Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are working with some of the LHOs that have found themselves facing some financial difficulties. We have a stabilization fund we’re hoping will help them stabilize a bit.
The Member speaks of the rent collection. We ask LHOs to collect 90 percent of the assessments. We’ve had a lot of people across the Northwest Territories...and the Member talks about the capacity of tenants to pay. A lot of them have realized now that they have to start working on their arrears, they have to start paying their rent. I think we’re starting to see a bit of a shift in attitude. I do know and I see the numbers of people that are coming in that are in arrears that are working out repayment plans. It’s very encouraging to see that. Having said that, we still recognize that there is a need to continue to work with the LHOs, and the tenants need to do their part to ensure that their LHOs are running smoothly, are fairly stable.
During the transfer of assessments we found that we had a few LHOs running into some financial difficulties and we’re dealing with that right now. I think since June 1
st
, when LHOs took over the
responsibility for assessments, I think we’ve seen an improvement. In all areas of housing we’ve seen improvements. In the repayment plans we’ve seen improvements. In the rent collection we’ve seen improvements. In the assessments and reassessments we’ve seen improvements. I think that goes a long way to helping the LHOs. In the short term we’re working with the LHOs. We have a bit of a stabilization fund that we’re hoping to help them offset and maybe get back on track. The rest of it will then kick in and I think we’ll see that once they’re over this crisis, they’ll all start operating pretty smoothly.