Thank you. On page 68, it says, "Materials and labour, two units, MH, Hay River." Is the MH "market housing"? I see people nodding their heads, so I will take that as a yes.
There doesn't seem to be any public housing in this budget for Hay River. In Hay River, we recently lost 26 family homes. I believe they were three bedrooms each. I think the rationale was that they were replaced by seniors' units, a seniors' complex. There is a bit of a shortage of family housing. I think the last time I saw the waitlist for across the territory, Hay River had a higher portion of families in need of housing, and sorry, this is sort of a long-winded way of getting to a complex situation here.
We have the Hay River High Rise in Hay River, and last time I checked there, I think there were 24 or 25 units rented out to people on income assistance. There has been talk for years about whether that building is going to last. I mean, the fire marshal has had concerns. You can literally see pieces falling off the building. It is concrete, so when the stucco falls off, that doesn't necessarily mean it is falling apart, but it is indicative of poor maintenance. For years, it seems like we are on the edge of, perhaps, everyone having to move out of that building.
There is not enough housing for the families that need it right now in Hay River, and potentially, we have another 10, 20, 30 families that could need it if this building shuts down, and we don't have the market rental units to absorb all of those people.
How is the Housing Minister working with income assistance to address this issue, if they even recognize it as an issue? Thank you, Mr. Chair.