Once we have a firm date, we will let the Member, as well as community leaders, know that we will be opening it.

One thing that I do want to mention is the design that we did fix and change up. There has been a design for improved accessibility, high energy efficiency, as well as having a space for health and wellness programming. Once we do have a firm date for the opening, as I mentioned, we will have the elders, the community, and the leadership know when that day is. As usual, as the Member knows and Members around the table know, McPherson really does do a good job when we celebrate things as such.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Member for his Member's statement and recognizing that our elders are important. Allowing our elders to live in an area where they can continue practising and teaching our youth their cultures and traditions is very important. We are expecting to have the completion this summer, sometime in June. I don't have an exact date, but I will keep the Member, as well as the residents and the elders, updated so that we know when we can do the move-in. I just want to thank the community for their patience. I know that this was a project that was a little bit complicated, and we had to deal with it.

I want to thank the Member for bringing this up, and we will keep the Member updated so that he can keep his residents and elders updated as well. I don't have an exact date right now, but we are looking at sometime in June. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has worked hard to meet the commitments made by this government to advance affordable housing and address homelessness during the 18^th Legislative Assembly.

In addressing this priority, we resolved to use northern solutions for northern housing. One example is the Northern Pathways to Housing Program, an innovative approach to addressing homelessness in small communities.

We all know that there is homelessness in our communities. We know there are overcrowded houses where people couch-surf because they do not have a home of their own. Research tells us that the chances of addressing the issues that lead to homelessness, mental health, addictions, and other social issues, are better when you have stable housing.

The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is working with community groups to develop, design, and implement supportive housing for our residents through the Northern Pathways to Housing Program. The program involves providing four apartment-style single room units to community partners, along with funding support to pay for the additional costs associated with the operation of a supportive housing program.

The community partner works with the program participants to maintain their housing stability and respond to their particular needs. This support includes connecting them with available services and resources from community agencies. The community partner chooses the program participants through a committee. The program allows the community to prioritize the needs that they see as the most urgent.

Our experience with the Liidlii Kue First Nation and the Aklavik Indian Band is proving that this model makes a difference in peoples' lives. I want to thank those two groups for their dedication and vision.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that a third Northern Pathways to Housing Program is starting in Behchoko. Through engagement with the Tlicho Government and the Community Government of Behchoko, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has selected the Behchoko Friendship Centre as the community partner that will deliver the program in Behchoko. I anticipate being in Behchoko in June to celebrate the project with community residents and government leaders.

The Northern Pathways to Housing Program is one of a kind. It takes the philosophy of Housing First, an approach utilized across North America, but tailors it for the Northwest Territories. This truly is a northern solution for northern housing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the pleasure of hosting the Northern Housing Summit on April 23 and 24, 2019, in Inuvik. The summit's theme was "Northern Solutions for Northern Housing," reflecting the mandate commitment of the 18^th Legislative Assembly, and its purpose was to encourage new partnerships in housing.

We brought leaders from across the Northwest Territories to Inuvik to share their experiences in a wide variety of housing matters. There were also presenters from the Yukon and Nunavut. Topics ranged from territorial and federal funding opportunities to local capacity development, green building practices, community housing planning, and housing for healthy communities.

The Northern Housing Summit featured two distinguished keynote speakers. Former Premier Nellie Cournoyea provided her unique perspective on housing, both as a political leader and from her own lived experience. Douglas Cardinal is one of North America's pre-eminent architects. Mr. Cardinal gave an engaging presentation on his mission to incorporate Indigenous concepts, values, and respect for local Indigenous traditions and cultural practices into design and architecture.

Mr. Speaker, the Northern Housing Summit provided communities, Indigenous organizations, industry, non-government organizations, and other housing stakeholders with the information to access new investment opportunities, such as the Government of the Northwest Territories Community Housing Support Initiative and the federal National Housing Co-Investment Fund.

The Northern Housing Summit empowered individuals, organizations, and communities to engage on key housing issues and initiatives. It has already resulted in the expansion of partnerships among housing stakeholders.

