Director Robertson, go ahead, please.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In negotiating the implementation plan for the Sahtu Agreement, we recognize that the GNWT would have obligations stemming from the Sahtu Final Agreement. The negotiations were successful in achieving some money from Canada to be able to fund those obligations. So the federal government will provide the Sahtu directly for the cost of implementation; the GNWT receives money for their own obligations that they need to carry out as a result of the final agreement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Director Robertson. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you. I knew I was smart. I knew I should have listened to my Mom, who said, “You’re smart. You’re smart.”
I want to ask the Minister on the implementation plan for the Sahtu that we fulfilled all obligations under the Sahtu Implementation Plan by our government, because I’m hearing some other things from the federal government that they’re not quite all completed. You know, some of the implementation plan is 10 or 20 years late. I’m trying to figure that out. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Premier McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that they work on 10-year implementation plans. Our government implementation people meet on a regular basis with the Sahtu to make sure that the implementation plans are achieving the results that they’re supposed to. They are updated every 10 years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I’m thinking about the meeting we had last year in Sahtu when we talked about the implementation plan of the Sahtu Land Claim Agreement and some of the work that needed to yet be negotiated and worked on. Out of the number of activities, how many does the federal government yet need to complete? How long will it take for them to complete the implementation plan? I’m hearing that the territorial government is up to date on our implementation plan. I know some dates take a little longer than we anticipated, but what I’m hearing is that we’re okay.
I congratulate the Premier and the staff on the Deline Self-Government Agreement. I look forward to having that finalized and put to bed.
I just want to make sure that I’m getting the correct information. I’ll be going back to the Sahtu and talk to my implementation people there and ask some of the finer details of this. Hopefully what I’m hearing here is okay so I don’t need to come back and ask some more questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The 10-year implementation plan for the Sahtu Dene-Metis Claim expired on March 31, 2014. The parties are reviewing and revising the plan to reflect the current status of obligations and associated activities. The final draft implementation plan is expected to be completed by April 2015.
Canada now has a financial mandate to negotiate implementation funding levels for its treaty partners for the next 10-year period and we expect negotiations to begin by April 2015. In the interim, the parties have agreed to a status quo funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Premier McLeod. Committee, we are on page 51, work performed on behalf of others. Questions?
Agreed.
Thank you. We will turn back to page 31, Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, $9.340 million.
Agreed.
Agreed. Does committee agree that we’ve completed the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations?
Agreed.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Thank you, witnesses. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out of the Chamber.
Thank you, committee. Next we will go to the NWT Housing Corporation. I will go to the Minister responsible, Mr. McLeod. Do you have opening comments?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2015-16 Main Estimates for the NWT Housing Corporation. The main estimates propose a budget of $143.127 million, an increase of one percent from the 2014-15 Main Estimates. The budget includes a contribution of $85.368 million from the GNWT for 2015-16.
As Members are aware, one of the five priorities identified by the 17th Legislative Assembly is to address housing needs. The approach of the NWT Housing Corporation recognizes that there are significant differences in housing between our market and non-market communities and there are needs along the entire housing continuum, from homelessness to homeownership.
The activities reflected in the 2015-16 Main Estimates for the NWT Housing Corporation build on the work we have done over the first three years of the 17th Assembly and some of the highlights include:
In 2015-16 we will continue to make extensive investments in our infrastructure. Overall, we expect to spend $35.9 million on capital projects. Highlights include:
Major retrofits will be completed on 232 existing units. This investment will mean that approximately 700 NWTHC units will have received a retrofit during the 17th Assembly.
In 2015-16 the planned seniors independent living complexes in Fort Good Hope and Whati will be constructed. Work on the seniors facilities in Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Fort Liard was started in 2014-15.
An additional 36 market rental units will be added as part of the overall initiative to add 100 market rentals in smaller communities to support service delivery.
Energy investments in 2015-16 are expected to total $3.4 million, including photovoltaic solar systems for units in Whati, Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Lutselk’e.
