Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to speak about housing problems in Nahendeh. I have to tell you that I get no joy in finding that I have been right about the dire straits of housing in my constituency.
The 2009 NWT Community Survey of Housing confirms that the number of households in the NWT that are considered to be in core need has increased from 16 percent in 2004 to 19 percent in 2009. Core need refers to households with incomes before the core need income and whose housing costs are more than 30 percent of the household income or housing without running water and indoor plumbing or housing in major need of repairs.
While 19 percent of the households in the NWT are in core need, Nahendeh tops all the regions at the highest rate with a full 36 percent of dwellings in core need. The sad reality is that every region has seen a downward spiral in adequate housing but Nahendeh has experienced the worst.
I have spoken in the House many times about housing; how timelines for completion of repairs in Nahanni Butte and other locations have not been met, how there was a case where an elder had to wait more than a year before moving back into his home, and how families have been forced to move in with relatives, leading to overcrowding. We know that students who live in adequate housing are successful at school. We know that proper housing supports better health, which leads to reduced costs to our health care system.
I call on the NWT Housing Corporation to plan for and make sure work projects in communities are properly planned, scheduled, and completed. I also call on the GNWT to turn this trend of deteriorating housing around and make it a goal that the next core needs survey is a positive one.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
