Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm having deja vu today. Last year, on this exact day in this House, I spoke to the issues around housing wait lists and the struggle to access private market housing while waiting for housing.
Mr. Speaker, in Inuvik, last year, in my Member's statement, I also stated that the wait lists for the Inuvik housing authority had 80 for one bedroom, 90 for two bedrooms, 10 people for three bedrooms. Most recently, just last month, I got an email from the Minister's office with a little bit of good news saying 57 people for one bedroom, 18 for two bedroom, two for a three-bedroom, and one for a four-bedroom. There has been some movement on these lists, and the numbers have gone which is good news. The email also mentioned that there will be tear down of old units of my community, and the new units to be built will be configured to address the most urgent needs of the waiting list. While this is good news in theory, Mr. Speaker, when will we ever see these units as we don't seem to see this as an urgent need being addressed to get units on the ground and in motion other than RCMP units that have no impact to the community residents?
Mr. Speaker, another concern is that we are replacing old units but not adding more units to our housing stock, so how will we ever overcome any of our social issues if we can't even get our residents the basic needs of housing. The residents of the NWT want housing. Does the Minister and her staff hear us? If so, can they act? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.