Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think my colleagues have mostly touched on some of the detail, especially as it relates to programs and the mandate and what have you. I want to look, just for a moment, at some of the overarching challenges that we have in trying to deliver housing and, in particular, meet our mandate.
This is the part where I am actually going to have to disagree with a previous colleague speaking on roads. As most know, I have had some experience working with the Housing Corporation from the technical side, and so I know some of the challenges that we have had to deliver affordable housing in some of the communities.
You know, when I see communities like Whati, as an example, where there were instances where someone might have a frozen-up house, that obviously leads a lot of problems that will require attention. There were just instances where we simply could not afford to get a plumber on a plane and get them in there to assess this house only to come out and have to identify a bunch of materials and equipment that would have to go in to help repair the house, so you had to essentially wait for another three, four, or five houses to have some degree of maintenance or problems that needed addressing so that you could actually afford to fly someone in and address these needs.
Clearly, there are a number of communities, as well, that have to wait annually for a winter road in order to get housing packages or significant amounts of materials in to do major renovations. That is all very costly. So, transportation is one of the challenges that is a barrier to delivering affordable housing, in my view, and that is why I continue to stay committed to investing in critical transportation infrastructure that is within our mandate.
Land tenure is another one, and it comes in all forms. I don't care to get into the detail, but there are instances where certain program eligibility and/or the delivering of new housing, whether it is public or otherwise, is challenged because of land tenure issues. So I think there needs to be some focus worked interdepartmentally and, as well, with our federal partners in making sure that everybody understands that land tenure needs some degree of streamlining because arguably a third or more of our challenges with regard to delivering housing and successful housing programs are troubled by land tenure.
The other thing is regulations. We have good intentions when it comes to some of our programs, and CARE is a good example, where a person applies for a CARE major and they might be in a community -- I will use Yellowknife as an example -- that has EnerGuide 80 standards in place at the municipal level, and now this family has grown and they need an addition put on their home to put on a bedroom or two, but now, because of that being such a significant renovation to that person's home, the municipal regulations kick in and now there are going to be some EnerGuide 80 standards type thing that have to be met. It turns what could have been, say, a $20,000 major project into a $200,000 major project and, therefore, the client just turns it down and says, forget it. At the end of the day we are not serving anybody. We realize then that the person does not get to enlarge their home to meet their family needs, and the house is certainly not meeting any kind of EnerGuide 80 standards and continues to be energy-efficiently challenged.
Lastly, it is the federal government. We have to be clear with our message to the federal government about the challenges that we face. We can't just continue to accept that funding for community housing services is going to just fall off the map here, somewhere in 2033 or 2035, whenever it is proposed to end. There has to be some kind of negotiation, meaningful negotiation, that takes place sooner rather than later that establishes our unique needs for continuing to support public housing.
As much as we all want home ownership, home ownership in some communities is just not going to ever be a reality. Public housing is the reality. We can't wait around for the funding for public housing to just fall off the map. Then we will be in a much more dire situation.
Then, just lastly, Mr. Chair, I want to always give credit where credit is due. I really want to commend the department for the efforts made recently as it relates to the commitment of Housing First. We are seeing some success in that already as it relates to the capital city here. Of course, we are all aware that there is some investment being made in a few other communities with regard to Housing First, so thank you for that. Those are my comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.