This is page numbers 2439 - 2492 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

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Martin.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. As the Minister mentioned, we do have a number of initiatives under way within the Housing Corporation. To identify some of the areas, first off, we would want to recognize that each year, the Housing Corporation makes a significant investment in our capital plan each year. What we do in that process, we do deliver units that are energy efficient, and we deliver units that exceed the National Building Code standards by about 25 percent, so we continue to do that. Within this capital plan that we do deliver every year, there's approximately $3 million of energy components that we do invest both in the new construction and also in our modernization, renovation, repair projects.

In addition to our regular capital plan delivery, the Housing Corporation always looks for opportunities to invest in alternative energy projects. This year, within the next week or two, we are going to be hopefully awarding a tender for a major biomass project here in Yellowknife. It's going to involve 53 housing units. We're converting 45 oil fire furnaces over to biomass, and we're hooking up actually this system to a new eight-plex singles building that we're delivering in town, as well. It's a major project, and we're certainly looking forward to seeing the greenhouse gas emission offsets as well as the added efficiencies that will come from that investment. In addition, we continue to explore other partnership opportunities. We have entered into a partnership in the past with Arctic Energy Alliance, and one of our staff members within our infrastructure division is the vice-president, actually, on that board. We're very involved in their initiatives.

We also continue to support our energy efficiency retrofits with other parties, as well. The Housing Corporation is supporting a number of operating agreements with our third-party housing providers. We refer to them as unilaterals, and those are groups that we inherited the operating agreements from when we entered into the 1999 Social Housing Agreement, and we continue to work with a number of partners. This example would be like Avens, for example, North Slave Housing Corporation here in Yellowknife, TP Housing, and others. We continue to provide them with energy efficiency investments for their operations, as well.

Most recently, I would also want to note that we've worked closely with the Hamlet of Aklavik and supported them with their biomass project. We hooked up a number of our public housing units to their system to ensure that it was sustainable. Finally, just a summary piece: in the last 10 years, the Housing Corporation has invested in seven photovoltaic solar systems as well as five biomass projects in other communities, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks for that response. You've checked off a lot of the questions I was additionally going to have, too. I think that my colleague from the Deh Cho is probably going to ask some questions about the biomass. We'll see, though. Just to make sure that this line item here, how it's trending, because we don't have a full picture of this. Will the Minister be able to give us a sense if this line item has been going up or going down, or is it pretty much staying level? If, like I said, from what I'm hearing is true, then it should be trending downwards. We don't have a full picture, so can the Minister just give us kind of a snapshot of the last five years of how this line item is trending? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. This line item consists of partnerships as well, so I will have Mr. Martin elaborate on that line item because it does look like it's fluctuating. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Martin.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. Comparing the actuals to the 2020-2021 Main Estimates, you will see that there was an increase in the actuals in 2019-2020 compared to budget. The reason for that is that we continue to work closely with all the hamlets, community governments. Through a review that we undertook, actually started a couple of years ago, but working with the communities, there were a number of invoices, actually, that were identified that were not submitted. There was a catch-up adjustment in 2019-2020, and we consider that to be a one-time. Going forward, you'll start to see that total expenditure going down to the current budget.

Now, previously, looking historically, the power bill of the Housing Corporation actually was quite a bit higher. It was about $1.5 million higher, I believe, a few years ago. The Housing Corporation does continue to work closely with our tenants to provide support and education in terms of energy efficiency. We've also, over the last few years, have adjusted the power rates to equate to residential rates, and that was an initiative to support self-sufficiency. It also brought with it a number of benefits. The power consumption compared to a few years ago has dropped quite a bit. It's about 10 to 20 percent, actually, in some areas where we have seen the consumption drop, so it's certainly supporting on the greenhouse gas emissions front.

Through that education piece that I mentioned, we will continue to work closely with our tenants and work with our partners, Arctic Energy Alliance, as an example, to continue to support our tenants in our energy efficiency practices. The Housing Corporation, in terms of our power, it was mentioned previously that we do continue to invest a significant portion of our available resources into both modernization and improvement projects. We have done some case studies, and we found that post a renovation, a major renovation, we have seen our utility costs drop up to 30 percent. There are certainly some benefits coming from those, as well. We will continue to closely monitor these utilities and bring forward those investments as we move forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Martin. If you could, just tighten up your responses. The Members only get 10 minutes, so that was only two questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Steve Norn

Steve Norn Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for those very thorough answers. I have another quick question, a quick observation. I don't know if there is a correlation with the minor modernization and improvements and with utilities. I think the more you put into modernization and improvements and PM, preventative maintenance, I think you are going to start to see these utilities go down, but is that what is happening here in that line item, that increase from just recent years? There seems to be an increase for the minor modernization and improvements, if the Minister can answer that? Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have Mr. Jim Martin respond. Thank you.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Mr. Martin.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Martin

Thank you, Madam Chair. The increases in modernization and improvements, yes, will certainly support energy efficiency going forward. Included in this increase is an extra investment of $1.3 million for an additional approximately 100 energy efficient fuel tank replacements for the coming year, and we also continue to support our local housing organizations with a number of MMI, minor repairs to our units, as well, which also contribute to improved energy efficiency. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Madam Chair. In regard to page 373, heating fuel, I think with the cost of that it was MTS, government owning MTS, that would be a lot better pricing from MTS to the housing authority in the smaller communities that we represent, making it more feasible for the LHOs to buy cheaper fuel for local housing authorities. That being said, the water and sanitation, we asked over four or five months ago in regard to increasing water for the communities. The mayor of Tuktoyaktuk asked for water. They wanted increases because of so many people living in a house, five to 10 people in a five-bedroom unit. We take care of our own in regard to couch surfing, too, and they get water every two days. Why aren't they able to increase the water supplement for the communities? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank you, Member, for your comment. Looking at the increase of water delivery, I will bring this back to my department and follow up with the mayor, as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member.

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Madam Chair. In regard to minor modernization and improvements, I brought up this week my local housing authorities in regard to windows and doors. If the wind is blowing right, they are getting snow piles inside. Materials that are coming in during the summer, and we have a short summer season to get all of the work done. Having to bring somebody into the community, like, for getting that work completed on time, just making sure that it's local people who are able to do that, with the local companies instead of bringing outsiders in, that has been a problem with what we have been dealing with up in Nunakput. I have been hearing from my local contractors. That has to stop, and they have to start utilizing local businesses. As for the flooring, again, I brought up the other day people in Paulatuk having to put a blanket down so that they don't get their feet so cold because of the insulation. Not only that, it is the mould issue that we have been having in the small communities. We have been bringing it up for years. When are we going to deal with this? Is it this year, with the modernization? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Member. Minister.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Paulie Chinna

Paulie Chinna Sahtu

Thank you, Madam Chair. I did commit to the Member that I will have the Housing Corporation visit his community to make sure that we have adequate maintenance and fixtures, I want to say, do the windows and the doors, that they are adequate for our tenants who are occupying our units. Thank you, Madam Chair.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Minister. Member for Nunakput.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson Nunakput

Thank you, Madam Chair. No. I will wait for the proper section. Thank you.

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Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

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The Chair

The Chair Lesa Semmler

Thank you. Are there any further questions under community housing services? Member for Deh Cho.