Julie Green

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table two documents. The first is a letter from YWCA NWT to the Aurora College Board of Directors requesting a reinstatement of the social work program. Mr. Speaker, the second is a letter of resignation from the South Slave representative on the Aurora College board because she does not support the cuts to the college. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

No questions. Thank you.

I just asked the question. You need to ask the Minister. Thank you.

Just to clarify my question, I think the Minister understood the question, but I am not talking about people who own their own homes. I am talking about people who are in public housing. So they would get a subsidy to stay -- no, sorry, I am making things worse. I am talking about keeping seniors in their current rental units with transitional housing support, and then that would bring them off the waiting list for public housing. That is where I was going with that.

Moving on, the lack of available spots demonstrates the need to devote more of our limited budgets towards meeting the...

Billions of dollars would be very welcome in all different dimensions of our territory, not only in homeownership. I appreciate that there is more money in SAFE in this Securing Assistance for Emergencies. The thing about CARE, though, is that we need the money now. The number of seniors is, as everybody knows, growing very rapidly, and that includes now, and so this is one of these areas where we really need the investment so that people don't advance down to the more expensive options in the continuum of care.

So I urge the Minister to consider an additional investment in the CARE Program...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in my opening remarks, I spoke about the need for transformative change by the Housing Corporation to meet the needs of people in the Northwest Territories for social housing. What we know is that the core need rates are fairly steady over time. We also know that the waiting lists are fairly substantial and not going down. We also know that the number of seniors in the NWT is forecast to increase by 40 per cent over the next seven years. As I spoke about earlier today in my statement, there will be a big need for social housing for many of those people. How is...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of the Housing Corporation, also known as the Minister of Yes. What I described in my Member's statement is an immediate problem. This solution isn't tied to the housing survey or a new federal housing deal; it's a matter of assessing what the applicant's income would be on the day after they retire. That's all we need to do. So will the Minister direct her officials to adjust their own processes and initiate talks with the low-cost housing partners to take into account the differences between their pre- and post-retirement...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Regular MLAs have been asking for an additional $1.3 million to be added to the main estimates for the SAFE Program. The primary reason for asking for this addition is to enable renovations to happen to seniors' homes so that they are able to age in place. This subject has been canvassed many times, but just to briefly reiterate. We believe that it is the most effective use of the money and what seniors themselves want to allow them to have supports in place to age in place. So the kinds of renovations that we're looking for are ramps, easily accessible...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that in year two it will go up by 6 cents again, and then it will be 27 cents a kilowatt hour, but what is the figure for year three, please? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, this shelter enhancement program, is it now in its last year? Thank you.