Thank you, Mr. Minister. We’ll get that circulated so the Members can have a chance to look at it.

I thank the Minister for that. I’ll certainly be more than willing to accept that copy and review the detail further myself.

I find that one of the challenges is…. As an example, I have a constituent who goes to the Yellowknife Housing Authority, and they just don’t have any — not necessarily barrier-free — disabled units; they just don’t have anything available. I don’t think what they’re looking for is the all-inclusive barrier-free unit where every door is fixed, whether the fixtures are changed, whether the ramp is there or not. They’re looking for accessible living, and we just don’t have that stock available in Yellowknife. Although I would be extremely surprised if the Minister has that specific number of what’s available in Yellowknife other than what’s in the portfolio as a whole — I’d be surprised if he knew how many were free at this time, because there just doesn’t seem to be any, or I should say that there doesn’t seem to be any free available stock for those people coming forward.

It’s very disheartening when you have someone who also has a family. That causes a further problem: how do you house people with social needs who have families? That challenge is very disheartening when you send them down to the Yellowknife Housing Authority, where they’re supposed to go. Outside of ministerial intervention, they have to sit there and wait and wait. It’s really sad.

Mr. Chairman, if I could hear how the Minister plans to improve that housing stock for families specifically with disabilities I would really appreciate some highlights and some information today.

The president of the Housing Corporation, Mr. Polakoff.

I appreciate the president’s point of view. He and I probably agree very closely on this matter. In some cases accessible living just means you have a unit to access on the main floor. It means you don’t have to go upstairs. Accessible living could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I would agree further that not everyone needs the full-blown fit up.

But, Mr. Chairman, I think the housing pool is a little thin out there — I can’t speak for the territorial communities, but I can certainly speak for Yellowknife community — and that’s presenting a challenge.

To elaborate a little further, we have a number of constituents who wish to…. I’ll use terminology such as aging in place. I’d like to know what programs exist right now in the sense of making modifications so that we can keep some of those people who are disabled or who are seniors in their houses. It will be a lot cheaper if we can keep at them at home, and of course, in the context of comfort, they enjoy being at home rather than being institutionalized. Can somebody inform me as to what’s available for folks who wish to age in place?

Mr. Chairman, from the actual physical–infrastructure point of view, the Housing Corporation collapsed 14 programs into four. Seniors’ home repair and such is now encapsulated within the broader CARE program. There have been some concerns raised that while we raise the amount of money that individual seniors may be eligible for, it’s more difficult to access. While we’ve made that change, we’ve committed to taking a look at that, along with committee. The aging in place also speaks to other issues across the department, things like home care support so that individuals who need some assistance around the home can get that — if there are issues with their medication or if there are issues with meals on wheels and those types of things.

Of course, there is the other support for seniors with the fuel subsidy program. The taxation relief, if you live in your own home, and those types of things all are geared to create as much support as we can to keep seniors or elders in their own homes as long as possible.

Will there be detail in this budget that demonstrates where I can look and see what value is placed on a potential program? For example, if a senior — I have a few of them in the riding — wanted to access aging in place money for a walk-in bathtub, those types of things…. Those are the types of things I’m talking about when I say aging in place. Is there something here that a senior could tap into if they wanted a ramp into their house? They are finding the stairs just a little difficult to challenge as they move on in years, but they have many good years left in their own home. That’s the type of detail I am looking for.

Under the CARE program seniors are a priority. That’s where the money for those types of initiatives would be housed.

How much money is housed in that CARE program?

Mr.

Chair, I’ll ask

Mr. Anderson to give you the number.

Mr. Anderson.

Thank you. Next on my list I have Mr.

Abernethy, Mr.

Jacobson,

Mr. McLeod and Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to speak to the opening remarks from the Minister Responsible for the NWT Housing Corp. I am happy to see that the department is going to be investing $35 million to construct 174 new units in communities across the NWT.

I think we need to continue to invest in the infrastructure. I think we need to continue to invest in houses. However, based on my comments in my Member’s statement a few days ago, I talked about the fact that where we’re constructing these homes doesn’t always make a ton of sense to me. For instance, there were four units in Fort Res that are

sitting vacant — that have been sitting vacant for two years.

To me, if we are going to be investing in building new homes in these communities, I think it would be important to make sure we have done a really thorough analysis to ensure that there are people eligible for those houses. Now, I understand that times change and people’s situations change, so I understand maybe building some on spec. I think four is a little excessive in a little community the size of Fort Res. I think we would have been better served in Fort Res by assisting those individuals to upgrade their homes or make them more fuel efficient to help them reduce costs, as well as maybe enhance the stock for the public housing we have available. Four in Fort Res sitting vacant seems excessive.

I strongly encourage you to get out there and start putting homes in communities where they’re needed, but I encourage caution. I encourage a little bit of research and analysis into each of the communities through the LHOs, as well as the band councils, to ensure that any houses we’re building are going to be utilized. I’m a little on the cheap side, so having houses sitting there costing us money every day that people aren’t in frustrates me.

