Mr. Speaker, in September, the federal government launched the Rapid Housing Initiative, a $1-billion program to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians through the rapid construction of affordable housing in partnership with municipal and territorial governments, Indigenous governments, and non-profit organizations. Unfortunately, Cabinet has not updated this House about this new funding opportunity, so I will.
The initiative will support up to 3,000 new permanent, affordable housing units across Canada and cover the construction of modular housing, the acquisition of land, and the conversion or rehabilitation of existing buildings to affordable housing. The housing must be either standard rental, transitional, permanent, or supportive housing, single-occupancy, or seniors' housing, with a minimum of five units or beds. Each application must be a minimum contribution request of $1 million. The Rapid Housing Initiative will support both the construction of modular, multi-unit rental projects and conversions or rehabilitations of existing buildings that are in a state of disrepair or have been abandoned.
This grant program has core mandatory minimum requirements that include expediency and affordability. Affordable housing projects are meant to happen as quickly as possible, using modular-type construction to provide affordable housing to Northerners as quickly as possible. Affordability means that the rent is less than 30 percent of the gross income of targeted tenants and that affordability is maintained for a minimum of 20 years. In addition to meeting speed and affordability requirements, the initiative prioritizes northern housing applications with subsidies or supports from municipalities; territorial or Indigenous governments; favourable land status; energy efficiency; and accessibility.
Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has entrepreneurs that manufacture modular housing and tradespeople ready to work on projects like this. What is the Housing Corporation doing to connect them with this funding opportunity? CMHC has started accepting applications for the Rapid Housing Initiative this week and will accept applications until December 31st. This means there is no time to waste. The federal government aims to commit all funds before March 31, 2021, perfectly ahead of our construction season. The lack of progress by the Housing Corporation on the co-investment fund has me worried, Mr. Speaker. I am concerned that they do not have the resources to act quickly on this new federal initiative to ensure that the NWT gets its fair share of the funding. I want to remind the Minister that access to affordable housing and reducing core need is the key priority of this assembly. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation at the appropriate time.