The summit also encouraged stakeholders to plan for the future through the training of tradespersons, participation in community housing plans, the development of green energy solutions, and by contributing to healthy communities.

Further, this event provided an opportunity for Indigenous leaders to express their thoughts on the federal Indigenous Housing Strategy. Northwest Territories Indigenous leaders were unanimous in stating that southern-based models often do not work in the North and that access to federal housing funds must allow for equality and fairness among all Indigenous groups across Canada, including the Northwest Territories.

The report on the Northern Housing summit will be released in June.

Mr. Speaker, the Northern Housing Summit was a success on many levels. It allowed communities and stakeholders to come together, learn from each other, and build a shared path toward northern solutions for northern housing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are working on this lease-to-own program. We are trying to get that information out to some of our good tenants in the public housing units. We also have a home ownership program that we are piloting. The Northern Pathways to Housing has shown some really good success already, especially in Simpson. We have one in Behchoko. We will see how things work out in Aklavik. I think we are going to see some really good, positive things coming out of there. We will continue, and I have always prided myself on partnerships to bring better solutions together. I would encourage the Member to reach out to his leadership, approach myself, and approach the NWT Housing Corporation to see how we can focus on this.

As I have said, the community housing plans are going to be a game-changer, and we are going to see some really good things, I think, coming out in the next few years.

I have mentioned in the House that we did get a carve-out of the Co-Investment Fund. We signed our bilateral agreement as well with the federal government, and we do have a great partnership with CMHC, as well as industry, and working with our Indigenous government organizations to address the issue. As I mentioned at the Housing Summit, it can't all be relied on government. We've got to have a partnership. We've got to work together to address this, and that includes CMHC. It includes industry. It includes our Indigenous government organizations, and we have been seeing that, Mr. Speaker, over the past year.

We will continue to promote our programs, and we want to focus on having our leaders in the communities reach out to myself and the NWT Housing Corporation to see how we can work together to address the housing needs throughout the Northwest Territories, but in this case, have the leaders in the Beaufort-Delta reach out, and we can have this chat.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, we do have a capital plan to address housing needs across the Northwest Territories. As the Member knows, I don't really have to inform him, but we have done good work in Aklavik with the Joe Greenland Centre. We did do some renovations to that building. He was there. We opened up the Northern Pathways to Housing, which is a great program. We're also working on a seniors' complex in Fort McPherson, which should be completed this summer. Most recently, as Members know, and we're working on getting that report completed, we did have a housing summit in Inuvik, where we had leaders from the Member's region and from right across the territory. We also had the standing committee attend that housing summit, as well.

As I have said in this House many times, Mr. Speaker, we are working on community housing plans, and we initially were looking at just developing six during this fiscal year. Right now, we're working on 10, and we'll continue to encourage and work with our leaders in the communities to approach myself, as well as approach the NWT Housing Corporation, to look at addressing those.

As I mentioned, we do know that there is a concern. Not a concern, but the available and suitable land and the lots that are available to construct new buildings is a concern, and we are working on that. What I'd say is that the government was working to try to address this, even before the fire began. Even before the fire had started, and the issue that we see ourselves before now, we were already in discussions with the Municipality of Hay River. I appreciate the fact that the K'atlodeeche First Nation has stepped up, and the work that we have done with the K'atlodeeche First Nations, as well. We are working on it, and it is one of the communities that we want to continue to find a solution, whether it's public housing or market housing needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A couple of things. Through the NWT Housing Corporation, we didn't have any housing clients in the high-rise. That's where we're doing the collaborative approach, working with all the departments to address the issue. At the same time, we are working with private industry. We're trying to work with the Municipality of Hay River. As you've heard in this House before, we do have the co-investment fund that we were able to carve out and put applications in. Those are some of the long-term solutions that we're looking at. It's not only the high-rise that is affected. We also had that senior planning study that I've mentioned in this House before that we are looking at a couple of municipalities, and Hay River is one of them that we need to address, and we'll continue to work to find a short-term and a long-term solution. I think, in the short term, we have addressed some of the families. Not all of them, but we do have to work together to find solutions.