Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to ask the Minister of Housing if there are some questions on the 2001 Housing Survey that was released. He did mention in his Member’s statement last week, too, and concurred with me that the core needs survey was definitely increased in the Nahendeh riding. Just in those terms there, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, given the numbers of that survey, what is his strategy going forward, most particularly in decreasing the numbers in the Nahendeh riding? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through all the investments that we are making, we had hoped to see some of the numbers coming down. We are assuming that the next one that we do, the numbers will definitely come down. I can advise the Member that the numbers on the survey that was just completed will go a long way in determining our infrastructure budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year. We have already dealt with the 2010-11, so the 2011-12 budget will be determined a lot by the community needs survey figures. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I understand there are some investments already in the Nahendeh -- I have six communities -- that may alleviate some of these numbers. I think the survey is completed every three or four years. Is there a way for the Housing Minister to do an interim assessment to track and see how our core needs is in the Nahendeh riding? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the needs survey is done every five years, but we have had a significant investment in the last three years. It runs out after next year, so we are looking at doing a kind of an interim survey at the time to see how much we have affected the survey numbers. I do believe that once we do this two-year cycle the numbers will be down quite a bit.
I certainly would like to see the Minister commit that there is a new survey or at least a mini survey for the Nahendeh riding that can be done this coming fiscal year. The numbers are true. We have huge overcrowding issues, we have lots of old houses that need retrofit and/or replacement.
We have significant investment in the Nahendeh riding for 2009-2010. Some of those projects are just being completed. There’s approximately $10 million being invested in the Nahendeh riding and then when we go to the 2010-2011 budget there’s an additional $5.2 million being invested into housing. That’s actually one of the lower investments across the Northwest Territories, but we’re believing that will go a long way towards addressing some of the Member’s concerns about adequate housing in Nahendeh. I think this will go a long way in determining and improving the condition and having more units on the ground in Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Minister for quoting me some of those millions of dollars of investments in the Nahendeh riding. I think the key thing is that I’m not too sure why the core needs numbers remain high. I think one of the things we’ll have to do in the interim this coming fiscal year is to do another survey for the Nahendeh number. I know that lots of units are indeed coming up, but I’d like to see progress in the Nahendeh riding and not the numbers going the other way.
There are a few things that are taken into account when they’re doing the community needs survey. There is the suitability and adequacy, and I think through the major M and I program we’re taking steps to address that. There’s a huge investment in M and I throughout the Northwest Territories, not just in the Nahendeh riding. There’s also the affordability. So these are all factors that are taken into consideration. After we’re done with this major investment that we’ve had for the last two or three years we should go back and do, as the Member’s said, a bit of a mini survey to see how it’s addressed the need in the communities. We’re quite confident the numbers will change.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
