I do, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2013-14 Main Estimates for the NWT Housing Corporation. The main estimates propose a budget of $112.782 million, a decrease of 0.4 percent from the 2012-13 Main Estimates. The budget includes a contribution of $67.492 million from the GNWT for 2013-14.
As Members are aware, one of the five priorities identified by the 17th Legislative Assembly was to
address housing needs. Housing is a complex issue in many of our communities. There are significant differences in housing needs and challenges between our market and non-market communities, and there are needs along the entire housing continuum from homelessness to home ownership. Our approach to housing should strengthen self-reliance and support residents in meeting their own shelter needs, but also needs to recognize the importance of housing in supporting community sustainability, contributing to efforts to reduce poverty, and reflect the linkages between housing and education and health issues. These challenges need to be addressed in the context of declining federal funding for operating and
maintaining social housing in the Northwest Territories.
The actions of the NWT Housing Corporation are being guided by Building for the Future, our strategic plan, and the priorities of the 17th Legislative Assembly.
Public housing continues to be the largest program offered by the NWTHC with approximately 2,400 units and planned expenditures of $45 million in 2013-14. A number of actions are being undertaken to improve public housing. The new rent scale was implemented on July 1, 2012, and made rent simpler, more predictable and fair.
This new rent scale also addressed the disincentive to work that has been a long-standing concern.
We have improved management of the Public Housing Program with the introduction of new information management systems, increased emphasis on support for the LHOs and continued investment to improve the quality of our public housing stock.
In 2013-14, over $14 million will be spent to improve the quality of our public housing stock. This will include eight public housing replacements, 171 major retrofits, and a variety of minor maintenance and improvement projects. These investments build on the $141 million we have invested in the public housing stock over the past six years.
The 2013-14 budget also contains a $540,000 forced-growth investment to offset the increased utility costs related to public housing. While some success has been achieved on the consumption side with the energy investments and investments in upgraded stock, these don’t completely offset the rising prices for utilities. An additional $700,000 has also been identified to continue the energy investments on public housing during 2013-14, with the focus on installing wood pellet boilers that will impact about 50 units.
The NWTHC has also taken significant steps to support home ownership in the Northwest Territories. The NWTHC will spend approximately $9.5 million in 2013-14 supporting home ownership and providing support to homeowners completing repairs to their houses. We have introduced SAFE, a new emergency repair program, and made changes to our CARE preventative maintenance program for low-income homeowners. In 2013-14, changes will be made to PATH, our subsidy to support the home purchases, which will make this program more effective in supporting home ownership in non-market communities and expand the potential pool of clients.
Late in 2012-13, steps were taken to provide home ownership clients that have a mortgage with the NWTHC revised mortgage balances and affordable repayment options. Letters were sent to clients in December and community visits are underway now
to review the new loan agreements. The steps we have taken as part of this initiative provides these homeowners with a fresh start on their mortgages and provides clients stable, affordable monthly mortgage payments.
In addition to the public housing rental program, during 2013-14 the NWTHC will spend about $6.2 million supporting other rental housing. This spending includes administration and maintenance associated with 118 market rents, 265 households operating under our HELP and supported lease programs and 463 homes operated by third-party community-based organizations. It also includes funding for the Transitional Rent Supplement Program which provides support to reduce the affordability problems and core need among residents in market rentals.
In 2013-14 the Housing for Staff program will be reintroduced. This program provides a subsidy to developers to develop rental housing in small NWT communities where recruitment has been particularly challenging. Changes are being introduced to the program to increase its effectiveness. To further support housing for critical staff that deliver services in smaller communities, the NWTHC has also taken steps to standardize rental rates in our own market rental units and to ensure that all available affordable housing units are used whenever possible. We will work closely with departments and agencies to improve awareness of rental opportunities and the new rental rates. We will also look for opportunities to expand our stock of rental units in communities where there is the greatest need for housing for critical staff.
In relation to homelessness, the NWTHC administers the Homelessness Assistance Fund and the Small Community Homelessness Fund. The $325,000 for these two funds provides support and direct assistance to residents who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and funds projects in smaller NWT communities that address issues related to homelessness in these communities.
On the revenue side, and as was noted previously, our efforts to address housing needs are further challenged by the declining federal funding for operating social housing. As Members know, the GNWT will see reduced annual funding of $2.1 million over the life of this Assembly as part of the ongoing declines that will see federal funding for operating social housing eliminated by 2037-38. For these main estimates, an investment of just over $1 million was made by the GNWT to offset the federal decline in 2013-14.
That concludes my opening remarks. At this time I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.