My second question is: what communities is the Minister putting new shelters in this year?

During the current fiscal year, actually, we are building four-plex shelters within the communities of Aklavik, Behchoko, and Fort Simpson.

Now narrowing it down to the Central Mackenzie, the only region left without a homeless shelter is the Sahtu region. What is the Minister going to do in this area?

I did say in the House here that one of my goals before I have finished my position with the Government of the Northwest Territories is to ensure that we have homeless shelters in every region, so we have reached out to the region of the Sahtu and, through that process, we received two proposals.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As mentioned by my colleague next to me in his Member's statement, being innovative took the community of Deline to create their own shelter for the homeless. My question is: when will the Minister build a homeless shelter in the Sahtu? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to report that, actually, we will be looking at the Sahtu to build a homeless shelter within the next coming fiscal year. Both proposals, we were actually excited to receive and we were able to accommodate. One of the proposals was only for more of a drop-in day shelter idea, so they can access some food security funding to accommodate that. The other proposal actually will be an overnight shelter, so it's really exciting to say that, within the next fiscal year, we will have a homeless shelter in every single region within the Northwest Territories and to be able to say that we can accommodate both proposals.

Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Kam Lake is home to two of the Northwest Territories' housing cooperatives. These are great community-driven housing communities that allow for housing options that are below market rent. In fact, the average price for a three-bedroom apartment in Yellowknife is around $2,300 a month in rent, whereas, at one of the housing co-ops in my riding, it is $1,400. That is an incredible amount of savings. I am wondering if the Minister has looked into starting a pilot project to develop more housing cooperatives here in Yellowknife and across the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Actually, the cooperative housing unit that the Member does speak to, I used to live in that just a couple of years ago, so I am very familiar with that unit that he addresses, and it is a nice unit. We, the NWT Housing Corporation, actually provides partial funding for those, as well. We provide funding to most of the cooperatives. In all honestly, I had never thought about that, but I am hoping that it will come up within the housing survey. Now that it has been brought to my attention, I will consider that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister. Ask and you shall receive. Just a few more points on this: the Minister spoke to her own personal experience in one of these particular housing cooperatives. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation did a study of the Borealis Housing Cooperative, and they found that over 2,500 hours of voluntary labour are produced by the housing cooperative every year, which results in considerable savings for the community. These projects, they also found that to get a new project like this, it requires the goodwill of the community. So if the Housing Corporation could commit to more than just looking at this but actually actively engage community members who want a change, perhaps through that survey, will the Minister actively engage survey participants and forge a new housing cooperative from those respondents?

As stated, being a resident of that cooperative, I do remember the volunteer hours, and sometimes it was not eagerly volunteered. It was more of a requirement of being in the cooperative, but it does give back to the community, and it is a way of working together, and it does build community relations. It made me actually go out and meet my neighbours, so I am an advocate of that type of housing unit.

However, I have committed to doing this survey and, depending on the results of the survey, we will be defining what I do within the coming year. It would be disrespectful of me to put my needs above the survey, so I will be waiting until the results are compiled before I define my action plan in the future.

I am unsure what the Minister's needs are, but the needs of my constituents are lower rents and more affordable housing. Mr. Speaker, it is not just the Housing Corporation that provides support for co-ops. It is also the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Department of Justice who all provide either administrative support or are some way responsible. Will the Minister commit to forming a working group with those three departments to build on the success of housing cooperatives?

I have already committed to exploring the idea of more cooperatives as an option. I will also commit to bringing that to the other departments.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally, the Minister, in my honourable friend's questions, the Member for the Sahtu, she did make a commitment to a certain amount of shelters by the end of the year. Can she make a commitment to me today, Mr. Speaker, that we will double the number of housing cooperatives in the Northwest Territories by next year? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, like I said, that would be, in my opinion, disrespectful if I make commitments before the results of the surveys were in, so the answer is no.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. What I seek is, the urgency of the situation of the housing matter on the reserves, I am seeking some action. I am seeking a commitment from this Minister, also, at the same time, reassurance to the K'atlodeeche First Nation members that the senior-most official, the Minister of the Housing Corporation, will do something.

You know, thus far, in terms of this side of the House, every time we have raised our concerns and issues on behalf of our constituents, what we have heard from the Ministers and their departments is to say, well, we are going to respond by an action plan. I don't think we need an action plan at this point. I think we need to have some real action. My question is: the Housing Corporation has entered a tendering process to repair 10 previously unoccupied homes on the K'atlodeeche First Nation reserve; how will the corporation act to ensure those homes are available to residents as soon as responsible, sooner than the estimated 12 months? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to say that I take a little bit of offence to the Member's statement. As the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation, I feel that we have done a lot of work with the Hay River reserve. Especially, before, we didn't have land tenure; it was a huge issue. We have negotiated with the federal government. We have gotten the land tenure for the 10 units. We are still negotiating with the federal government to get land tenure for six more units. We are working with the community. The community can access services through the Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I'm expressing is, in my recent visit to the band or the K'atlodeeche First Nation are residents on the Hay River Reserve. I'm not saying basically to criticize her position in the GNWT, but these are real concerns from people who want access to housing. So building a relationship seems to be the steps that have been taken forward, and it's good, you know, we're making progress and we're trying to build homes. How is the corporation working with the Hay River Dene Band to explore new and innovative ideas to meet housing needs on the reserve, such as establishing a new local housing organization or supporting people in building their own homes?

I do believe that we are working with the Hay River Reserve as best as possible. These units that we're talking about, the 16 units, actually belong to them. Because they did not want to deal with the provision of community housing we did an agreement that we would take them on as NWT Housing Corporation.

We are more than open to meeting with them if they wanted to look at other options and other suggestions that they have to address the housing needs within their community.