Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And also looking at the RCMP units, I see they do have a crawl space there and those buildings are in the area where flooding did occur. I'm just wondering what consideration was given, I guess, to mitigate any future damage by flooding in those buildings and if, you know, and if we've got insurance on them, I guess, or if there's insurance on them, does it cover flooding? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have vice-president Jim Martin respond. I don't have those technical about crawl spaces and basements, and I don't have that in my material. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Vice-president Martin.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess the question that I have first is in terms of how funding works for public housing, can you explain how funding works for public housing, where money comes in from CMHC for minor and major capital projects, operation and maintenance, and that kind of thing on an annual basis for a typical public housing unit. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. For that level of detail, I'll defer the question over to president Young. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. President Young.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, so that helps me to understand how the funding works a bit. In here, in the Northwest Territories, you had -- I think you had mentioned during committee that there's about 2,400 public housing units in total. Of that amount, here in Yellowknife how much of that public housing units we have that are either -- do you consider rent supplement program as public housing where you lease, say, from Lanky Court and that kind of thing, is that considered public housing? Or is it something different altogether. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The rent supplementary program is just a program to support private rentals, and it's separate from public housing. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess when the $60 million federal housing allocation was determined and there was a picture in the CBC here page and they talked about the allocation for the next two years of -- coming from the $10.1 billion, the housing, of that $60 million, it says right here that it's a drop in the bucket that was mentioned by the Premier but at the same time it's supposed to address the housing crisis here in the Northwest Territories. So what I don't understand is that when I go through your list here, right now on public housing on page 73, it's highlighted that all these public housing units are funded by CIRNAC and it's an arrangement that you guys can tell me, but what I don't understand is that here in the Northwest Territories right now, that if I were to take a look in my riding, say, there's 340 houses that needs to be retrofitted times 200 -- 200,000 just to retrofit that unit, but then you got 33 communities in the Northwest Territories that probably fall into that same category so we're looking at about $2.2 billion just to fix up housing in the Northwest Territories. So I -- we've been here for 50 years already. So what I don't see is -- how come you guys don't have a plan to address these outstanding issues on the housing crisis in the Northwest Territories? So can you tell me maybe a bit about this so that I understand as to how you guys are going to deal and tackle the housing crisis here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And the Member is correct, you know, we did get the $60 million over two years but that was ongoing federal engagements and conversations that was happening with the federal government, and we also do have the 100-unit rollout as well and also acknowledging seniors within that rollout as well. We've also worked very closely with the federal government to enhance their co-investment application for the Indigenous governments as well too, and for stakeholders and NGOs throughout the Northwest Territories. And separate from that, I just -- I don't want to kind of get off into a tangent here but then there's just -- you know, there's the $500 million that's coming here to the Northwest Territories that has been identified for specific Indigenous groups through the distinction based funding. With that, together we are working in conjunction in trying to provide adequate support at the community level as well. We've entered into the community housing plans where these would become lobbying documents to address the housing, those specific housing needs in the smaller communities. One thing that the portfolio has done is try to come up with very unique and innovative ideas on how to address housing in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think there's got to be a way because, you know, the way I read this document to the Aboriginal governments in the Northwest Territories when you see $30 million going to -- and that's coming from Ottawa that was probably negotiated or application was made to get that money, but at the end of the day is does this makes sense to fix up public housing with CIRNAC dollars when we are in a housing crisis here in the Northwest Territories. So going forward, you know, like we're going to have to develop a better strategy as to how we're going to deal with this. Yes, we need -- we do need money to fix up a lot of these houses in the community. The reports already say that that's coming out. So my question, I guess, at the end of the day is that how are you going to work with Indigenous governments to find better monies or work with them so that they could start fixing up these units in the communities? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And this delivery that we do have is just repairing our own public housing units, and we haven't seen this amount of money come into the territories in decades. And I just think of the -- we are working with the Council of Leaders as well too and looking at, like, our policies and looking at the community housing plans, it might seem not as significant to the Member but this -- there's been extensive work in creating these documents and just really looking at what is required at the smaller community level. And what I've seen throughout the Northwest Territories is those needs -- housing needs throughout the territory are not the same, and we have some communities that are strictly looking at either homeownership; they're looking at more public housing units; they're looking at putting more construction on the ground. And it just varies throughout the territory. But we do have a limited budget as well too that I just really wanted to highlight that. $60 million is not very much to be honest. That's what our 100-unit rollout was about in the last year. And I see what $30 million looks like. And this is what we were able to acquire. But then with the success of the distinction based funding, it's really started to create a lot more conversation and a lot more positive responses at the local community level. We are there to be working with the Indigenous groups. Mahsi.