Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have met with the Seniors' Society, who are helping us to get this information out. As well, as stated earlier, we recognize that our website needs to be changed, so we are working on that currently. We are also looking at a communications plan on a regular basis so that not only this program but all of the changes need to be out.

I have given direction, and it was followed through, to make sure every local housing organization, every Aboriginal government, every municipal government, actually had the information on our changes.

Just from the past weekend, one of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We just have started the design work for that currently. As soon as we have got the design finished, construction will begin. It's not okay for LHOs to have $600,000 in reserves. I am not okay with that.

I do want to also state that, when we are doing the cuts across, like I said, over the two years, it has been 1 per cent last year and 1 per cent this year, some of the communities are only getting a reduction of $2,000 per year. Like Mr. Martin said, we are closely monitoring them on a case-by-case basis. If the smaller LHOs do run into a problem with that, a deficit, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we do monitor the applications to the rental officer. I do want to give credit to the Minister who was responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation before my time.

Previously, many years ago, people were in debt, like $60,000, $100,000. The debts were incredible, insurmountable, and people, they're going to be evicted at that point. The last Minister actually spent a lot of time actually getting people to try to pay their debts. It was very successful, with a 110 per cent collection rate, which means people were mostly paying up their current rents and dealing with...

The primary reason, yes, is the copayment. Like I have said many times, people that are making $20,000 can't afford to pay 10 per cent. With the changes where anyone under $60,000 doesn't need to have a copayment towards the CARE programs, we are hoping that there will be an increase in uptake within that. Again, this is one that we are watching carefully.

It needs to be noted that the Housing Corporation has gone through a lot of changes and more changes to come. Within that, there may have to be some reallocations of funding to make sure that the programs we are changing are adequately funded...

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.