Mr. Speaker, laced throughout my Member's statements over the past year have been persistent concerns that housing is far more than a commodity. Housing is a human right recognized by the United Nations, both generally, in regard to sustainable development, and specifically, as it relates to Indigenous people, captured in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Housing is a public good. It is the centre of thriving communities and the health and well-being of people and society regardless of ethnicity or income. The central role of housing in society is not only recognized by habitat in the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also in this House by this Assembly. Discussions of housing, its importance, and its place in community wellness unites the 19th Assembly.
Mr. Speaker, there is good reason for this centrality of housing. From an environmental perspective, we are on a collision course with climate change while more than 40 percent of the carbon footprint comes from buildings, mostly housing. To be honest, Mr. Speaker, the numbers are probably higher because of the energy intensity of insulation products, the long-distance transport of construction material, the cost of heating and diesel-fired electricity throughout the service life of a house, and the requirement of oil-fired vehicles to get to any public services in most of our communities. Community planning and housing design must be responsive to this rapidly changing environment if we want to protect the health of our planet.
From a social perspective, a safe, secure, and healthy home is essential to family life. It is the family that informs our lifestyle choices and decisions from the day we are born until the day we die. Our prosperity, if not our very survival, as people and communities depend on good choices, which will stand the test of global economy and allow our communities to provide viable housing options. Housing is not a commodity, like a house. Housing is a public good: a home. Accessibility to everything that dignifies humanity starts in the home. The home supports conversations with people we trust about things that matter to us. It keeps us healthy, and when we are sick, it gives us the best place to get well. Housing provides a passport to health, clean water, education, and our participation in governance and the economy.
From a governance perspective, the quality of our citizenship starts with housing. The basic ethic of a compassionate, caring society is one where no one gets left behind. Housing equity dignifies us, and from that place of dignity, we participate in decision-making in a social democracy, where personal interests give sway to the common good. In this Chamber, I have spoken about people whose return to their birth community has been frustrated by our housing program. I have spoken about vulnerable persons who have been evicted when they were prime candidates for integrated support systems. Housing programs failed to provide it. I have spoken to the fundamental relationships between housing and environmental, social, and economic well-being. I have spoken to systemic racism and its overpowering manifestation in homelessness.
There is good reason, Mr. Speaker, for the centrality of housing. There is no good reason, Mr. Speaker, that we are not providing it. Homelessness is the shadow side of homefulness, a term we rarely hear in housing discussions. Homefulness, as explained by Marilyn Hamilton, captures how access to the many levels of nested services fuels success. The flip side of homefulness is homelessness: society's punishment for people's inability to fit within the limited range of services connected through a bureaucratic system. The existing mission statement of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation speaks to acquiring, building, and maintaining housing stock, but remains silent on its role in the social wellness of Northerners. There is no strategic plan to increase housing stock in the Northwest Territories, and there is no policy structure to either change how this government provides housing or supports housing partnerships.
Mr. Speaker, what we are looking for through this motion is a housing program that is people-centred and built around the wellness of Northerners. To be consistent and forward-looking, it must be underpinned by a comprehensive policy, flexible action plan, prudent investment strategy, and set of performance measures that capture the values of care and compassion for people, planet, and prosperity. The housing program must be built in partnership by all its stakeholders bound by a common purpose.
The attempt to achieve housing as a public good won't be perfect. In fact, progress depends on us learning continuously as we innovate and keep at it, but that means we need to be prepared to try new things and step outside of the cyclical history of housing the NWT. The 2019 NWT community survey found that over 42 percent of NWT dwellings had at least one housing problem. This represents a 10 percent increase from a decade earlier and tells us that our cycle is not serving us. Excellence in housing is a process, not a final destination. Just like we renovate our houses to suit our changing world, we will renovate our housing program, but we must start now to ensure that it choreographs all of the interrelated issues and brings together and all of government approach to achieve success. Housing is embedded in our community life and housing is not a silo. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.