Minister of Housing.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, you know, since I've gotten the portfolio, I'm, you know, absolutely grateful that, you know, to be sitting in this seat as well too and really highlighting and looking at what is needed at the ground level. Policies is just -- it's just a fraction of what needs to be done.

We need to improve the relationships. We need to improve the programs that we absolutely deliver at the ground level. Our relationships with the Indigenous groups is key, and it is priority. And looking at -- I just want to elaborate on those partnerships as well too, where we're able to -- for an example, we looked at furnace repair. We did that in one of the communities where we funded the community to go ahead and establish and provide that service. We looked at building decks. We looked at siding. We looked at pilings as well too. So working through those initiative -- those projects.

Not only that, the other one is apprenticeships and working through that as well too and trying to highlight the opportunity with our 90-unit delivery coming through the Northwest Territories and really enhancing and connecting with the communities. And as we move forward, we are going to see a lot of improvement in a lot of -- a lot of housing moving in a really different direction and really putting the Northwest Territories first and also looking at the funding.

I did just finish a presentation to the standing committee with the House of Commons last week as well too, which turned out to be very successful and was very well received as well.

We do also have a federal working table where I wanted to work with the federal government and look at all of the funding pots that are out there because there's not just specifically one; there's several of them. And I wanted those pots to be available to the people of the territories. But in response to that, very grateful that we did end up getting the $5 million over three years to support those federal applications.

I don't want to take up too much time but I'm, you know, quite passionate about it as well. All of our housing designs and energy efficiency designs as well, and that's all available to all of the Indigenous groups as well too. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

No, that's -- thanks, Mr. Chair. That's all I've got on this one. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Martselos.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just going to make a couple comments. I just -- one of the comments that my -- one of my colleagues said about Indigenous governments.

Indigenous governments always facilitate that they always want to have control of the funds for housing. It goes back, like, 17 years now, and every time there was allocations of $59 million to the federal -- to the territorial government, it was just another roadblock for them to actually do -- to actually control the funds and do the work. So saying that -- because I know that's the way it was every time we met as a group.

I also want to just make a statement on -- policy is not always the correct way of looking at the delivery of services. Once again, one size doesn't fit all. There are individual needs out there that have to be addressed. And many times as ordinary MLAs, we get calls of people who are couch surfing, people whose names have been on for four years on lists and have never been called. There's always these other issues that are very dear to all of us in this House, including the Cabinet Members, I'm sure.

And so you get into the homelessness issue and, you know, homelessness you said was, Madam Premier, one of your -- one of the things that you advocated on before your time as an MLA. And this government has addressed a lot of those concerns within the last budget with -- in this past budget with -- this budget that we're doing I should say with Hay River and Fort Simpson. And coming from a large community, a regional community, and all small communities, we should all be addressing homelessness in -- in our -- in a way that is innovative and -- so that we can all succeed. And I just feel that, you know, sometimes we have -- we have -- we have mini roadblocks just by expressing on some of the things we want to do.

And in consensus government, we should be able to sit down and work through those roadblocks but when you just get a -- no commitment and just oh, you're going to go back to the federal government, well, by that time there will be double the amount of homelessness in the community, and I don't agree with that.

And you know, I've been advocating on behalf of a group on homelessness, and this group has carried the homelessness -- majority of the funds have been coming from this one group, and now they have a solution, and they have an innovative solution, and I'd just like to know how you feel, Madam Premier, about the whole issue of homelessness and the whole issue of policy that the delivery of services doesn't always one size fits all. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the MLA knows me well and she's just trying to testing me, but she's right. One size doesn't fit all. I know that we've -- you know, and I come from the NGO world. I'm a social worker by degree, and people always said one stop shopping and I've always been the one that says no, because what happens when that one person can't go in that building; they have nowhere else to shop. So, you know, I always say that you need to have flexibility in programs.

The reason I say that it's really important and it's a huge milestone that the Council of Leaders is actually doing a working group to look at the policies of the Housing Corporation is because the Housing Corporation doesn't have any legislation. All they have is policies. So being able to get them into the policies is like looking at their whole -- the whole way they operate. It's a huge milestone in my opinion. If they had legislation, it might be different. I might be saying move into that direction. But they don't.

So I think that you'll find -- I'm very hopeful that as they go forward, that -- I know all the Indigenous governments know one size doesn't fit all, and I know that they will bring flexibility -- I trust, in the process that they will bring flexibility within the policy.

So give us a chance. I know that we're just beginning that work. Let's see what happens. We're at mid term. This is new work. It's just, I think, in the last six months or so we put this on the table, and Minister Chinna's just getting her head around it. And I am hopeful that things will come, positive things will come from this. And I am hopeful that -- I also agree that homelessness is an issue that needs to be addressed, and if we can't address it all -- in fact, we can't address it all. We don't have enough money in the NWT to address it all from the GNWT. And we don't have all the answers. But by working together with the Indigenous governments, as you say that was what they wanted in the beginning, and us being open enough to being able to take that jump and working with them, I think we'll have better answers and better housing solutions for people. And my wish is that every single community in the NWT will have some kind of accommodations for homeless people because that's where I come from, and that's where my heart is. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Martselos.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The other thing I wanted to address is the homeownership program.

