Sorry, I didn't answer that question. The 33 plans are to be done by the end of my term. I am really pushing my department now to, honestly, get a majority of them done by April because I need to submit something to Ottawa. I need these numbers. I need the studies done so I could present something. I want to make my way down, and they're looking at their budget for November. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Debates of March 11th, 2020
This is page numbers 607 - 658 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was housing.
Topics
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Julie Green Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Madam Chair. The sooner the better. What I hear is that people are caught in a more or less continuous cycle of study, which may be valuable to the Housing Corporation, but I'm going to say bluntly is of questionable value to the end user and simply because I don't hear that there is in fact more housing. In Yellowknife, in Hay River, we need more housing for seniors. I don't know of any projects that are going to be built this year for seniors. I'm just going to ask one more time to go back up to my original question which is: how do the studies actually relate to investing in housing? There just seems to be a disconnect here. We've got lots of information, but we don't have lots of end result for the people who are waiting for housing. Thank you.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to quickly elaborate because I wanted to look at the structures that we built that were determined by those plans going forward. We went and looked at the study for seniors, so then we put seniors' complexes in the majority of the districts, in the regions, looking at that and trying to have them age in place. Looking at multi-built units that need to be established and put on the ground, in Yellowknife, specifically, the majority of the units that are here are public housing, but then, we do lease off of the private in the city. I'm going to have Mr. Carpenter elaborate on this a little bit more. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Carpenter
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will speak to the item I should have elaborated on before, where we said that the seniors study said that projects in Yellowknife and Hay River stuck out the most. What that does for us is we're going to be reaching out now to different stakeholders in these two areas to see where we can help to get a project started up. Where I mentioned before that we've been successful with Canada to achieve a carve-off of the national co-investment fund, that's going to be a really good program to leverage federal dollars and perhaps some GNWT dollars to get projects like this off the ground. We will be reaching out, seeking partnerships or encouraging partnerships for those types of things. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. Committee, we will take a short recess and resume in about ten minutes.
---SHORT RECESS
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
All right. We're going to call committee back to order, and we are going to continue on where we were, in NWT Housing Corporation, executive, operation expenditures summary. Questions. Member for Thebacha.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Madam Chair, I just want to ask a question. As you know, in the community of Fort Smith, or the constituency of Thebacha, the standard of living is the lowest in the Northwest Territories to live. We have a very aging population, and we have a lot of seniors in the community of Fort Smith, therefore I'm wondering why only Hay River and Yellowknife are included in that community planning policy that is being put together in these next couple of years. I would like to ensure that consideration for the community of Fort Smith is also in the planning. Thank you.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. I was under the impression that all 33 communities were going forward with the housing plans. I will have Jim elaborate on it a little bit more. Thank you. Sorry, I mean Mr. Martin. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Martin
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Housing Corporation did undertake the seniors planning study. The Phase I of that study, the focus was on Yellowknife and Hay River. There were some subsequent reviews done, as well, more statistical-type studies, analysis, tabletop analysis, but it is recognized that there is further research that will need to be drawn upon for the other communities; but, at this stage, we have completed an in-department review of Yellowknife and Hay River. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Madam Chair, I'm not really satisfied with that answer. We have a lot of retirees and aging population and seniors in the community of Fort Smith, and I would like to make sure that the Housing Corporation would reconsider making sure that Fort Smith is part of that planning process, and they are included.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. To elaborate on the response, I'm going to have Mr. Carpenter respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Carpenter
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just in follow-up to what I said before about the programming such as the co-investment fund, we said we would reach out to organizations in Yellowknife and in Hay River, but it doesn't mean we're just locked in on those two communities. We will reach out to organizations in places like Fort Smith to not only promote the program but see what interest is there, as well, to participate in seniors projects. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Frieda Martselos Thebacha
Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that the waiting list for senior units in Fort Smith is a long one. Some seniors have to wait a long time to get into one of the units, and many of the seniors in Fort Smith would prefer to be in their own units. As I know, as I told you before, there is a long waiting list, and sometimes it takes up to two years or so before they get into a unit, so therefore I'm concerned about the availability of housing for seniors and our aging population in the community of Fort Smith.
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The Chair Lesa Semmler
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will follow up with the Member in regard to the seniors' available units in her riding. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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