Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I as well want to recognize the Sahtu leadership as well, Ayoni Keh president Joseph Kochon. Also Danny Gaudet, Leonard Kenny of Deline Got'ine government. And also I'd like to recognize Ms. Valerie Gordon who is an intergovernmental relations lands resources manager with Sahtu Secretariat. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing has been working very strongly with the Indigenous governments throughout the territory. We were able to acquire distinction-based funding. We do have working tables with specific Indigenous groups and governments throughout the Northwest Territories that welcome us to be working with them hand-in-hand. And also housing is not afraid of the declining CMHC funding is there. The opportunity oh out there for us to get new builds on the ground. We're looking for strategic new innovative ideas. We are working at the local housing authority level as well too with the smaller communities. And we do have strong representation at that level. We just finished our strategic renewal that invites all opinions, ideas that we have taken throughout the Northwest Territories to work more strongly with our tenant and is to work more strongly with our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, this is not an issue within housing. This has not been brought up. We do have a hundred unit roll out that has -- that is now -- we see construction in the smaller communities right now. We have been working very strongly as well with the Indigenous governments throughout the Northwest Territories addressing the housing knees as well. My drive within the portfolio is to get rid of the communities that were built in the 1970s and look for clients that are able to maintain and operate their own units as well with whatever supports that we are able to provide. I welcome all those applications coming forward, and look forward to tenants that are wanting to have the units transferred and become homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the sale of these units, we do consider the age and condition of these units as well too. We do get into the communities and we complete housing assessment as well. Some of these units do require improvements, and we do provide that opportunity as well too the tenants that we would -- we would look at repairs and renovations prior to transfer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for asking the question. This is an opportunity for our current tenants that are occupying our public housing units. We do have a homeownership program here in the Northwest Territories that recognizes our long-term tenants as well. And through that program, we have a three to five year forgivable loan program that we have established. To date, we had 40 interested applicants, and we've approved 20 of them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to share with you some of the exciting things happening at Housing Northwest Territories that are a direct result of our renewal strategy. Since the initiation of the strategy, Housing NWT has worked with the Council of Leaders to revise and modernize its mandate and use this mandate to guide the review of our policies and programs. We are now in the process of implementing the changes coming up for review. Changes include the implementation and improvement of how Housing NWT works with local housing organizations, our critical partners in delivering all of our public housing programs. We have also improved and collaborated with Indigenous governments with agreements signed with the Tlicho government, Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated, and Deline Got'ine government, and more agreements are expected. Additionally, we are putting in place a last-chance mechanism for engaging with Indigenous governments with a forum that will be co-chaired by Housing NWT and an Indigenous government. The Terms of Reference are now being finalized, and we do anticipate that the first Indigenous government co-chair for this forum will be the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

Mr. Speaker, Housing NWT recognizes the importance of supporting each Indigenous government as they develop and implement their self-government agreements and determine how housing priorities are more in need in their communities. It is worth noting that Housing NWT is doing all of this work while managing a public housing expansion that has been unprecedented in recent decades.

Mr. Speaker, along with these accomplishments, I am proud to bring forward a number of new initiatives and improvements underway. My colleagues are aware, public housing applicants who have met the eligibility criteria undergo prioritization using a point rating system. An applicant is given a number of points for certain needs and this score helps to prioritize their ranking to access available housing in their communities. As part of Housing NWT's renewal strategy, the points system was updated and modernized so that it lines up with Housing NWT's mandate and government priorities. This means that the point rating system now includes points for those who are experiencing chronic homelessness, or individuals who are in need of housing because they are living in an environment that is involving family violence. The new points system is being rolled out on April 1st of this year.

Mr. Speaker, to ensure our tenants' successes, we have recently worked with the literacy council to plain language the tenancy agreements as well as develop a tenant's handbook that outlines the rights and responsibilities of both the landlord and the tenant. We have also introduced a tenant success plan which outlines how local housing organizations should work with the clients to support them and giving them a chance at success.

Mr. Speaker, another small but new initiative is centered around access to credit. For some of our clients, their monthly rent is the only regular payment that are being make and the only opportunity they have to build a good credit rating. We are happy to announce a credit rating pilot program in two communities: Fort Resolution and Inuvik. Public housing tenants will have the opportunity to opt into the program which will only report positive credit rating.

Mr. Speaker, for our homeowners, along with the increase in thresholds for most programs, a focus on seniors and eliminating the co-pay for emergency repairs, we are introducing a pilot program in two communities that will allow for us to work with the local housing organizations in communities where there is no local supplier for construction materials. The local housing organization will provide access to material, such as heating and plumbing parts, things that we know homeowners need and that are hard to get in a timely manner in a small remote community.

Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the current highlights with much more exciting news expected to come in the coming weeks, including our new Energy Management Strategy and Blueprint.

Mr. Speaker, the housing needs in the territory are so great that sometimes it seems that the challenges are harder to accomplish. But what I have seen in my time as Minister is the willingness to work together to meet those challenges and to be courageous, to look with a critical eye at whether our efforts are being effective. No one government, no one organization, and no single solution alone will allow us to be successful. We need to work together to address the territory's housing crisis. I would like to take this time to thank my colleagues on the other side who have supported me in this portfolio as well and implementing these changes as we go forward. I'd also like to thank the staff at Housing NWT for coming together and implementing these programs as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member as well too. It is not just as simple as just writing off all of these debts throughout the Northwest Territories for housing. A lot of our programming does recycle, and it does go back in to programming for homeownership repair and programs available to support homes throughout the Northwest Territories.

I will have to take a look at what we have so far and looking at the current debt status that we do have, and I have to work with the Member as well too for her riding. But this is an issue throughout the Northwest Territories, and Housing is really trying to work with each and every one of these clients so they can be successful homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the lifetime of this government, the Housing NWT has forgiven $8 million in housing mortgage arrears throughout the Northwest Territories, and they consist of several different financial situations that the client may be entering into. And we try to do our best to try to work with the client prior to them receiving the eviction notices. That is the absolute last resort. And if that -- that we do have public housing that is available to the tenants as well if they're not able to afford their homeownership program.

We also do work with our collections within Housing NWT, but we also do have to submit to FMB as well too with the financial analysis as to why we are going to be submitting a forgiveness and a write-off of those debts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for raising this question as well too, because right now Housing NWT is reviewing. We have 268 mortgages throughout the Northwest Territories. This was a program that was available to the Northwest Territories through CMHC about over 20 years ago. At that time, we did come out with the subsidized mortgages throughout the Northwest Territories. We have run into some issues where we have not had clients pay consistently throughout the territories. But we do enter into payment plans, and we do work with each of the clients considering their financial changes and trying to make them become -- and help support them to become successful homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.