Robert C. McLeod

I hear the Member’s comments and I’ve heard those comments before, where you get some concerns from the residents in the NWT where somebody has accessed a program and they seem to continue to access those programs where somebody that needs a lot of assistance is not getting it.

I hear the Member’s concern with people who apply for these units, they did apply for the units and we gave them the units and there was a forgivable portion, especially the old HAP units. I’ve asked the corporation, just talking to the two Jeffs here, and I’ve asked if we can come up with the information on a lot of the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ve said we’ve used those numbers, especially in some of the communities where the need is highest, we’re hoping to use those numbers to use it as a basis for allocating our resources in the future. I think the report came out last year. So this particular year we’ve tried to gear as many resources to some of the communities in higher need. So we’re hoping to be able to take care of some of the repairs that are going on in the community.

One thing I need to point out, Mr. Chair, is we’ve had homeownership units across the Northwest Territories for the last number of years...

Mr. Speaker, I think Housing goes to great lengths to try and accommodate all our seniors and try to help them out as much as we can. If you look at the public housing portfolio, seniors over 60 don’t pay any rent, so that helps them out quite a bit. We have the Senior Preventative Repair Program. We have the Seniors Repair Program. I have even offered, as we have folks go into the communities, to have someone accompany them that speaks the first language in the community so the seniors are better able to understand some of the programs that we offer. We ask people -- and this would apply to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We did have quite a spike in the amount. It went up to $8 million and that was as a result of some of the federal investment that we were using. It is down to $5 million. We are trying to refocus some of our resources into the repair side of it because we see that as one of our biggest needs right now. I think our overall infrastructure budget for this year is, like, $28 million. Yes, about $28 million. That’s going back to our historical levels that we’ve had before. So we’re trying to refocus some of our priorities into the CARE side of it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have 15 apprentices within the Housing Corporation and more specifically at the LHO level at this particular time. We do have plans for bringing on 10 more. As for the types of trades that they’re in, we have a fairly extensive list and what I can do is I can get the staff to provide a copy to Members that gives the location and specific trade they’re in. It goes from housing maintenance servicemen, which we find we need a lot in the communities, carpenters, oil burner mechanics, we have a few plumber/oil burner mechanic apprentices. That covers them all. We’ll be...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have targeted secondary intakes in a few of the communities where we didn’t get as many applicants as we wanted to for some of the units that we have on the ground. So with some of the vacant HELP units, for example, if we had one community where there may be four or five left even after the first intake, we’re trying to have a secondary intake for those particular communities so we can allocate those houses and then, failing that, we go into converting them into public housing units. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the building which the Member speaks of, the folks that are leasing the building do have quite a good rate right now. They’re about $7.45 a square foot where the market is around $23. There’s still a fair amount of money that’s owing on the actual mortgage itself. This is one of the first times that I’ve had the opportunity to review this. I’ve just been getting an update on my briefing and my briefing notes. So it’s something that I’ll commit to the Member that I’ll have a discussion with my senior officials about. We’re looking at probably a half a million yet left owing on...

Mr. Chairman, if materials and packages arriving in the community were ordered by the NWT Housing Corporation, then it would be our responsibility to ensure that we have the replacement material in there as quick as possible. The contractors would have an opportunity to be reimbursed or compensated by the Housing Corporation, especially if it is our fault the material is not there in time. However, if it was a supply ship direct and the contractor was responsible for getting material, then it would be the contractor’s responsibility. If it is the Housing Corporation’s responsibility, then we...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have with me today, to my right, Mr. Jeff Polakoff, president and CEO of the NWT Housing Corporation, and Mr. Jeff Anderson, vice-president of finance with the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you.