor the local housing authorities and to monitor that they are adequately applying the policies, which I can’t get hold of, and that the programs and services are being applied and being doled out in a fair and proper manner. This was something that was noted by the Auditor General, and I appreciate the Housing Corp has advised that they will continue to do this. But without specific dedicated auditors for the internal audit function, I see it as a bit of a problem. So most of those don’t need answers; probably all of them don’t need answers, but I did want to highlight my concerns.