Thank you Mr. Chairman. One of the issues that has come forward is in regards to the last Needs Surveys that has been done compared to the last one done previous was 2004. I think one thing that we see is there is still a question about housing core need. Basically the lifecycle of a lot of our housing units, I think that we have to face the reality that at some point in time the housing units that we have basically have used their lifecycle. There is no way that you can repair them and you can’t replace them. I think that is one of the reasons we are barely keeping our heads above water to really meet the core needs that we are running into.
I think one of the things that we have to look at is what do we do to deal with the old northern rentals, look at what we are doing with the Weber houses. Those units are basically 35 years old. I think that we have to and the communities have to realize that we are not meeting the needs.
Looking at the duplexes, stuff like that, it does accommodate, but I think another area that we can really make a difference in our communities where we still have these high core needs is to look at seniors housing. I don’t see that in here. We are talking more in regards to public housing, but I think there is a need for seniors multiplexes in communities. Looking at our aging population, I will use Fort McPherson where there are 122 elders over the age of 60 and we have some 86 elders over the age of 70. I think we have to be realistic to the aging demographics in our communities and the basic lifecycle for housing needs and I think that is one area that I see that we can really help communities. We have challenges regardless whether it’s singles housing, family housing units and or seniors.
I think we hear a lot of issues around here about seniors staying in public housing by themselves and that that house could maybe be better used by a family. I know it is an issue between Housing and the Department of Health and Social Services, but I think that is something that we should really be looking at, is the infrastructure for seniors housing in our communities.
I know I have raised this in the House before about disabled housing, but again that could also be to accommodate our seniors, because as you age, you are fragile and eventually there are situations where you will find yourself in that category of need by way of your disability. I think that is something that we have to look at, so I would like to just ask the Minister is that something that is contemplated in the housing reviews going forward. When we build a unit in a community, can we look at the possibility of designing a unit or four-plex specifically designed for seniors? We are going to spend the money anyway, so can we design the units to specifically meet the needs of certain classes of our population in our communities, especially for seniors in social housing, especially for a lot of our isolated communities and communities that we do need that accommodation in our communities and keep the elders in our home communities as long as we can? Thank you.