Thank you, Mr. Chair. As a Housing Corporation, we’d like to see as many people in their own homes as possible. If you look at the houses that we’ve been providing over the years, we have 2,400 public housing units. I think through the years we’ve managed to get about 1,500 homeownership units starting from way back to the present. So we’ve put a lot of people into their own homes and we’re still trying to tailor some

of our programs so we can get more people into their own homes.

We have to be careful. We’ve had a number of clients that have turned their units back over to the NWT Housing Corporation because once they got into homeownership they realized it was a lot different than being a public housing client and they just weren’t able to keep up with the demands of being a homeowner.

The Member was asking about subsidies, I believe through the HELP program. The HELP program was designed so we can get a potential client into a unit for up to two years and then after two years they would be responsible for all the utilities and the operation of the home. After two years, if they determine that they might want to go the next step, then they can make an application to purchase the home or another home. I believe the subsidy used to be $10,000 that we would give them towards this, but now it’s up to $20,000 that we’re able to provide a subsidy for.

The PATH program is another one where, if they’re eligible, clients can qualify for up to 48 percent of the purchase price and they can take that money to the bank to leverage more funding and get into a mortgage with the bank. I think that that would help a lot of people.

Again, as far as the elders go, we have I think as a Housing Corporation, not only as the Housing Corporation but as the Government of the Northwest Territories, I think we have some of the best programs for our seniors in the country. I’ve had an opportunity in my role as Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation to travel across the country and listen to people talk about the programs that they have and compared to the ones that we’ve got, I mean, we have the Cadillac of programs for our seniors in the Northwest Territories and they’re appreciative of that. We do try to work with them closely. There were programs a number of years ago to get seniors into their own homes and with the Fuel Subsidy Program, our preventative maintenance program, and our GSOs and our people on the front lines going to work with the seniors to make them aware of some of the programs that are available to them. I think, as well, the NWT Seniors’ Society has a handbook that speaks to some of the programs that are offered.

We try to get as much information out there as possible to make our seniors and all residents aware of some of the programs that we offer and it’s an ongoing work. I think what we have to do is we try to provide the Social Programs committee with regular updates on some of the programs as we’re changing them and as we’re improving them, and I think we’re almost due for a briefing soon to update them on some of the changes that we’re

making to the programs that we’re offering. Thank you.