Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I wish to bring up an issue very important in my region as how the NWT Housing Corporation and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Employment calculate the tenants’ income when determining rent. According to my constituent’s public housing rental subsidy summary of some people, even the same housing units are assessed differently. In fact, there have been different assessments done even on the same person. I have been receiving a lot of comments from all of the Nunakput communities regarding the issues. Many people in small isolated communities live in the NWT housing units because there is no other option.
Mr. Speaker, although northern allowance settlement allowance is non-assessable income, evaluation is a complication, formulated as not complicated to see if there is enormous inconsistencies but the policies on how the staff and regions are expected to use them. All the tenants under the public housing rental policies, regardless of their employment or circumstances, should be treated with consistency, unless reasonable circumstances such as elders, et cetera.
Mr. Speaker, it seems, though, the people who don’t work for the government in the Northwest Territories are treated different and unfair. Mr. Speaker, it is wrong. Northern allowances and settlement allowances are given to people living in small remote communities all over this great Territory because of the high cost of living even though these allowances…People in my riding pay 80 percent more for basic necessities than those living in major centres.
Mr. Speaker, we can’t even afford to live a healthy lifestyle. This is wrong. The government calculates all these allowances as income. It is wrong. The people’s incomes are reduced. They can’t buy groceries. It is a shame.
Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of ECE and Housing. Thank you.