Mr. Speaker, adequate and affordable housing continues to be a major problem across the territory and in smaller communities particularly. I refer to the 2004 survey of our community housing needs released by the NWT Housing Corporation. The report states that 29 percent of the territorial households have some form of housing problem. About half of those problems are identified as core need, meaning that the cost of repairs exceeds the ability of the homeowners to pay. The situation is more acute when we look at regional statistics. In my riding of Nahendeh, 42 percent of householders have housing problems of some sort. That is 319 households with problems, out of a total of 754. One-hundred-ninety-one have been identified as core need. According to my calculations, that means almost 60 percent of householders in Nahendeh have problems that they can't afford to fix.

As disturbing as this situation is, the picture looks even bleaker when we examine the housing situation in specific communities. Of major concern in my riding is the community of Fort Liard. Here is what we are looking at in Fort Liard: 91 households have housing problems, that is exactly half, or 50 percent; of those 91 householders with problems, 59 of them have been identified as core need. That works out to 65 percent. What particularly concerns me in Fort Liard is the condition of housing for elders. I cannot say why exactly, but, for some reason, the provision of adequate housing for elders in this community has fallen short of what is provided elsewhere. We can also be certain that any elder with a housing problem would be core need, meaning that they are unable to effectively care for themselves.

The NWT Housing Corporation estimates that approximately $750,000 will be needed to address the problems in Fort Liard alone and bring housing conditions up to par. So far, the government has budgeted only $250,000. That is a start, Mr. Speaker, but it is only a start. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement.