Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr.

Speaker, I rise today to provide the House with a status report on the success of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation's initiatives to promote homeownership. In the early 1990's the corporation was spending over 70 percent of its budget on public housing, most of that money came from Ottawa. However, starting in 1992 the federal government began reducing and two years later eliminated funding for the construction of new public housing units.

Mr. Speaker, this meant the corporation had to shift its focus from building public housing to programs that helped northerners build their own homes. The corporation realized that many families living in public housing could afford the cost of running their own homes, but needed some help financing the construction. By assisting these families to move out of public housing, Mr. Speaker, public housing units could then be reallocated to those families who were in greater need.

Mr. Speaker, while the corporation has been successful in providing more NWT residents with new homes, these homes come with high price tags for the clients and cannot be afforded by everyone. The population of the NWT is young and growing, the need for lower cost single family homes is also growing. The corporation has identified this problem and is already working on innovative solutions to solve it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause