Thank you. Mr. Martin.
Debates of Dec. 1st, 2021
This is page numbers 3221 - 3266 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 units.
Topics
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Martin
Thank you, Madam Chair. The 176 units investment, it's actually a larger M and I investment than we typically do in a run of a year. You typically would see about half M and I projects and then half new construction projects. But as noted, typically -- as noted, we have a fair amount of new construction investment going on in the current year, and that's why we're accelerating much needed repair investments for 2022-2023.
And there certainly is a backlog with the Housing Corp. We're refining our numbers of course but, you know, our tabletop exercises indicate, you know, a $40 million annual infrastructure deficit, and that's combining both new construction, replacement requirements, as well as major retrofits to extend the life of our units, and that is a 20-year assessment number that I provided. And as I said, that is a tabletop number, and we'll continue to refine that number going forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you, Madam Chair. I recognize that it's hard to just, you know, completely understand an infrastructure deficit. We all struggle to do that for the territory. But can I just get a bit more explanation on what, having a $40 million annual infrastructure deficit means. Does that mean if we actually wanted to maintain the current housing stock to a suitable standard, the Housing Corp would need another $40 million every single year? Thank you.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will defer that answer to Jim, and it's just quite significant with the amount of assets that we do have on the ground and what we are able to repair and we're not able to repair. I'll have Jim respond. Thank you.
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Martin
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, so ideally if we were able to do everything that we would like do in terms of capital investment, that is a number that we would like to invest every year to ensure the -- you know, the long-term sustainability of our assets and replace assets when we need to.
One thing to consider, though, is that right now, we do have on average about an 80 percent unit condition rating across the system, and that's a reflection of these M and I investments that are being made on a regular basis. So we are able to safely operate our units at this time, and the investments that we're making allow us to do that at this time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho
Mahsi, Madam Chair. I guess all the financial questions were already asked by my colleague. So --
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Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho
So, that's good. So I'll just get to the nitty-gritty of -- I notice in Fort Providence here we got 21 units. They're major retrofits. Six are for HELP. I know they're home entry-level units. Oh, by the way, I know some contractors would be eating steak every night now, I guess, but. But the HELP program, the home entry level -- Homeownership Entry Level, I think that's the program, isn't that just new housing that was turned over to some clients, and if so, why are we doing major retrofits on them so suddenly? Masi.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that was one of the programs that would be a pathway to homeownership. Some of the units that we have in the communities that we didn't have qualified candidates to acquire those units, and some of them have been sitting vacant. So now we are going to be renovating them and either re-profiling them or putting them up for sale. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho
Mahsi for that. Yeah, I guess they are the ones that are just sitting around in our community boarded up for quite a number of years. I'm wondering if the major retrofits on some of these, because they're built on foundations that are totally enclosed. Anything that's enclosed and has moisture in there leads to mould. And I've seen
units, because I'd worked with Housing before, where we've had total mould on all the 2x10s, every one of them, and you have to replace everything. So I'm wondering if things like that are being considered and whether there's going to be some sort of a design change while you're doing the retrofits to allow air circulation and replacing of mould. There's a quite a bit of them units, even the basement units. Masi.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. For those further details, I'll turn the response to President Young. Thank you.
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Young
Thank you, Madam Chair. And so, yes, as we look at M and I for a unit, we're looking at what repairs are required based on the unit inspection, the condition rating to bring it up to a reasonable standard. Obviously to change out a foundation would be a very expensive undertaking in many houses, but if there is a way to mitigate any issues that are happening with the foundation system, I do believe in most of our new construction we have changed our foundation approach so that it does not lead to that kind of problem over the longer term. But for units that we've got up currently, if there is a way to mitigate the problem that is there through an M and I program, we would be looking at that. The M and I is really looking at trying to invest in that unit, extend the lifespan, and bring it back up to an acceptable condition rating. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Ronald Bonnetrouge Deh Cho
Mahsi, Madam Chair. Mahsi for that brief explanation. The people moved out of most of these units or gave them up because the mould issues, and I stated that, you know, when you have a box and it's all totally enclosed in and it -- you know, it's a candidate for mould situations. So, you know, when you're going to fix them up without addressing that issue, it's going to be sitting empty for the rest of its life, you know what I mean? So you're going to have to include in your design, ways to open up that foundation so that it has ventilation to the floor and there's a good chance that you may have to replace the floor system. Not the foundation walls itself, but the floor systems. I'm just wondering how far you're going to be going with these because it would be a waste of money to not address, you know, the root of the problem and just fix it up and hopefully somebody will buy it or move in. Mahsi.
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Paulie Chinna Sahtu
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the Member for the question as well too, because I see this issue throughout the Northwest Territories and in the smaller communities as well too, and looking for those expertise to construct and to work on our units, it's quite challenging but then as a Minister, I want to see all of these units brought up to standard and being able to be either transferred over to the clients or else look at homeownership. I'm not looking at a Band-Aid solution; I want these units to be constructed and repaired adequately. Thank you.
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