Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There were a lot of good comments around the table and I appreciate some of the extra positive comments that we heard. There was a couple of kudos to some of the work that has been going on in the NWT Housing Corporation, so that, compared to last year or maybe the year before, shows me that we are making progress.

We try and work with committee as close as we can to keep them up to date on some of the initiatives that we have. We recently had a strategy briefing with committee, so it has always been my intent to take the feedback from committee and see if we are able to try and incorporate that into some of the future decisions that we make. I think we have had a fairly good working relationship. When it comes to housing, we all have an opinion and sometimes you listen to those opinions and they make very good sense. It helps us do our job a lot better.

Mr. Krutko had raised and a few other Members had talked about the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation declining funding, and that is one we continue to have a struggle with. We have been working hard at trying to engage the federal government in coming to the table. Mr. Krutko said it was a country-wide problem and it really is. We have been trying to engage the federal government to come to the table and have a discussion on that. We have been talking to our counterparts in some of the other regions across the country and they are all feeling the pinch, too, and we try and do what we can to address some of the shortfalls. We are going to a lot of multi-unit type units that share services, so we are looking at ways that we could try and reduce some of our operating costs.

I think it was Mr. Bromley and Mr. Krutko talked about the apprentices. We are very pleased with the support that we have from Rural and Remote that identified some funds to bring on an apprentice. I think we have 15 on the books right now with an additional 10 more that we are looking at bringing on stream for this fiscal year, so we are quite pleased with that.

If you look in the communities with the folks that we have working at the LHOs and in some communities the LHOs will actually do a lot of the repairs on the units themselves, the modernization and improvements, so some communities have been able to build up a real good little base of regular people that they use every year. They may bring 17 folks on during the summer to do a lot of this work and then a lot of the LHOs will hire students for the summer. I think the Housing Corporation and the LHOs in particular contribute greatly to employment in the communities. We’d like it to be better and that is why we have 15 apprentices, we have 10 more coming on board and it is going to benefit the communities, too, because we are going to have folks in the

communities that are going to actually have the training to do furnaces and things like that, so you don’t have to have expense of flying somebody in.

Mr. Yakeleya talked about the number of vacant units that we have. We actually have 135 vacant units across the Northwest Territories right now, but I think I gave all the numbers. The 82 were those that we have identified that are potential homeowners that we can get into those units.

Speaking of the homeowners, Mr. Menicoche had raised when a client is in the HELP program and he transitions into the PATH. There is actually a $10,000 credit, so we may have to follow up on that if your client feels that they didn’t qualify or they didn’t receive the credit.

The rent scale we are continuing to work on as part of our Shelter Policy review and we are looking forward to having that work completed soon. We hear the argument all the time about penalizing people that go to work, and Mr. Yakeleya had mentioned a constituent of his, I am not sure if it was $1,800 he was paying or if he was assessed at $1,800, and those are the type of people. We recognize the concerns of committee and getting seasonal workers, as one Member pointed out, we recognize that and we have been looking at going at a regional type of rate. I think in one of the Members’ ridings, they talked about a community 20 minutes away from another community and the difference in the economic rent was unreal. So we feel if we go to a bit of a regional type rate, then that may bring the rates down in some of the higher communities. That is something that we are looking at rolling out and seeing how that will work.

I particularly like Mr. Yakeleya’s comments on the folks needing to look after their units. It is something that we struggle with. I have been to a few communities, I have been down the street in one community and I was disappointed at what I saw there. Every window on that street, practically, was boarded up. It is not acceptable. We had a public meeting that evening and I actually told them how disappointed I was at the number of boarded up windows that were on that street.

Part of the dollar figure that you see in the arrears amount is, a lot of it, we have over $2 million in tenant damages. We have to change that and it is an educational thing. Folks have to start looking after their units. They have to realize that there are shelter costs and looking after their shelter should be a priority. With a lot of folks out there paying mortgages, shelter is obviously your number one priority, because the banks are not as kind as the NWT Housing Corporation. If you don’t make your payment, the banks don’t care if you’re working or not. They just come and take it away.

I have really been encouraged by the number of folks that have entered into repayment plans. I have numbers. I am really encouraged. It might be $18 a

month, but that is a commitment and they are meeting it. It goes up to $400 a month. That is another commitment and they are meeting it. I find that very encouraging. Somebody said Housing is not an easy portfolio to have. I think that is very true. Every once in a while you hear a story about the lady that has been paying on her arrears for a few years, just a small amount a month, but she got it cleared off. I find stories like that encouraging.

I appreciate Mr. Menicoche’s comments about his working relationship with the front-line staff. I will be sure to pass that on. It is important to us to try and work with the MLAs and keep them up to speed on what we are doing. Even in my office, I feel that I need to consult with the MLAs on a regular basis and let them know what we are up to and seek their input.

Seniors are our priority. We continue to work very hard with the seniors and I think Mr. Menicoche talked about a senior in one of his communities. We do have a Seniors Preventative Maintenance Program where, in the fall time, the seniors get their furnaces serviced and any other minor repairs that are needed around their house. There are times where we run into situations like the one he spoke of. I was glad that it was able to be resolved, because we do what we can to help seniors.

People are refused for some of our programs because of arrears. We try very hard to fit as many people into the programs that we can. The HELP program allows you to carry up to $5,000 in arrears and you can still qualify for the HELP program. So that is good faith on the Housing Corporation’s part in trying to fit people into units.

I think Mr. Bromley had spoken to the gap in the program, trying to get more people that are just over the threshold into home ownership. This year I think so far we have identified about 20 clients that fit that category, so that is 20 more that we are able to get into home ownership because of the gap. We are quite pleased with that.

We are also quite pleased with the fact that the word is getting out there that Housing needs to work with the people in the communities but also the people in the communities need to work with the Housing Corporation. We talk about working together all the time. That is fine in theory, but we can’t always be the ones trying to initiate everything. We need folks to start buying into it. I think we are starting to see that. A lot of it is an educational thing.

As far as the evictions go, and I have said this on a number of occasions, eviction is not a one-week process. Housing didn’t just wake up one morning and decide that somebody was going to get evicted today. They start with a termination and they are given opportunity to come to the board. Actually, first they come into the LHO. They can work on a repayment plan. Some people may not honour

those. They get an opportunity to go to the board and sometimes the board will say, okay, we will give you another chance. Work out a repayment plan. As long as you honour that repayment plan, you continue to remain a tenant of the local LHO. It is just when they have exhausted all avenues, then that is when it goes to an eviction.

Going back to Mr. Menicoche’s issue on appeal, we are looking at April 1st of rolling out an appeals

board that folks across the Territories home ownership, if they feel they have been slighted, they have an opportunity to appeal it.

I will stop there, Mr. Chairman. I am sure the Members are looking forward to getting into the page by page. I appreciate all the comments that we have heard today. I appreciate some of the compliments that we got. Thank you.