Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This would fit into the overall Shelter Policy we’re developing right now and this would look at all aspects of delivery of housing across the Northwest Territories. The plan is to develop a policy in the next fiscal year. We see this as a bit of a way forward document to deal with a lot of the issues regarding housing in the Northwest Territories.

Thanks to the Minister. The Minister mentions the Shelter Policy that’s being developed. I also mentioned in my statement that there were two commitments from the Minister in the last eight months or so. One was to look at rent scales and one was to look at programs. I don’t hear in the answer today, and I didn’t hear in the answers from previous Hansard, that the Housing Corporation is going to look at everything with the Housing Corporation, polices, procedures, guidelines, everything that affects how housing is given out, how it is managed and administered. Could I get

from the Minister, apart from the Shelter Policy, is there any intent on the part of the Housing Corporation to do a comprehensive northern housing policy review? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we see the Shelter Policy as doing an overall territorial housing review on all the different aspects of housing. As I mentioned a couple of times, we are actually doing a rent scale review. We are doing an evaluation of the whole Housing Choices program and those are just a couple of components. We see the Shelter Policy as an overall review on a go-forward basis on the delivery of anything housing in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have heard many comments from Members, as we have gone through our statements and questions today, about things that are not working relative to the way the Housing Corporation operates and the relationships between the corporation and the people that are in housing, things like very large arrears, things like housing suitability in terms of number of bedrooms where you don’t have three bedrooms when you get your kids back. It doesn’t sound to me like a Shelter Policy is going to encompass the actual on-the-ground management of some of these guidelines. Could I get a better explanation from the Minister of what exactly the Shelter Policy entails? Does it go to those kinds of details to which I am referring? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Shelter Policy is going to be a component of the overall social policy framework. It will outline our housing responses to specific community-inclined groups. It is going to encompass anything to do with housing. This is what we see as a bit of an operating manual for the future of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, and how we can best respond to all the concerns that are raised by Members and by the public, and a few of the issues that the Member raised specifically will be ones, obviously, that will be part of the whole overall policy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I certainly look forward to seeing that Shelter Policy. If it is going to include the detail to which the Minister is referring, then it will be a valuable document and it will hopefully remove many of the roadblocks that our residents are encountering in regards to their housing.

I would like to ask the Minister if he can tell me when that Shelter Policy in all its detail will be available. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are just in the process of developing the framework for it now. It is a comprehensive piece of work and it is

going to take a lot of research. My best guess would be that may be something that is ready for the beginning of the 17th Assembly. There is a lot of

work.

We obviously have heard a lot of issues concerning housing today, and not just today but every day in all of the communities we go to. We have to be sure. We have heard from Members on what they thought of the different policies, how certain things didn’t work and we want to make sure that we get a policy in place that answers and deals with all of the questions that the Members have raised. We want to make sure that this is one that is going to be done absolutely right before we even release it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 9, written questions. Item 10, returns to written questions. Item 11, replies to opening address. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Annual Report on Official Languages, 2009-2010. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Government of the Northwest Territories Contracts Over $5,000 Report, Year Ending March 31, 2010. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 15, notices of motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, November 1, 2010, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great

Slave, that the Legislative Assembly recommends that the NWT Housing Corporation change its programs guidelines in order to provide responsive and meaningful flexibility;

And further, that the proposed changes to guidelines should allow for the transition period, such as a gradual increase of the rent, for these tenants;

And furthermore, that the Government of the Northwest Territories shall provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time, I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with the motion today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to deal with Motion 19-16(5), Reduction of NWT Housing Corporation Maximum Rental Rate, which I gave notice of on Wednesday, October 27, 2010. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The motion is on the floor. Before I open the motion to debate, the Chair is going to call a short break, then we will come back and debate it.

---SHORT RECESS

We have a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are unquestionably many issues to grapple with in the area of public housing, as the Minister well understands, at least by the end of today. I’m sure he knew about this before and I admit that these are often complex issues and difficult to move forward on. I’ve given great consideration, paid very close attention to the issues brought forward to me by my constituents and others. I’ve settled with my colleague in bringing forward this motion on a reduction of 30 to 25 percent of the rent as a maximum.

I think perhaps the best way to portray this is simply to go over an example looking at the numbers. So I’d like to start by saying the combined gross monthly income of two minimum wage employees is about $3,120 per month. Rent on that income at 30 percent is $940. The net income after deductions is $2,500. So once their rent is paid they have about $1,550 to live on for the whole month. In the case I mentioned, there were seven in the family. That’s about $220 a month to meet the needs of each person. A pretty modest amount.

Now consider the same situation at a rent scale of 25 percent. Rent on their gross income would be $780 rather than $940, leaving them an extra $160 a month to live on. One hundred sixty dollars may not seem like a lot to the average NWT family, which our statistics show is making about $100,000, but the people in public housing are not average. They live across a huge gap in income that is getting wider and wider each year.

Milk in Yellowknife costs about $2.50 a litre. That extra $160 is the equivalent of 50 more litres of milk a month. In our smaller communities where milk is five or more dollars a litre, it can make the difference between milk every couple of days and enough to meet each day’s needs. It might make the difference between presents or no presents at Christmas.

When we think about it, a reduction to 25 percent is little enough. This government sets the minimum wage scale, which is going up to about $10 an hour, but the minimum wage does not reflect the government’s belief that it’s enough to live on. The government recognizes that public housing must be provided so people can have shelter when the minimum wage can’t buy it for them. That’s an example of our interlocking system of programs and policies to help those most in need. Government’s recognition of the need to coordinate program policies to meet real conditions is the reason for adjusting the rent scale from 30 to 25 percent. Thirty percent simply isn’t sufficient to ease that hardship.

When people struggle to improve their conditions and get work, rather than relying on completely subsidized housing, we need to help them through with our policies. Moving the rent scale from 30 to 25 percent is a good step in tuning up that help, and on that basis I moved and will support this motion.

Again, Mr. Speaker, while many housing issues will require a range of responsibilities and the opportunity for flexibility in interpreting which is the most appropriate response, this is an example of an across-the-board, straightforward policy change that can help every public housing client in this situation. On that basis, again, I look forward to any other comments from my colleagues on both sides of the House and I will be prepared to give some closing remarks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. To the motion. The honourable Member for the Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the seconder of the motion, I, too, will be supporting the motion.

Again, I think it’s something that we have to be aware of. Jurisdiction to the west in regard to the Yukon, they do use the 25 percent income threshold and I think it’s something that we should be seriously considering to have a similar type of economic arrangement where we have a large urban centre, but also we have a lot of remote communities.

I think, Mr. Speaker, it’s important to realize that what we’re finding, through statistics and also through poverty studies, that there are communities where we have some 45 percent of incomes under

$30,000 of the households in our communities. I think that looking at the amount of income people do derive in a lot of our communities, in most cases that income has to get you through the whole year. Also, with seasonal employment we do have where most people’s earnings take place usually during the summer construction season, somewhere between three and four months. Again, whatever income you derive during that period of time has to get you through the remaining seven or eight months, depending on how long you’re able to be employed.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s critical that we do everything we can to support our individual communities. More importantly, we talk about a diverse economy and taking advantage of our economies, but we have to be able to give people the means to sustain themselves and take advantage of those economic opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, again, I will be supporting the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.