The homeownership program and also the -- we -- they're always -- there's always these thresholds that seem to be a barrier to ownership. So if you're at the very lower end of the scale, you can get ownership of -- because I know a couple, a young couple in Fort Smith who just started jobs and just started a new family, and they were told that they were over the threshold. And, you know, they're just starting out. They don't -- they bought a car and they wanted to buy the house they were in. And everything's with a threshold in this department. You have to think of all the inflation issues, all the other issues that are pending in our -- today's world, you know, with cost of food, cost of living, cost of fuel, cost of gas. All those things come into play. And I think that we have to be more innovative in the way we think with regards to these thresholds because, you know, every one of us, including all 19 of us, know that this is a -- the major problem with homeownership, there's always -- you know, and you want to give it to the people that are going to actually pay for the homeownership program that -- you know, and -- you have to be able to minimize those barriers, and I just wonder how we're going to be able to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Premier.

Mr. Chair, if you can divert that to the Minister of Housing, Minister --

Minister Chinna.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, you know, thank you to the Member for these questions because it's exactly where I'm sitting with the corporation, is looking at all those in flair -- rising costs, looking at all of those, and because I come from a smaller community. You know, Fort Good Hope in my riding was the most expensive community to be living in. We're looking at -- I think the last was $2.78 per litre for gas. And looking at the limited amount of time to get your supplies on the winter road just, you know, according to Minister Archie, the last post that we're going to be closing down in 72 hours. And I -- I hear you when I'm looking at -- looking at the housing needs in the North and looking at what needs to come with it.

Looking at those thresholds is something that I'm bringing back to the department because if you're making a hundred thousand dollars in Nunakput and you're paying, you know, $50 for a package of steak, you know, and if you're living in a home in Colville Lake and your fuel is $1,400 in four weeks, those are -- those are costs that I'm absolutely looking at. And I want to make those changes within this government. I need to look at those policies, and having the Council of Leaders at that same working table and getting that information right from the ground level, it really fuels and emphasizes the need for change in the Northwest Territories and how the Housing Corporation is actually doing business.

And I also just wanted to highlight, the other thing too is we have 2600 units, 45,000 people. I have an issue with that. You know, and when I had met the last -- and Nunavut had made -- had made some comments, and they've got, according to them, 10,000 units. And I thought, there's -- I asked my department to go back to making sure, is that number correct, because we only have 2600.

So it really fuels that conversation with the federal government as well too to -- to really look at those numbers, and looking at the operation and maintenance as well too for those units. But also I want to see more homeownership throughout the territory. I was, you know, born and raised in the Northwest Territories. I was around when they had the HAP units. Very successful program. And I would like to look at that and look at the opportunities. But with that, community driven, where we are able to provide that funding to the communities, support them with the -- the stipend based funding that they did receive. But it's up to them if they want to invite us to the table, and if they want to see what it is that we have to offer to them. But I'm more than open to be meeting with them. Council of Leaders is the first place to start. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Martselos. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My first question for the Minister -- or sorry, for the Premier is in regards to the very first status on the first piece, which is working with -- including federal and Indigenous governments to increase funding for housing programs that currently that reads as fulfilled, and given that accessing -- or working with people or different partners to access funding is an ongoing and kind of a constant within the housing portfolio, I'm wondering if the Premier is willing to change that to ongoing and maintain that as ongoing for the life of this Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd just like clarification. Exactly what is the Member wanting to get changed out of this -- how we do it? I want to make sure that I'm clear with that direction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, currently I'm in the line item of work with partners including the federal/Indigenous governments to increase funding for housing programs. It is marked as fulfilled.

Given that this is something that the Housing portfolio is constantly working on and that we don't want to lose sight of, I'm wondering if the Premier will commit to changing the status of that to ongoing so that we are consistently looking for additional funding opportunities. Thank you.

Thank you. Premier.

Thank you for the clarification. I thought she was looking at a different one but this is fine.

What I do recommend -- I'm not going to change all of these mandates. That's not going to happen. But what I will do with the status is put fulfilled and ongoing, if the Member's okay with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Ms. Cleveland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll accept fulfilled and ongoing on that one. So thank you to the Premier for that.

One of my points of that one is, for example, the $60 million carveout that is identified under progress to date was a commitment that was made during 2018. So we weren't even within the 19th Assembly at that point. And so this is something that we are thankfully reaping the benefits of, of work that was achieved in the 18th Assembly for that $60 million carveout. And so I'm wondering if there is a commitment from Cabinet to pursue additional carve-offs like that from the National Housing Strategy so that we as well are leaving the 20th Assembly with a similar carve-off of funding for additional housing initiatives. Thank you.