Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Members have pointed out the fact they’ve brought forward a few motions and I assure the Members that we take those motions very seriously. We are looking at the motions that they’ve brought forward and some of the recommendations we’ve made. We’ve heard a lot of comments this afternoon on trying to get people more independent and getting them out there. That’s our ultimate goal. I mean, we say the visions and goals of the 16

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Legislative Assembly is to

have healthy, vibrant, safe communities and have our people out there being independent. That’s one thing we try to do as the Housing Corporation. It’s hard sometimes to think that we’re going to meet those goals that we set out if we continue to find ways that we can make people be less responsible.

Having said that, Mr. Speaker, I was looking at some of the recommendations and the motions they made here. I know there are a few of them that, I think, in my conversations with some of the Members, I believe we’re addressing. We have the Shelter Policy review that’s going on right now. The rent scale review is a part of that. I had spoken to Members about the regionalized assessments, which I think some Members thought was a very good idea. We are doing work on a lot of the motions you brought forward.

I want to point out a couple of statistics, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have, across the Northwest Territories, approximately 2,400 public housing units. We have 21 percent of people paying zero. We have 45, almost 46 percent paying $32. So we have 67 percent paying $32 or less. Out of the 2,400 units, we have approximately 12 to 19 at any given time paying economic rent. There are very few people across the Northwest Territories who pay economic rent. But having said that, I mean, we recognize the Members’ concerns and some of the issues that they’ve brought forward, but I can assure them that the Housing Corporation has heard the other motions that you’ve brought forward. That’s one of the reasons why we’re trying to do the Shelter Policy review, is

to address a lot of the motions that you’ve brought forward.

Mr. Speaker, there is really not much more I can add. I was looking at the last part of the motion, “therefore I move,” and I wasn’t quite sure exactly what that meant. Do you want to cap the rents? Is that what it is? For a five-bedroom unit it doesn’t say whether these folks are working or not. I mean, it’s something that we’ll have to clarify. Is it just going to be charging everybody so those that are paying $32 living in a five-bedroom unit now may have to potentially pay $1,200? These are questions that we’d have to have answered, so we’ll look forward to having the discussion with committee on some of the recommendations they made and sharing some of our thoughts with them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.