Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the Minister and his staff for exchanging some information with us today. It’s been over two years, I guess, since we’ve been working with the Housing Corporation. I just want to commend the Minister and his staff on the improvements and hard work that they’ve done. It’s been very noticeable. I know we get a lot of good feedback within committee after our exchanges or meetings that we do have, so that’s been great.

First off, I just want to talk about some of the investments into our public housing stock as well as the transitional housing and Shelter Capital Fund. We have a good program going on in Inuvik right now that just started up with very minimal dollars, so it’s nice to see some of these dollars that are put in here for the upcoming budget that Inuvik can be possibly one of the leading groups that are working with very little to provide shelter for those that need it. So, I am very happy to see that in the budget.

There is also mention of improved energy efficiencies, and speaking with a couple of constituents back home that are interested in this area, it’s nice to see that it’s still looked at and there is support out there to see what we can provide in communities where we can provide some of these energy efficiencies.

The Minister did mention earlier about giving Members an update or just a briefing note on the evictions of people in the communities, constituents. I for one deal with some of that on a regular basis, but just getting the whole briefing note and understanding how hard the LHOs and how hard the Housing Corp has worked to try to keep people in their homes in most cases and working out every last bit of possible avenue to help people get through it. I think there were 30 cases that he mentioned that are going to court in terms of the mortgage arrears. I know this government and this department is working hard to address those issues.

Members made comments of the Transitional Rental Supplement Program. I won’t get into that any further, but it’s nice to hear that it’s still being utilized and there are people that are getting into that.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this Housing Corp. There’s been a lot of good work over the last two years and I know committee can also preach to that.

The Minister does know that I did have a constituency concern just recently, as of yesterday and today. It brought attention to this new act that Alberta has just passed. It’s the new Home Buyer Protection Act. That just deals with mandatory warranty programming and it will actually hold the builders more accountable when they are building some of these houses in Alberta. I want to ask the Minister if we have anything similar here in the Northwest Territories that would hold people that are building our dwellings and housing in the communities more accountable, especially with the plan to build 100 units over the next three years. It might be something to look into and see if there is any way that, as a government, we can legislate some type of act that would hold people building these units more accountable. Obviously, we want to make sure that we have proper housing units that will house people in the communities, but as we look to bring more people in from down south, that they have proper housing.

One other question that was brought up that is just how does the department write off and certify a housing unit when it’s built and ready for move-in. Do we have a proper inspector with proper regulations to sign off on those units? Obviously, we are going to have 100 units built over the next three years, so we want to make sure that we have all these things in place.

I just want to make a comment, and I think Mr. Menicoche made comments about the shelter and some of the vacant units in our small communities. Committee did hear from some Members that some of our residents going through some kind of treatment program outside of the Northwest Territories not having the proper support or having some kind of halfway house when they come back to the community for support, and whether or not an NGO can take over one of these vacant units to have some kind of transitional program in a small community, or regional community, for that matter, where they continue to get the support that they need. I know Yellowknife has quite a bit of opportunities or resources in that aspect, but even visiting those facilities here in Yellowknife there is also a definite need for more operations and more workers, as Ms. Bisaro said, and the safety as well.

Just some general comments. A couple of big issues there towards the end, but all in all the Housing Corporation has done a great job, and working with them since the beginning of the 17th Assembly there have been a lot of good improvements and the communication has been one of the better ones with departments. Just general comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.