Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Just very quickly, homelessness is an issue that’s facing all departments, I think, within this government, and it’s not just because they don’t have a home, there are many other reasons and we all need to do our part to deal with it. So as the Housing Corp, we do what we can to help deal with it and the other departments do what they can.
I like the Member’s point, though, and it’s something that we tried to do, is make the tenants aware of what it’s costing on that unit. I think it used to be right on their receipt, I believe, even on their power. A couple of years ago we increased the user pay part of the power from I think it was six to nine cents. So we were hoping the consumption would come down. I mean…(inaudible)…you could be in one community where you could have a house that was just recently renovated, so the energy you’re using there is obviously going to be a little less than if you’re next door and you’re waiting to get your unit renovated. So there’s a bit of a difference there. But we do make them aware. You know, somebody could be paying $90 a month, depending on what community they live in, $90 all in, but it’s costing us $2,500 a month to maintain that unit and we need to make them aware of that, that they’re being subsidized $2,410 a month.
Clients are becoming more aware, I think, of what it’s costing to maintain that unit. I think they’re also becoming more aware of the fact that the Housing Corp is serious about rent collection and I believe they’re stepping up. It has been the mindset for too long that, well, I’m not going to pay my rent, I can run up $50,000 in arrears and nothing is going to happen, but that has changed. So we’ll continue to work on that. There’s tenant damage for exactly what the Member was talking about. There could be tenant damage charges for that. We continue to deal with that, but the Member’s point is well taken that we need to make them aware of what it’s costing the taxpayers to have them in a particular unit, so we’ll continue to do that.
I think I touched on most of the other issues that the Member had raised. If I didn’t, Mr. Yakeleya, I apologize.