Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for Housing.
Mr. Speaker, I have constituents -- and it's not only in my region. It's in other regions as well -- that have recently been denied eligibility for the homeownership initiative program on the basis that they exceeded the core need income threshold. Why have these applicants been deemed ineligible for exceeding this threshold when the homeownership initiative policy makes no reference to this requirement? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT offers an affordable housing program. So it's for those that can't get by without Housing NWT's support. So it's for low income affordable housing. And that includes our programs, Mr. Speaker. So we have a homeownership program with home repairs, and we have a public housing program. So the public housing program has its own core need income threshold, and the home repair program has its own home core need income threshold. And I know, for instance, with the home repair program with a core need income threshold, this is gross income between eight and $10,000 a month. So, Mr. Speaker, I think that is being reviewed right now, but these are some of the examples of the home repair program core need income threshold. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, it's good the program is being reviewed, the policy is being reviewed, because it's the policy. I like the program. I understand about all the program that's available to help homeownership or to have more homeownership.
Given that the homeownership initiative policy is a policy that does not identify the core need income threshold as an eligibility requirement, what internal direction or guidance led to its use in assessing applicant eligibility? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like, the home repair program has been with this government for over 30 years, but what we're doing now with the core need income threshold and the review of it, is we're looking at our market basket measure today, in 2026, versus the last update which was 2020-2021. So there's significant work done on the home repair program with the core need income threshold, but also with our public housing program, with our core need income threshold, because sometimes over the last number of years, especially with COVID and especially with global events, cost of living has increased so much that people are trying to make ends meet, sometimes salaries don't go or match with the cost, CPI index. So looking at that and looking at the work, we're hoping to have something in my hand probably in March and in the House maybe in May for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about the homeownership initiative program, the policy, not the repair program.
With that in mind, what steps will the Minister take to ensure that eligibility decisions for the homeownership initiative align with the written policy, and will previously denied applicants and/or applications be reviewed if they were screened using criteria not specified in the program policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing does have an appeals process and we can always have a second look at applicants that are denied. And one thing we are doing with Housing NWT is normally the homeownership program is the regional centres or the capital, and housing is looking at applications outside regional centres and outside the capital. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