As far as Fort Res goes, I would love for you to work with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and come up with some alternative solutions for those homes in Fort Res for the people of Fort Res. When you build new ones, be cautious where you put them. Like I said, I can understand one or two extra that you think might be able to go to somebody in the community or, as people’s situations change, having a house available for those people would be good. But building them and having them sit vacant for extended periods of time doesn’t do anybody any good.

I’m also a little concerned about the reductions to the repairs of public housing stocks as well as the home ownership repair programs. I’m sure the department is going to indicate that they’re undersubscribed and they’re underutilized and therefore we can justify reducing them. I would suggest that they may be underutilized due to the fact that the Housing Corp isn’t getting out there and advertising the programs to the degree that is necessary.

In my travels through some of the communities I saw a lot of homes. A lot of them were in really great shape, but some of them were in pretty rough shape, where some funding and assistance would go a long way. I believe most of the people who live in these houses would love to take advantage of a program that would help them upgrade their homes, fix them where necessary, as well as help them put in alternative heating sources and other cost-saving

measures that would help them save money in the running and maintenance of their homes.

I was a little disappointed to see the cuts to those programs. I think they were important. I think the Housing Corp has an opportunity to get out there and promote the programs, enhance the programs and help people access them, rather than just claiming that they’re underutilized when clearly you go to the communities and you see some need for some repairs and renovations. I was disappointed there were some cuts there. So no real questions, just comments. As we move through, I will ask some specific questions, and that’s that.

Mr. Polakoff.

Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Today,

regarding the housing up in Nunakput and in the Beaufort–Delta regions…. We have a lot of problems with professional housing for our staff, or teacher housing, and the nursing staff. We need to really help them: help BDEC, help the hospital in regard to housing and staffing problems in Nunakput.

The Minister and I and the president of the Housing Corporation went on a tour of Nunakput, which they seemed to really need. Teachers and nursing staff shouldn’t have to worry about the problem of housing. I think they should be able to just go in there and do their work and be able to go a place at the end of the day that they call home. I really think the Beaufort–Delta Education Council needs help in regard to finding teacher housing. Some teachers are not coming back just because of the housing issues we have in my riding.

Another issue I have is people who are hard to house, clients being evicted. They have to really rely on family once they’re evicted. I really think we should look at that at an LHO level, as well, to help them to be able to provide for themselves and give them a roof over their heads.

Another big issue goes right back to the homeless in our communities. I think they’re coming from the communities to the southern part, to Yellowknife. It’s a big problem down here, with all the homelessness issues that we could try to fix if we work together in our communities. I wish NWT Housing would look into one unit in each community as a homeless shelter and give it to the community to run.

We really need to look at our elder situation due to the high cost of fossil fuels and of home ownership for elders, even for regular elders living in the facilities. Everything’s going up in price. Old-age pension cheques are not going to go so far. Elders are facing a high cost of living. I really worry about it this coming year. Also the Housing Corp should look into more subsidy programs at ECE in regard to that as well.

In my riding there are a lot of safety issues, such as black mould. Elders can’t open doors or windows in Paulatuk in the winter with an east wind because of blowing snow coming in. We need to do more in regard to that issue of having a safe home and broader issues that we could deal with.

The biggest thing, I think, is that we all say we like working together to help our people. This is the place to do it, and I know it could be done.

Again, I’d like to thank the Minister for travelling up with me into my riding. He knows my problems, and I’m here to work with you to get these problems fixed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Minister.

Thank you,

Mr.

Chairman. The issue of housing for

professionals is clearly a source of concern. As the Member indicated, we travelled around Nunakput, and it was raised in almost every community. We’ve offered up a couple of things. If there’s market housing units that are there that are available, we’re prepared to look at those. We’re also looking at the issue of loan guarantees so that we can work with hamlets or development corporations or businesses, to look at putting some houses in for professionals that are basically a business opportunity for the community. We’ve started working with Behchoko on a pilot basis. We made the offer in every community in the Member’s riding, in Tuk, Paulatuk, Sachs and Ulukhaktok. We’re committed to that process as well.

The issue of the hard-to-house is a challenge for us all. We don’t want people freezing to death in the wintertime. But the reality is, in many cases, these folks have had, in fact, more than one roof over their heads over the course of time and that their lifestyle choices often make it difficult even for their families to be able to be a support to them. So it’s a challenge to us all, which is why we had set up a

homelessness fund to deal with emergency situations like that.

The high cost of fuel and more subsidies is going to be one that’s going to require some discussion. We know that the Territorial Power Support Program is going to go up probably by another $5 million here in the next number of months. The price of fuel is something we don’t control at this point.

But, clearly, the cost of living in communities is high. The price of power.... How do we deal with fuel? Can we switch to biomass? Are there other ways, as we’ve talked about, in terms of changing the capital planning process with NTPC to bring down those costs? These are all things we have to look at.

We do have on the list, clearly, the units that the Member pointed out, with the doors freezing shut and having to use to a rope and a winch to open them up. So we’re going to follow up on that as well.

Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair. I have

nothing more to add at this time. I’d just like to thank the Minister and hope we get all my list done. Thank you.

Mr. Robert McLeod.