Robert C. McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I will follow up with the Member and we will see how... I will get the particular details of the situation and we will see if we are in a position to speed it up, because it is our goal to get folks out of public housing and into their own units. If this is one way we can do it, I will commit to working with the Member to see if we can make this happen. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if I am to understand the Member, he is talking that this lady wants to buy a house on their own and it sounds like it is a public housing unit that she is looking to buy. Okay, that has something to do with the Housing Corporation. I would have to follow up with the Member and get particular details. I know we do have a policy where we are trying to rid ourselves of some public housing units. As we bring replacement units on, we are trying to reduce our stock. If we can have people out there that are looking to buy their public housing units, then it is something that we will...

There were some issues that came out of the whole transfer that we heard of. We are working to try to address some of the concerns that were raised. Paulatuk is just another good example. We have many communities across the Northwest Territories I still have to go into and visit and continue to get the message out there that this is not something that can be done overnight. There has been a challenge as far as the assessments go. We’ve heard that. I can tell you that Paulatuk is not a satellite-run community anymore. We have a management team in place in Paulatuk that is dealing with the...

I just explained to the Member the process that we are undertaking right now in helping deal with the arrears. There was a question of extremely high arrears in Paulatuk and we heard some of the stories from some of the residents there. We are undertaking the process again. The LHOs are doing the assessments currently, since the transfer back as of June 1st, for the assessments prior. Tenants have the opportunity to bring in their verification of income into Housing and they will then work with ECE to try to do the reassessments if it’s needed.

It gives me great pleasure to recognize in the gallery my wife, Judy, my daughter Kimberly, and two of my three jewels, my grandchildren, Rylan and Reese Wainman. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 15-16(5), I wish to table the following three documents entitled Core Need by Size of Household, Winter 2009; Senior Households in Core Need by Community, 2009; Core Need for Single Member Households Less than 60 Years of Age, Winter 2009. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’ll commit to the Member that I’d be willing to have a look at this. Again, I mentioned, and maybe it’s a discussion that he and I need to have, but we did receive a couple of requests from the community of Fort Liard. But I will commit to the Member that I’ll look at the expenses that they may have incurred there, if they can substantiate them and if it’s something that we need to sit down and discuss. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we have a contribution for community-organized searches that may provide contributions to support community-organized search for missing persons. If we go into the definitions -- and I am going to share this with the Member -- it talks about a public search that needs to be conducted by the RCMP and this has to fit into that area. So I’d be willing to provide some of this information to the Member.

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, we are always willing to look at the option of selling public housing units. However, we have to be sure that we are not depleting our stock in that community where we are unable to provide public housing to those that are in need. If there is an excess of public housing units or we are bringing in replacement units, then this is something that we will look at. If we are doing that, then sales should go through as quickly as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If she is going to purchase a house without the assistance of the Housing Corporation, then she would be able to do that on her own. I am not sure where it’s coming from. If you go to the bank for financing, then you really have no dealing with the Housing Corporation unless it is a Housing Corporation unit that she is looking to buy. I need to get the information clarified with the Member before I can respond properly to it. Thank you.