Lucy Kuptana

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the seniors home repair program and the senior aging in place program, these are complementary programs that Housing NWT offers throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. Housing NWT has various housing programs, housing assistance programs, to help those that need to upgrade their home, renovate their home, have their home become more energy efficient. There's different type of programs like the senior aging in place. We have a mobility program. We have an emergency repair program. We have a number of different programs that are advertised throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to recognize the outstanding achievement of staff at Housing NWT who were recently honoured with the Community Project of the Year award from Canadian Biomass. This award celebrates the district heating wood-pellet boiler system installed at Sissons Court housing complex in Yellowknife.I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the dedicated staff of infrastructure services at Housing NWT, as well as those from the Department of Infrastructure's energy, design and technical services group, for their support and commitment.

In 2022, Sissons...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I respect everyone's viewpoint, and I don't want to be stifling or suppressing any type of freedom of expression as we live in a democratic society. But in our role as elected officials, we have to be careful in our expression to ensure we are not bullying or intimidating or hurting intentionally. We have to lead the way in public discourse, especially in this age of social media, with our children and our grandchildren accessing it constantly. I would agree that having the committee examine the code of conduct. If it needs to be updated, I...

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to building more homes for Northerners. This commitment is strongly supported by a large new incremental investment in housing totaling $150 million over the remaining term of the 20th Legislative Assembly. The investment is the result of strong collaboration by all Members of this House and highlights the strength of our consensus government system. Improving the suitability, accessibility, and affordability of housing is a top priority of this government.

This investment plan focuses on sustaining the public housing portfolio by replacing aged housing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have asked the same question to Housing NWT, how can we relocate these families to get them out of Nova, to get them away from that situation. The problem is that we don't have any other units available in Inuvik at this time. We continue to push it. We try to move them out and move them to other locations that are safer within the community. We're looking at different security measures within Nova to beef that up. We are talking to the landlord. But at this time, we do have a lack of available public housing in Inuvik. That's the crux of the problem, Mr. Speaker...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, homelessness is a complex issue that affects all of our communities. The rising cost of living, addictions, and climate emergencies have disproportionately affected our most vulnerable residents. The GNWT is committed to finding solutions that provides more homes for Northerners.

The GNWT continues to focus on a whole-of-government approach to address homelessness, following the development of A Way Home: A Comprehensive Strategy to Address Homelessness in the Northwest Territories.

A Way Home highlights the need for collaboration among government agencies...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, we are so fortunate that this Assembly approved $150 million over the next three years for housing and public housing replacements across the North. Inuvik is one of the communities that will see public housing replacements, considering many of their housing units are 50 plus years old and families are still staying in those units and struggling in those units. But I talked to Housing NWT about the opportunity to look at purchasing -- perhaps purchasing Nova. They're having ongoing discussions with the landlord to see what's possible and, hopefully, we'll...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Nova Apartments in Inuvik has been an ongoing issue over the last ten years. Both you and I know it, MLA Rodgers. Like, this is really important because these families that are living in these conditions are seeing ongoing violence and trauma every day. And the work that Housing NWT is doing is we're working with the landlord, the private landlord, to improve the conditions within Nova. It's difficult times, difficult conditions. We're see a lot of illegal activity. We're seeing drug busts on an ongoing basis. We're seeing crack being smoked in the hallways...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this question is important because the work they're doing in the Akaitcho territory, talking about the conditions of homes in their communities, this is something that housing is doing as well through our territorial housing needs assessment. Again, we've done the quantitative assessment and now we're wrapping it up with the qualitative assessment that's hoping to be done by fall of 2025. And with that engagement, we have reached out to all Indigenous governments and Indigenous leadership in communities asking if we can have conversations about this assessment...