Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I support this motion. Housing NWT needs to find an equitable solution and engagement with the people who have been in a housing unit all their lives. Many, if not all of these people, have grown up in the units either with their mom and dad, brothers and sisters, or other family members. It becomes very hard for these people to give up such units as they have become emotionally attached.

We need to be mindful of the past promises of the NWT Housing Corporation to the people. And they've told them that all they need to do in the past was to pay $5 a month for one year, then the houses would be turned over to them for ownership. Many elders have stated this over and over and over again. Mr. Speaker, it is time to honour these promises. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to rise in support of this motion. And I think the motion arises in cases, especially the long-term ones, but I believe actually that Cabinet is in support of this motion, and I would encourage them to review whether they could actually vote in favour.

I believe the housing authority has a number of policies which allow people to transfer units. I think there has just been a lot of frustration with Members not seeing this mandate commitment filled quick enough. And a lot of the eligibility criteria for the multiyear forgivable loans are sometimes not being met, and there's people who feel that the Housing Corp -- sorry, NWT Housing -- I will work on getting the right name -- are being a little too bureaucratic in how this process goes out, works.

But ultimately, I believe that it should be a shared priority of this government to encourage homeownership, and anyone who lives in a public housing tenant unit and, you know, it's clear that they want their unit, let's work with them.

I think we could probably be a little bit more expansive in the current policies and make sure that they are working for the reality on the ground in many of our communities.

So I just thank Members for bringing this forward, and I think we got to push our Cabinet colleagues to move this along a little quicker. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the mover and the seconder of this motion for the work that they've put into it.

You know, Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity or privilege to visit many of the smaller communities here in the Northwest Territories in this job, previous jobs I've had. And, you know, I've spoken to many people about the pride that they have in owning their own homes. And people have seen that the HAP units that, you know, that are still -- they're in many of those communities. Unfortunately, we don't do that program anymore. I think it was a great program and something we should probably bring back. But the pride that people have when they own their own homes will make a huge difference. And I think that's what this motion is really aimed at; you know, trying to find some new and innovative approaches to encouraging homeownership.

So, again, I want to thank the mover particularly for pushing this, and I know that the Standing Committee on Social Development is looking at this issue as well. And I sense that housing is a much higher priority in this Assembly than the last one. We just want to get our Cabinet colleagues fully on board so that when they go to Ottawa, the first thing that they start to talk about is housing.

But this is some work that we can do ourselves to help people in many of our small communities. I strongly support the motion, and I encourage all MLAs to do the same. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. The motion is in order. To the motion? Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will be supporting this motion. The compassion that was shown in this room by the presenter and the seconder is felt by all of us I'm sure.

I just want to make sure that there is no barriers with the ownership. Things are done with oversight, things are done in a neutral basis and, you know, because many times when we say we're going to do something great and wonderful, we don't want no thresholds for sure. And, you know, we have to really think about how important this is and how important it is for the people that are going to receive these homes and then how happy they're going to be.

And I agree with the MLA, which I don't agree with very often, that the HAP houses were -- the HAP housing program was an incredible program. I grew up under that program, and many of us did. And it gave a lot of pride to people who had to build their own houses, you know.

And with that I want to say -- I want to thank the MLA from Monfwi for expressing such -- you could tell that it's from the heart. And when you do something from the heart, you know, nothing else matters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Thebacha. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'd like to thank the mover and seconder of the motion as well. Housing is very important to everybody in the territories, and homeownership is just that much more important.

This government, though, has to stop perpetuating the myth that Indigenous people cannot manage homeownership. It is a common theme, though, beyond homeownership and it has to stop, and it has to stop here. And in saying that, I support the motion fully. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Hay River South. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too support this motion. It's been a while since 1991 when the HAP program was cancelled by CMHC through the GNWT. And since then, though, the housing programs in the communities changed over the years and the policies that was created along the way was written by southern people that was designed. But here in the North, in these communities, you know, employment is a big factor and that's why this program didn't really work. So I think it's something that if we were going to come up with kind of a design now for housing, it has to be community-based, community-driven, and policies created working with Indigenous governments in the future. So I would like to thank the mover and seconder to this motion, and I do support this motion. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. The motion is in order. To the motion. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the time and effort that it has taken to bring this motion forward. I'm actually quite excited, and I look forward to the response. And I appreciate the time to enforce and try to look at changes that we can do within this government. Mahsi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the motion. I will allow the mover to do closing remarks.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for all the support to my colleagues here and to the Ministers and to the Speaker. I know that there's lot of people that wants to be a homeowner. And a lot of them, they love their houses. And some of theme -- because, like, there are some people that I know who lived in the unit for over 20 years and when the aging parents pass on, they become homeless. And this will really avoid homelessness, some homelessness in communities. And it's really going to be -- it's going to help improve the lives of many community members that are living in the regions. And hopefully this will have the people living, staying in the community. Because of the lack of housing, people move to larger centre.

So I want to say thank you to my colleague, to everybody, to the Members of the Legislative Assembly for supporting this motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Monfwi. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. Colleagues, pursuant to Rule 10.3(1), a recorded vote is required. The clerk shall call on each Member by riding name to cast their vote starting with the mover, those participating remotely and those participating in the Chamber in the order of their seats. When the clerk calls on you, please state whether you are for, against, or abstaining.

In favour.

In favour.

For.