Mr. Speaker, I have a response to Written Question number 7-20(1) asked by the Member for Monfwi on June 5th, 2024, regarding housing debt among elders and seniors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Member asked about the total mortgage and rent arrears owed to Housing Northwest Territories over the past five years. Housing NWT's audited rent arrears, or receivables, for the past five years have totaled $12.6 million in 2022-2023 and $13.5 million in 2021-2022. The previous three-year amounts were approximately $13 million. As for Mortgage receivables, the total was $15.5 million in 2022-2023, down from previous year totals of $19.6 million in 2021-2022, $25 million for 2020-2021, $24 million for 2019-2020 and $23 million in 2018-2019. The Member also requested to further specify the number of clients and value of debt transferred to the Rental Office to administer arrears collection.
This question is not clear. When an LHO or Housing NWT refers a file to the Rental Office for a decision, this does not mean the Rental office administers the collections. Instead, the Rental Office issues an order and Housing NWT remains responsible for collections. The change after a Rental Office order is that Housing NWT can file the order with the Supreme Court and can then have access to other collections tools such as garnishee. At this time Housing NWT's database does not allow for an easy way to identify the total value of debt which has been subject to a Rental Office order. The Member further requested to specify the number of clients and value of mortgages that have been forgiven in the last five years. Over the past five years, the Financial Management Board approved the forgiveness of 641 debt files owing to Housing NWT with a total value of $22.68 million. Additionally, the Member requested to know the number of clients who have re-negotiated lower payments with Housing NWT. In the last five years, 12 mortgage files were refinanced. Finally, the Member requested to know the number of senior clients aged 60 years and older, and the value of debt from these senior clients. Currently, there are nine mortgage files for senior clients, totalling $500K as of May 31, 2024. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.