Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12,

reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Madam Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, June 7, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Weledeh, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation delay implementation of the proposed changes to the seniors public housing rent scales until the corporation conducts a thorough and transparent consultation process with seniors across the Northwest Territories;

And further, that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation develop and bring forward to the Standing Committee on Social Programs a new proposal for seniors public housing rent scales that reflects the input and concerns of seniors but still recognizes the seniors’ responsibility to contribute when appropriate;

And furthermore, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 90 days.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I give notice that on Thursday, June 7, 2012, I will move that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Human Rights Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 2-17(3), Commissioner’s Opening Address: Creating the Conditions for Success; Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013; Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act; Committee Report 1-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest

Territories; Committee Report 2-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report.

By the authority given the Speaker pursuant to Motion 2-17(3), I hereby authorize the House to sit beyond the daily sitting hour of adjournment to consider business before the House, with Mr. Dolynny in the chair. Thank you.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We’ve got five items on today’s agenda: Tabled Document 2-17(3), Commissioner’s Opening Address: Creating the Conditions for Success; Tabled Document 3-17(3), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2012-2013; Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act; Committee Report 1-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories; and Committee Report 2-17(3), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2010- 2011 Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission Annual Report. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The committee wishes to continue with deliberations of Tabled Document 3-17(3), NWT Main Estimates, with the continuation of the Housing Corporation, on to Municipal and Community Affairs, Department of Justice, as well as Health and Social Services, time permitting.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Does committee agree?

Thank you. We will commence after a short break.

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Welcome back, committee. Does Minister McLeod have witnesses he’d like to bring into the Chamber?

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Committee agree?

Thank you. Sergeant-at-Arms, would you please escort the witnesses into the House?

Mr. McLeod, would you like to introduce your witnesses to the committee, please?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have with me, to my right, Mr. David Stewart, president and CEO of the NWT Housing Corporation; and to my left I have Mr. Jeff Anderson, vice-president, infrastructure and finance, NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Welcome back, Mr. Stewart and Mr. Anderson, to the House. We are on general comments for the NWT Housing Corporation. Next up for general comments I have from Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I begin I will just apologize and just reiterate anything I said yesterday just to kind of speed up the process.

Looking at the opening remarks, I just wanted to make a comment on the expenditures that were put forth for the budget here in the amount of $43.9 million. I do recall in previous discussion we talked about the lack of arrears. When arrears are not being collected, it does affect the maintenance program because that money actually goes directly into maintaining the units. When we do these expenditures and if we’re looking at putting some new units in the communities, I hope it does go on a needs assessment or areas where possibly there are some clients who are not paying their arrears because they feel that their units do need the maintenance and they don’t feel comfortable doing that. That’s one comment I wanted to make.

A good comment is the $325,000 for the homelessness position. Speaking with the Alternatives North group that came in today to give a presentation to us earlier in this government, they had mentioned that housing was one of the contributing factors to homelessness in the NWT. Looking at the business plans we see before us, or actually that we had during the business planning session, a lot of good action was taking place and I did make comments back then when your department came and sat before the committee. It’s really nice to see that you have taken the initiative with this and are going to move forward.

The Rent Supplement Program, the $1.2 million, I’m glad to see that it does say in here that there is $500 per month for a two-year period, so that really will help some individuals out, especially in some of the communities that are really going to need it shortly. I’m thinking specifically of Inuvik, of course, and the situation we’re in. I’m not sure when the starting date is on that, but I’ll let constituents know back home about that funding program. I guess based on the applications the department receives, they’ll be looking at increasing that or not.

The funds that were allocated to the SAFE program are a really good move forward.

In terms of the home ownership program, I know I did have some discussions with some constituents

back home who have been previously approved for the home ownership program, and then having to revise their application and then not being able to get a home because it didn’t require the needs of that certain individual or family. I think there needs to be some change in how that’s developed, especially if they do meet the requirements but there’s no place open for them. I do know we do have some vacancies in some of the communities. If they are vacant, there should be an opportunity to utilize those units.

From last night there were a lot of good comments made by my fellow colleagues. I just want to touch on those as the main ones I wanted to discuss without having to reiterate some of my fellow colleague’s comments. With that said, I just want to thank the Minister and his staff for coming back today and for getting through this department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. For general comments we have Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I’ll start with some of my issues and concerns and support towards housing.

One of the things I support is this new rental scale program. It’s built on encouraging people to stay working, where the old system was a deterrent to be working. If you made a certain income, because of your income you were discouraged because the rent went to high amounts. The maximum amounts are quite a bit less now, so there’s an incentive to stay working. You are contributing to the economy yet taking advantage of public housing.

One of the other issues I know that’s a concern in my area is senior housing and the amount of senior housing available. We are seeing a high demand for seniors housing and multiple units. I’m just interested in seeing where the department is going with that. Especially as our population ages, we are going to see more and more demands for that. Thankfully, some of that is the Northwest Territories and keeping a lot of seniors that typically used to travel south or move south once they became retirement age. Now we’re seeing them stay in the North, spending their retirement in the North. I think that’s a positive spin, but it’s also putting pressure on our senior housing and, obviously, our health care system as well.

Another situation that we have that we’re concerned with in the Hay River area is homelessness, I guess. A homeless shelter for men would be an added, additional area of concern, which I know Housing has had some dealings with. That’s an area that I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to work with Housing on some of those issues in the near future.

