Mr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs has stated that the $13 million cut to rent supplements reflects the fact that fewer people require assistance. 

The direct-to-tenant rent supplement program has a one-year expiry date, and seeing that the program started last April, support is running out.

To the minister of housing: while the rent subsidy is only one year long, the wait-list to get into affordable housing is almost three years long. How are people supposed to pay their rent without support while they wait another two years for affordable housing?

The Speaker: The hon. minister.

Mr. Denis: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the member for that question, but what he doesn’t recognize is that we’re supporting those most in need. There are always people who may be in need, but at the same time we have to set a guideline because we want to be compassionate most to the taxpayers but, as well, to those in need. We will continue to support those most in need of rent assistance.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess, you know, we’re talking in a sense about rationing. One way to reduce wait-lists is to reduce the number of people who qualify for support. It sounds like that’s what he’s done. Will the minister explain the changes which have been recently made to tighten up the qualifying criteria for rent supplements and affordable housing?

Mr. Denis: Mr. Speaker, it really saddens me, the approach that this member has taken to such an important program. The means test that we have had over the last several years remains the same. It is more stringent than other provinces’, but that enables us to target hard-working taxpayers’ money to those most in need.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Mr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I see no reason for the minister to get sad. All the minister needs to do is answer the questions. With fewer people qualifying for assistance and more people running out of rent supports, has the minister given up on the Housing First policy and now back to the old approach of merely managing homelessness?

Mr. Denis: Mr. Speaker, there’s one government in the country that has a 10-year plan to end homelessness, and that is the government of Alberta. That’s the plan that we will continue on forward.

Thank you.

Alberta Hansard, February 16, 2010

[direct link to this article]