Mr. Speaker, 12 years ago, when I first campaigned to be elected as MLA for Tu Nedhe, every second household I attended had a housing issue. In my first term as MLA for Tu Nedhe, I brought over 300 housing issues to the government. That was quite an accomplishment, Mr. Speaker, considering I was representing 295 households.
In any event, over the years, many of us as MLAs have all worked on housing issues and, for the past 12 years that I have been an MLA and we have had a full House in this Assembly, the core need for housing has never changed, from what I could see. I think that the last documentation we have is 2014, Mr. Speaker, but, for the most part, the core need for social housing across the NWT has remained the same.
For the next government, Mr. Speaker, I would recommend that the NWT Housing Corporation or the government revamp the NWT Housing Corporation. If we are spending $100 million a year towards addressing social housing issues across the Northwest Territories and the core need remains the same, then there must be something wrong because the core need is growing as fast as the core needs that we are repairing. I am not saying that the Housing Corporation isn't doing hard work or isn't working for the people, but what I am saying, Mr. Speaker, is that I think it is time to change the way the Housing Corporation is working for the people of the Northwest Territories.
We must begin to lower core needs, and we must begin to start working in housing, actively working on houses to address the housing issues in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, there are any economic spin-off benefits to housing and improving housing markets. There are huge potential for employment in small communities by repairing houses and eliminating core need across the Northwest Territories. We also see many economic spin-offs. I hope that the next government takes a look at the Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.