Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Anderson would like to address that.

Working with the communities and getting the communities to actually prioritize their own needs is something that the Housing Corporation is working towards and will be a big focus within our community surveys that are coming out lately. Within these regions actually, we did get their priorities. Currently, we have two multi-year agreements to support the homeless priorities of the Nunakput communities, Sachs Harbour Community Corporation. We have funding in the 2016-17 budget for food programs, community homeless planning, community kitchens and food banks. The community itself identified...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have done that to the committee. If the committee would like another briefing on that, we are willing to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am a little bit not aware of this program or the New Deal; however, I’m being informed that self-governments would have to ask to draw down jurisdiction to able to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. If a community does submit ten applications, each application would be considered within the community. We are talking about the small-community homeless fund. I want to make sure I am talking about the right program. Within the community of Yellowknife, or the southern communities, the maximum fund for that is $10,000. Within the northern communities, the maximum is $15,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Housing Corporation has changed its strategy, and so within the market communities we still offer subsidies for market housing. Within the smaller communities where there aren’t the market housing we are now providing the public housing for those needs. Our costs have actually decreased within that strategy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Homelessness is a serious issue that we don’t take lightly. The HAF program, the Housing Assistance Fund is meant to provide one-time assistance so that people that are at risk or in homelessness situations can get the assistance needed to provide them with support so they can get into secure housing. However, within that, we recognize that there are some issues, so we really try to do counselling for people because often when people get to the point where they have lost their houses, there’s underlying issues. It could be poverty, it could be addictions, it could be a...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to just explain to the Members that the NWT Housing Corporation has been in market housing for quite a number of time. We’ve been providing market housing to the smaller communities because they don’t have the market community in their communities. We’ve been providing housing for professionals such as social workers, nurses, etcetera, teachers, for decades. It’s not like we’re starting something new. This is something that we’ve done for a long time and we continue to do. In fact, we have 400 units within the NWT that we provide that service for currently...

Thank you. I’ll let Mr. Anderson answer that, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The term pilot… There was funding for the four and three came forward. It is just about building capacity. We really want to make sure that the communities that take on these projects have the skills and abilities and the capacity to provide them and to do them to sustain the program. We want to make sure that we provide the proper support before we go forward and to expand that to make sure that they succeed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.