I’d like to give the Minister a bit of a scenario which, unfortunately, occurred. A family was offered an apartment with Yellowknife Housing Authority. They ended the lease in their current place. Then a policy intervened and three weeks before the end of their current lease they were advised that, no, they had arrears and they had to pay the arrears before they could move into their new place. The response basically from Health and Social Services was that policy did not allow them to go into this place.

I’d like to ask the Minister, if this is a program of last resort, should staff members not be working to accommodate these people who are in a difficult situation between one home and the next as opposed to simply refusing them?

Without knowing the details and facts of the situation, it’s difficult for me to comment, but I think it should be noted that when we say a program is one of last resort it does not equal to saying that anybody who applies for it will get it. They would have to meet the guidelines and policies of those programs. Without knowing the facts, I could not give full answers to exactly what happened in this situation. If the Member wants to bring the details to me, I’d be happy to look into that.

To the Minister, this is not a current situation. It was solved. It was not solved through any assistance through government, unfortunately. It was solved through the assistance of the community. I’d like to ask the Minister, when a person is desperate for homeownership assistance, or for home assistance I should say, so that they do not become homeless, what is it that the staff do? What do they look at to see whether or not an application should be accepted or denied?

This pot of money for $125,000 was allocated to help those in most need. They sometimes don’t fall into other programs that are available in the government. I am aware of lots of specific situations where we have helped them. We have, in fact, spent every penny in that program over the last year. It does work to fill the gaps and fill the holes and to be a safety net for those who come forward. A Member has a situation of one case that didn’t work out perhaps, and I’m glad to hear that it was resolved, but by and large this program serves the purpose for which it was intended.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In this case I don’t think it did work. The family had three weeks’ notice to try and pay off a $700 debt, give or take. It simply was not possible. The father was in school, the mother was on income support. I really need to ask the Minister, when an application comes forward, do the staff not look to find solutions as opposed to finding a way to deny the application?

I can say in confidence that our staff looks to find solutions. We do not look at the application to look for a way to deny them. In fact, we have spent $62,000 more on this budget than what was allocated. I can demonstrate to you that we have spent 50 percent more than what was allocated. We look for ways to find solutions. I can give for her one example that she has 10 examples of how we have helped our residents to go back to

their communities and pay off their debt. I’m saying that if in this situation the person was denied, they would have been faxed, I would have supported that, and I need the Member to tell me what the situation is.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. What support exists for homeowners in remote communities who need to replace oil tanks and wood pilings underneath their homes?

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those that find they need to replace their fuel tanks or pilings would be able to, if they qualify, access money through CARE, the home repair program.

What’s being done to educate the public about proper maintenance of oil tanks and wood pilings?

It’s obvious that there has been some concern with the fuel tanks and, more specifically, the wood pilings. As far as public education, I would have to follow up and see what’s out there. This has been a longstanding issue, the pilings in particular, so folks out there are well aware of some of the challenges they face. The fuel tank issue is just a new one that’s been out for a bit here. There’s still a process that has to go on where we need to educate the public and make them aware of some of the challenges they face with the fuel tanks.

Does the NWT Housing Corporation plan to address the pilings that are beginning to decay for private homeownership? I think the cost for one to repair is about $1,500. I mean, some people are barely eligible to stay in those units that are being given under the programs that they fall under through the Housing Corporation. Can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on the process and what the department can do to help enhance the program to get these pilings done for the private homeownership?

Obviously, being a private homeowner, they would be responsible for the remediation of their piles. However, the Housing Corporation does offer the CARE program where, if they’re eligible, they would qualify for home repairs and get the piling work done. As far as a program designed specifically for that, it doesn’t exist right

now, but clients will have an opportunity through one of the home repair programs to get the work done to their units.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister consider looking at ways to increase support to homeowners in remote communities and the need to replace oil tanks and wood pilings and to enhance the programs under the NWT housing CARE program?

We’re always looking at ways that we can improve the delivery of our program. We have allocated, in the past number of years, a large amount of resources to the communities. I can stand here and quote some numbers from the Member’s constituency where one particular community received $4.7 million since 2007. Another community got about the same amount. We try and distribute the resources that we have equally. We’ve been fortunate in the last number of years with the federal investment. We’ve been able to allocate more resources. With that money being sunsetted we’re back to our historical levels, but we still recognize the importance of helping those in the communities that need assistance. I think last year we allocated about $9 million to help homeowners. This year the number is a little lower, what we’re proposing. Still we see it as our contribution to helping those that want to fix up their units. Again I will remind the Member that for those who qualify for some of the programs, there’s always the assistance in dealing with some of the issues surrounding their units.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Bonus question. For myself, would the Minister, for the private homeowners, like, we have some elders that are retired and the family is still working. They still say that under the last fiscal year, would the Minister reconsider looking at the pre-qualifications and opening that up with the Housing Corporation to be able to allocate more monies to the individuals in the communities?

We try to distribute our resources equally and fairly across the Northwest Territories. We have some of our smaller communities that continue to get a good portion of the money. We’re always looking at ways to allocate resources to a lot of the communities that are in need. We find we have more applications in one community than another. We’re always looking at ways we can assist our homeowners to improve the condition of their units.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for a hotel tax which is being called upon by the Hotel Association asking the Minister of Finance to create such an initiative that could help support tourism initiatives in the Northwest Territories. What is the hesitation of the Department of Finance from simply creating a hotel tax that could be targeted to help support the tourism industry?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.