Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my constituents of Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh following the spring federal election with great anticipation, a sediment echoed throughout this Assembly. For some time, there has been serious uncertainty about how outcomes of the federal election could affect our efforts to tackle the many challenges facing our territory, in particular the ongoing housing crisis.

The result is not clear. Mr. Carney and the Liberal party have returned to office promising a new government agency dedicated to building 500,000 new homes a year across the country. While this plan is ambitious, it is not without precedent. For decades, the federal government built homes across Canada and here in the Northwest Territories. Those efforts made real progress until the mid 1990s. Many people in the North and the small communities are still living in those homes today. Unfortunately, the beginning of our modern housing crisis can be tracked back to the moment of federal government transferred housing responsibility to the territory government. The NWT has since fallen behind by hundreds of homes a year or 7,500 in total approximately and simply do not have the resources to keep up.

Public housing wait lists grew, vacancy rates plummet, and older homes slip into disrepair. We are now at a turning point. But this moment is about more than just catching up on the housing shortages. It's about ensuring we never face a crisis like this again, and that won't happen until Indigenous housing is led by Indigenous governments. Only then, truly understand the unique needs of their communities. They have community members ready to design policies, administer programs, and construction to maintain homes. We need to give them the authority and resources to get started. My constituents can't wait any longer for the GNWT to move beyond its failing policies and commit to new Indigenous-led housing consensus.

A strong first step would be to revisit the successful historic initiative by reinstating the old HAP programs:

• Homeownership assistance program,
• Home improvement program,
• Senior assistance home assistance program, and
• Emergency repair program.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. But at this time, with the funding flowing directly to the Indigenous governments, along with funding for public housing and CRC operation and maintenance funds. My communities and I are eager to hear from firm commitments in that direction because this work can't wait any longer. I would have questions for the Premier at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.