The Government of the Northwest Territories does meet bi-annually, I believe, regularly -- actually, two times a year, with all of the First Nations Aboriginal governments. We will commit to continuing to do that, and, as stated, if the band wishes to meet with me individually, I am more than open to meeting with them.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in September 2016 the GNWT and the K'atlodeeche First Nations signed an Intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding, and in that agreement they wanted to enhance their working relationship and only the subject matters that they want to work on is housing. So my final question to the Minister: what will it take for action to be taken to address the housing issue on the Hay River Reserve? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do believe, as stated, that we are working in partnership with them. I am more than willing to meet with them and to continue regular meetings if that is their desire to address the needs within their community.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I talked about the need for innovation in housing and how it might meet some of our serious housing needs here in the Northwest Territories, and in particular I spoke about tiny housing. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, we know that tiny housing will help with housing of singles. It, of course, helps reduce the cost of living and helps us meet some of our affordability goals, and, of course, it has a great impact of preserving the environment and, in particular, reducing our carbon footprint.

Can the Minister tell us if the Housing Corporation has had any discussion about tiny housing and the possibilities of the Housing Corporation investing in tiny housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems like I'm getting up and down a lot; I want to remind Members it's anti-bullying day.

We have looked at the idea of tiny houses, Mr. Speaker, in seriousness to the Member's question. We are bound, however, by national building codes and our own standards around energy efficiency, so those are issues that we are conscious of, but we have made agreements with some municipalities to actually explore some options around tiny houses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for her reply. Mr. Speaker, recently the City of Yellowknife conducted a survey last spring and some of the results of the survey indicated that folks were fairly supportive of tiny housing and in promoting some development of tiny housing. I wonder if the Minister can indicate whether the Housing Corporation's survey had any questions along the lines specifically toward tiny housing?

At this point the survey is starting to be compiled. It's still open for feedback, as I agreed to leave it open for the extra month, so I haven't seen all the results for the survey, but I do make an assumption that tiny houses will be one of the issues on that survey.

I appreciate the Minister's reply. I know that tiny housing seems to be a fairly significant conversation going around the territory. Not just in Yellowknife; I've heard it in other communities, and so I expect that there will be some responses on the survey relevant to tiny housing.

I guess at this point can we get some kind of commitment from the Minister that tiny housing can be put on the Housing Corporation's kind of, call it, agenda for consideration, at least for future consideration? It just has so many positives for checking off so many of the goals and objectives that we're trying to achieve as a government. Will the Minister commit to that?

I can absolutely commit that tiny houses will be one of the areas that we look at, and go further to stating that we are looking at developing partnerships with municipalities and Aboriginal governments to address their own housing needs within their communities, and we are already forming partnerships with some municipalities on a form of a tiny house.

As the corporation, though, I do want to stress that my own worry is that when we only look at tiny houses within an independent, solo idea, then we're not perhaps looking at the cost of living and the energy efficiency. So I am also looking at ideas that we can use, things like shared boiler systems to address the cost of living and the energy efficiency.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I'm glad to hear from the Minister that some effort has already been under way with regard to working with communities and municipalities in this effort. As the Minister even alluded to earlier, there could be some challenges around building codes and the like. Will the Minister commit to working with her colleagues to make sure that red tape and regulations that would stymie this good opportunity can actually be reviewed and given full consideration so that we can actually work towards some successful development in tiny houses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can commit to working with my colleagues to actually look at how we can address red tape within housing standards, but I also should make the Speaker aware that some of the red tape will be on behalf of municipalities because the municipalities will have to make sure that their bylaws accommodate for tiny houses as well, and that I have no say over.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of the Housing Corporation, also known as the Minister of Yes. What I described in my Member's statement is an immediate problem. This solution isn't tied to the housing survey or a new federal housing deal; it's a matter of assessing what the applicant's income would be on the day after they retire. That's all we need to do. So will the Minister direct her officials to adjust their own processes and initiate talks with the low-cost housing partners to take into account the differences between their pre- and post-retirement income? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Although I do not want to be known as the Minister who always says yes, in this case I will say yes that we will consider that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to ask my favourite Minister to consider that the best solution is to enable seniors to stay in their homes as long as possible, whether those homes are owned or rented. It may be financially advantageous to offer a rental subsidy to seniors to stay in place when they retire. To do so would probably be both less expensive than moving them into public housing and also less of a drain in having them move. So I wonder if the Minister will consider some kind of a rental subsidy specific to seniors that would allow to stay in own homes?

I am feeling like it is my birthday. In all honesty, seniors are a huge issue not only for myself but for all the Ministers sitting at the table here. We will be focusing a lot of effort within our program renewal on our provision of supports to seniors. So, yes, we will contemplate a rent-subsidy program on top of what we already have to accommodate seniors to age in place.

Just to clarify my question, I think the Minister understood the question, but I am not talking about people who own their own homes. I am talking about people who are in public housing. So they would get a subsidy to stay -- no, sorry, I am making things worse. I am talking about keeping seniors in their current rental units with transitional housing support, and then that would bring them off the waiting list for public housing. That is where I was going with that.

Moving on, the lack of available spots demonstrates the need to devote more of our limited budgets towards meeting the infrastructure need and, as I said, to keep people here in the territory. We keep hearing about meeting our road-work needs in the first two weeks of this mandate and easing people's misery later. Can the Minister offer any assurance that someday shelter for people will get its turn at the till?

I do want to address it even though it was just brought up as a comment. The Transitional Rent Supplement Program would not be one that I would look at to address with seniors in its current form, in that it is only a two-year program and it is one of the policies that I do want to change. I do not believe that a two-year program is the most effective use of that funding. I also state that, when it comes to the till, to the money for housing, we are strong advocates federally. We have been knocking on the federal door. Our Prime Minister has promised us that there will be exciting news in the budget. I was hoping that would have come out at the end of this month, but it looks like it will come out in March. So we have been lobbying as the three territories -- not just the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Nunavut as well -- in partnership, and the federal government has committed to having a three-territory housing strategy. So we are assuming that we will be receiving more money in the till soon.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.