Caroline Cochrane

I did say in the House here that one of my goals before I have finished my position with the Government of the Northwest Territories is to ensure that we have homeless shelters in every region, so we have reached out to the region of the Sahtu and, through that process, we received two proposals.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this point we do not have a defined number in the department. They have been talking about the pilot project of at least 10. I have been moving them and saying a pilot project with at least 33. One per community would be my pilot project goal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The section is actually in capital, for the building of the units. There is some in here, as well, for land, et cetera. The update on what is happening with the RCMP units, though, is more important. At this point, we are waiting. The RCMP at first wanted to hand over all of its units to totally get out of housing of its members. At this point, they are rethinking that. They are looking at perhaps maintaining a couple of their units, so we are not sure. We actually are working with them, still, and we are waiting for them to decide which way they are going forward with it...

I am feeling like it is my birthday. In all honesty, seniors are a huge issue not only for myself but for all the Ministers sitting at the table here. We will be focusing a lot of effort within our program renewal on our provision of supports to seniors. So, yes, we will contemplate a rent-subsidy program on top of what we already have to accommodate seniors to age in place.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It would have been interesting to have the Member actually answer that question, though, and just kind of see her input.

---Laughter

So to address the whole issue of core need, like I say, we are looking internally to see if we can be more effective, more efficient with our current programs. If it makes sense to move people out, we are trying to do training programs so that, out of 200 houses, we don't have to fix 108 windows every year. We are trying to train people so that they can actually maintain their homes better. We are trying to look at home ownership versus public...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the victims of family violence component has one year left. We are expecting that the federal government will renew that after the term, though. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, at this point in time, the only communities within the Northwest Territories that have actual homeless shelters are Inuvik, Yellowknife, and Fort Smith. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The additional money for the property tax and land leases, there is a $92,000 increase and it is for the additional property tax that will be for the lots for the planned RCMP units. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The reason that we are retaining it is that we will be phasing it out over a threeyear period because some people are still using that. Until we have moved into and have a defined program that will assist people in being able to afford market rents, then I am not willing to take it off the table. So it will be in place until we have something, a rent supplement program, which is better suited to the needs of the residents that can take its place. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can commit to working with my colleagues to actually look at how we can address red tape within housing standards, but I also should make the Speaker aware that some of the red tape will be on behalf of municipalities because the municipalities will have to make sure that their bylaws accommodate for tiny houses as well, and that I have no say over.