Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, housing was identified and continues to be our priority for this government and, more importantly, it is a basic need that has a significant impact on one's quality of life and potentially one's future. This government, with all its good intentions, has made minimal progress over the last several decades on meeting the housing needs of Indigenous people in the Northwest Territories - and we continue down that same path.
We found our past approach to be flawed and through renewal we are hoping to see positive change. It is important to give a new approach flexibility that allows for adapting to change without having to start at square one. Madam Speaker, many who look to the NWT Housing Corporation for public housing, do so because there are no other options. People come to us, as MLAs, and plead for help. They go to their Indigenous representatives and plead for help. Yet, there is nothing we can say or do that will provide any hope or comfort to a long-standing problem, which is lack of public housing.
Indigenous People in need of housing need not only pressure this government, but must pressure Indigenous and federal governments as well. Our focus must be on solutions that will fill the many units sitting empty in our communities, place new units on those vacant lands owned by the NWT Housing Corporation or Indigenous governments, and increase program funding.
Madam Speaker, I must give credit to the department on the timing and purchase of the Nordic Arms Apartment complex in YK. The per door cost will be considerably less than constructing a new complex or building 24 single-detached homes. Following that acquisition, I will now be looking to the Minister and her department to begin planning a residential complex in Hay River for seniors and one for singles and couples. Land has been sitting vacant for several years and it is time make use of it.
Madam Speaker, the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation and her team have made some good decisions which we need to see expanded throughout the NWT. We now see Indigenous governments taking on housing initiatives, seeking solutions that work for their communities, dealing directly with the federal government and using own resources for delivery. If we expect ongoing results, we need cooperation amongst all level of governments with Indigenous governments taking the lead. Thank you, Madam Speaker.