Mr. Speaker, as I said before, the clients of the public housing portfolio across the Northwest Territories are stepping up to the plate. We are quite pleased with that. We try and work with these, and one of the home ownership programs we allow them to carry up to $5,000 in arrears. They can still qualify for the program. We are trying to open doors to make tenants and clients out there eligible for some of our programs.
Again, it is unfortunate there are so many out there with arrears. Part of the reason that we are in arrears is we didn’t go after a lot of these people quick enough. We accept some of that responsibility. Again, we are quite encouraged with most of the communities across the Northwest Territories.
I would love to stand up here and name some of the communities that are our best and name some of the communities that are in arrears. We have
communities with 6 percent collection rate and they expect our local housing authorities to provide maintenance on those units when we are only collecting 6 percent, $14,000 out of $250,000 that is assessed. It is a partnership, again, and that is what we are trying to promote.
I think it is a goal of the 17th Legislative Assembly to
make people more responsible, and people are actually starting to step up to the plate. We are quite pleased with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.