Getting back to the rental scale program, also I would like to see the department set up a tracking system on how this is being implemented and how effective it is, as well as doing a review after a year, 18 months, two years, whatever they deem adequate to indicate what some of the results are as far as financially and arrears-wise, as well as the effectiveness of the program and be willing to tweak the program wherever possible to make it more effective.

One of the other issues that are coming up with seniors housing is seniors having to pay for public housing. In the Hay River area, we’ve had some meetings. It’s an area of debate. There are several seniors, quite a few seniors that feel that they are willing to pay a little bit. Often with a claim: as long as it’s fair and equitable for everybody. There are some that are probably against it as well. In that area, I’m kind of torn and sitting on the fence because there is a 50/50 split, I think, in supporting or not supporting seniors having to pay housing.

Those are some of my initial concerns with the housing programs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Moving on with general comments, the Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I may repeat some stuff that was mentioned last night. My apologies in advance if I do. It just indicates where my concerns and priorities lie for the department.

At the outset, I want to say that I was pleased to see the recent framework that was published and released. There’s a lot of good stuff in there. I know I felt that there were maybe some details lacking and the department has assured us that those details would be forthcoming. I certainly look forward to seeing more of the details to flesh out that whole framework.

Part of that is in the Minister’s remarks from yesterday, the statement that the Housing Corp has seen and is going to address needs along the entire housing continuum. I’m really glad to hear that. I think the recognition that we have some gaps in our housing continuum is a real step forward. That’s also in the framework.

The framework also talks to the new rent scale. I certainly am pleased to see we are adjusting our rent scales, that we are making some changes that I hope would be for the better. My ask would be that there be an evaluation of the impact of this new scale in about a year’s time, so that we don’t just put it in place and forget about it for 10 years, but that we look at the impact and determine whether or not what we have done as a change is a good thing.

I note in the Minister’s remarks there’s a statement that we have about $2.4 million in forced growth and that it is mainly due to increased utility costs

which, unfortunately, everybody in the NWT knows about. But the second part of his paragraph, their task about continuing to do energy upgrades and I’m really glad to see that in there as well. I think we need to continue to put money into upgrades for energy, maintenance, the whole focus that has started to become prevalent within the government. I am very glad to see that.

Along with the continuum of housing -- and I’ve spoken to the Minister and I’ve spoken about it in the House, I know I’ve spoken to Mr. Stewart about it as well – is the need for assistance for people in transitional housing. It’s kind of interesting. I was talking about transition housing relative to another act today. The Transitional Rent Supplement Program, which the Minister mentioned in his opening remarks, I think is going to be a very valuable tool. Similar to the rent scale change, I hope that we will evaluate this program in a short period of time. Don’t wait five years to find out whether or not it’s working. From what I understand of the needs of people that are in transition housing now, between homelessness and their own accommodation, this is going to be something that will assist low-income earners a great deal. I’m anxious to see whether or not our guesses are right.

The move to establish a homelessness coordinator, in my view, is excellent. I was really glad to see that. I have said before that homelessness previously has been handled off the corner of somebody’s desk in this government and we now have a focal point for homelessness. That groups know where they need to go with their homelessness issue or their problems or their concerns is a real bonus. I understand; I’ll ask the question later on, but I understand that the programs will continue. I also understand that the Housing Corp is going to evaluate those programs. I think that’s also a good move. I think they’re a bit piecemeal at the moment and we need to figure out what it is we should be providing for homelessness and have a focused approach. I don’t think we’ve had that for awhile.

I wanted to talk a bit about the LHOs. Some LHOs do great; some LHOs do not do all that well. I think from the Minister’s remarks there is an increased capacity for training and workshops for LHO staff. I think that that’s a recognition that some LHOs do need the extra assistance, and I was pleased to hear that they’re looking at opportunities for bulk purchasing that the Housing Corp was going to try to create efficiencies wherever possible and that’s very positive as well, in my view.

I am extremely concerned, as are all Members, about the declining CMHC funding. This particular budget had almost $1 million investment by the GNWT to make up for what the federal government is not providing us, and in a $1.4 billion budget it’s

maybe not a lot of money, but we can do an awful lot in housing for $1 million. So my hope here is that there’s an indication that the Housing Corp is looking at sort of doing an analysis and trying to develop a plan for this declining funding issue. I don’t see and I’m not really sure that a hard, fast, concrete plan is going to be brought forward to Members for consideration anytime in the near future. It would be something I hope that the Housing Corp is going to be working on and will present something to Members sometime soon to say we know this is happening, we’re still working with the feds. But if they don’t produce the extra funding, as I feel they should, this is what we’re going to do as a government.

The only other two things I wanted to mention are rental arrears, which I didn’t see in the Minister’s remarks, but again, it’s a problem that’s been ongoing for quite a long time. Some LHOs are great in collecting their rent, others are not so much. I would just hope that the Housing Corp is going to target those communities that are problematic or do have problems in collecting their rents and have a very high percentage of uncollected rents. Those communities that are doing well, or the LHOs that are doing well, sure, monitor them, but I don’t think we need to focus on them. I would say we need to focus on the ones that aren’t getting the job done.

The other thing that I was wondering about, I haven’t seen anything, is vacant units. There was a plan to get rid of all our vacant units. I think the Minister spoke to that maybe last week in response to a question, but what plans do we have when, I guess will we basically have all the vacant units that the Housing Corp has when will we have divested ourselves of them and got people into them so they have their own homes? That’s it. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. That looks like we’ve concluded general comments. I’ll now turn it over to the Minister to offer replies to general comments.