Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I said, the goal is not to make people live in poverty. That is not what my goal is. We have done, over the years, a lot of investment into alternative energy and things like solar in our units and putting LED light bulbs in all of our public housing units, and those are things that should bring down the costs.

In some communities, people are only paying $70 a month. I understand that that is all they can afford, but the reality is that, down south, people are paying 25 per cent of their income towards public housing. We are charging people between 4 per cent of their...

Absolutely. The Member is correct. People can bring their paper copy of their tax assessment into any local housing organization within the Northwest Territories. That will be used to verify their annual income.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The homelessness assistance program is currently fully utilized. We are, however, looking at changes to that program as well because currently it's a one-time access to it and it's a maximum of $1,500. The whole goal of that program actually is to address homelessness, and sometimes people get into trouble more than one time. Now we're looking at, instead of one time, we're looking at trying a maximum amount of $1,500. For example, previously if people needed a ticket to their community and they were coming from Yellowknife and wanted to go to Hay River, that's not $1,500...

Like I had said before, another reason is for energy efficiency. It's not okay to have your windows open and your lights going. We need to recognize that, in this day and age, we need to be more energy efficient and energy conscious. The money that we're actually saving by making people more responsible for their utilities will be utilized for the declining CMHC funding that we will be facing in 2038. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have implemented the recommendations of the Privacy Commissioner. The recommendation to look at CRA assessments was actually based on good intent, as the Member has stated. I think it is actually a good practice. It took me a little while to get my head around it, as well, when I first took over the position.

Previous to that, people were presenting their incomes to the local housing organizations. That leads to more chances of private information on income actually getting leaked into the public, with staff turnover, et cetera. The Privacy Commissioner found...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just confirmed with my staff. They say within the next six months we will assess what space they will need and then we will put it out to RFP process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. It's actually within our Community Housing Services Agreement, so our operating agreements with the local housing organizations. I can provide a copy of that agreement with that piece in it by tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, the Ministers actually sit on a social committee. On that committee is the Minister of Justice, the Minister for Health and Social Services, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and myself, the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Education, Culture and Employment is doing a lot to try to get people employed, but also what we're looking at is people within the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. We have people who have huge arrears, so that is one of the policies that we're looking at currently to see if we can actually look at ways...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point, they are renting a space. It is important to note that the local housing organization, the board has just been formed. It is a new service. At this point, they are fine in their accommodations. As they progress and become more sustained as a board of directors, then we will look at the needs of their individual housing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, so the cut was across all LHOs. So far the feedback that we received is that the local housing organizations are stating to us that they are manageable. Thank you, Mr. Chair.