Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first, I'd like to welcome my colleagues back to the House and acknowledge my constituents, whether they're watching from home, listening on the radio, or sitting in the gallery.
Now, Mr. Speaker this is a short sitting, but there's a lot of work to do, so I'll get down to business. Mr. Speaker, the NWT Housing Corporation operates more than 2,400 public housing units in 30 communities. With our small population, think about just how many families those units serve.
Now, when you're in market housing, it might seem that something always goes wrong on Sundays or holidays, just when it's more difficult and more expensive to call a plumber or a furnace technician. When you're in public housing, though, it's even harder. Residents of the Deh Cho riding have come to me, seriously concerned that they are unable to access repair services after hours. If a furnace breaks down in the middle of the night in January and a family can't get immediate repairs, that's downright dangerous.
Mr. Speaker, families in public housing don't have money to spare. They can't simply pay out of pocket for urgent repairs. They can't even undertake major repairs to units, because they're tenants, not owners. The Housing Corporation is in the business of public rental housing in the NWT. To fulfill its mandate, it must provide after-hours services. This might be done through an on-call serviceman. Really, Mr. Speaker, addressing this problem would be a win-win: prompt repairs protect both tenants and the corporation's infrastructure investments. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.