Debates of February 24, 2005 (day 43)

Mr. Speaker…(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak with you today about the need in Nahendeh for housing; housing for singles and single parents in particular. Mr. Speaker, in my constituency, 25 percent of our households have a core need for housing. This means that there is an issue with suitability, adequacy or affordability with about 200 of the 754 households surveyed by the Housing Corporation; or, in the most simple terms, the types of housing we have now is inappropriate, too expensive, and there is just not enough of it. Yet over the next three years, Fort Simpson will only get 10 new single housing units and then that is it for Nahendeh for the foreseeable future, Mr. Speaker.

I am concerned that low-priced, single units are the most in demand for the disadvantaged person. However, income support no longer covers the cost of single unit housing, Mr. Speaker.

The solution is so simple. For instance, if the government would only consider building a little four-plex in Jean Marie River, that would cure 90 percent of all their housing issues, Mr. Speaker.

I am also concerned about single parents; the picture is even worse for them. The Northwest Territories has the fastest-growing single-parent population in the country. In the 1998 National Child Poverty Profile, it stated that children living with single mothers are more likely to be poor and, in fact, live in deep poverty and will remain this way longer. More aboriginal children live with single mothers. But instead of increasing our efforts to appropriately house them, the government revises the Housing Corporation’s mandates away from social housing, Mr. Speaker. There are some simple solutions to our housing crisis in Nahendeh, but we need help for single people, especially those with children, and we need it right away. Mahsi cho.

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