Alfred Moses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, we do have a capital plan that we do follow. One new initiative that we are doing is the community housing plans, as I have mentioned numerous times during this session, that are going to help identify where our needs are.

Last week I talked about some of our core need progress that has been going on. Our work with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is helping address those needs, as well. We have been meeting with the Gwich'in Tribal Council to see how we can work together to address these issues, and we will continue to have those in place as we...

Currently, we are going through a strategic renewal process. That program in particular, we will be taking a look at. We also do have other work that we are doing that I will be more than happy to share with the Member, such as the community housing support initiatives, that we work with Indigenous governments as well as NGOs to provide funding. As we go through our strategic renewal, we will be updating Members, we will be updating committee, as well as all of our stakeholders across the territory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think, over the last few years, we have been seeing some very strong partnerships, strong, positive partnerships. As you heard, I just talked about our partnership with the IRC, the Tlicho Minister's statement that I gave on Friday. Working with the Tlicho leadership there was a very positive relationship. Yes, I am willing to work with the Member, work with their leadership, to address the housing issues in their communities.

I have been assured that the cancellation of the MTS shipments will not impact any new construction within the Nunakput communities, with the exception of Paulatuk, which had some mechanical materials, including water and sewer tanks, scheduled for the barging. We are assessing the situation to make sure that we address it, and I will confirm and commit to keeping the Member and his constituents updated on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the 2016 federal budget, the Member is right, $15 million was allocated directly to the IRC for 24 public housing replacement projects in the six Inuvialuit Settlement Region communities. These will not be additional units, unfortunately, for the Housing Corporation's portfolio, but will be replacing aging buildings with more energy-efficient and modernized units.

The IRC did secure the additional funding in 2018-2019 to also deliver an additional 10 public housing unit replacements for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. We continue to look...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has been working collaboratively with the Tlicho Government to address critical housing issues in the Tlicho region. In order to meet this government’s commitments to address the cost of living, the Housing Corporation is continuing to implement northern solutions for northern housing. A crucial element of this approach is working in partnership with other orders of government, such as the Tlicho, to address affordable housing challenges.

Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho Government and the Government of the Northwest...

As the Member knows, the NWT Housing Corporation has been working with the Aklavik Indian Band for a couple of years now in terms of the planning, looking for a lot, looking for where we can put either a new construction or where we can upgrade a current housing unit. As I mentioned, it is a new construction. We will get the materials there this summer. The building, the northern housing unit, should be complete by December of 2018. We will update the Member on a regular basis. We will also make sure that the Aklavik Indian Band does know this. In terms of the contract, I do believe the...

Not here, on the floor of the House, I cannot provide dates. I will look at my schedule and look at the availability of my senior staff who will be able to come in and chat with leadership, not only leadership but also community organizations, any other non-government organizations, as well, that want to participate in creating options. I know that we had the Yellowknife Women's Centre attend a meeting in Behchoko today, actually, and talk about options for Housing First in Behchoko, and we can do something similar in the other smaller communities. Plus, the program that I mentioned, the...

One thing that this government does is it does provide a lot of social supports to residents of the Northwest Territories. It was only an option. I didn't say to go and do it. It is an option for anybody who finds themselves in that situation or needs a little bit of extra help. We do have the Rent Supplement Program, as I mentioned, to help supplement the living costs that are associated with staying in your own unit, or a market unit, and that's something I would encourage.

We're here to help, as a government, whether it's through income assistance, through the programs we have at Housing, or...

First of all, we have done of few things. We have done a Housing Engagement Survey in 2017, and we're going to do another one in January of 2019. With that, we're developing these community housing plans for all 33 communities in the Northwest Territories, and through that survey, what we've developed is we're doing a strategic renewal within the NWT Housing Corporation. We're going to be reviewing all of our NWT Housing Corporation programs, and we're going to be reviewing them for potential improvements, as well as looking at improvements in our homelessness programs. We continue to do...