In 2015-16 we will continue to strengthen our relationship with our local housing organizations through the implementation of the initiative to improve community housing services. We plan to spend $54.4 million in 2015-16 on community housing services.
Specifically, this initiative has changed the roles and responsibilities of the LHOs and the NWTHC. It was implemented on April 1, 2014, and we continue to work with our partners to improve service delivery. These overall improvements are reflected in our public housing rent collection, which reached 97 percent for 2013-14.
As part of the initiative, we are opening new LHO offices in Fort Liard, Whati and Gameti which will improve services and add local jobs.
Overall, these main estimates include funding for 128 positions in LHOs. In addition to this, we are increasing the number of apprentices supported through the LHOs from 10 to 15.
In 2015-16 we will continue to work in partnership with low- and modest-income homeowners to support repairs and preventative maintenance and to help residents that need some additional support to purchase a home. We plan to spend $7 million on homeownership programs in 2015-16.
There have been a number of changes we have made in recent years to improve our homeownership programs.
During the current fiscal year we are providing supports to about 350 low- and modest-income homeowners for repairs and preventative maintenance.
In 2015-16 we will introduce CARE - Mobility as part of our major repair program. CARE - Mobility will target support for seniors and other residents that require modifications to their home to address mobility and other issues related to the disability of a household member.
In 2015-16 we will continue to strengthen our programming related to homelessness. As Members know, the NWTHC activities are just part of the overall support as homelessness is addressed through the activities of a number of departments within the GNWT.
For the NWTHC, these main estimates result in increasing programming related to addressing homelessness from $325,000 at the start of the 17th Assembly to $855,000 for 2015-16.
Current programs support direct assistance to homeless persons or persons at risk of becoming homeless, community-based initiatives that address homelessness, capital improvements to existing shelters, and the operation of four transition houses in smaller NWT communities.
In 2015-16 the NWTHC will add $150,000 to support implementation of a Housing First approach in Yellowknife. This work will be coordinated with the GNWT Integrated Case Management Project and the work being done by the Yellowknife Community Advisory Board on homelessness.
Finally, I would again like to thank Members for their advice and support as the NWT Housing Corporation has introduced considerable changes over the past few years, and I look forward to continuing to work with Members as we work towards the goal of all NWT residents having access to affordable, adequate and suitable housing.
That concludes my opening remarks. At this time I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Do you have witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Mr. McLeod, can you please introduce your witnesses for the record?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right I have Mr. David Stewart, president of the NWT Housing Corporation, to my left is Mr. Jeff Anderson, vice-president of finance and infrastructure of the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Committee, I will remind everyone that the items under Housing Corporation are items only. Members may, of course, ask questions on these items. We will open it up to general comments. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see a lot of expenditures going to the communities, which is great. I know the elders facility in Fort McPherson did go out to tender. I haven’t heard the latest on when the work is scheduled to begin, but I would like to get that information.
Also, as I mentioned a number of times, there’s a huge demand for housing in the small communities, Aklavik, Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic. As we move forward, I know our government is trying to attract people to our territory. In order for people to live here, we need places to stay. As we move forward, we have to ensure that there are houses in the communities for people to stay. Right now, we are at capacity in the communities. We have a waiting list of up to three to five years in some cases. Young families, young people who want to begin a family, it’s really needed. As we move forward in the next few years, I’d like to see this government start planning and implementing new units in the communities. It’s great to see multiplex units going into the communities. It’s really appreciated, but we need more. There are more young, single people out there who need a place to start their own life. I have been getting a number of concerns about that as I have been travelling to the communities.
As we move forward, also, there are a number of elders who have explained that they have a two- or three-bedroom that’s not needed. They would like to have a one-bedroom place because it’s easier for them to get around. With that, we do need to build a number of multiplex units in the communities.
As we move forward, as well, Mr. Chair, the CARE program is working and is very helpful in the communities, the same with HELP. A number of people are very satisfied with this program. As we move forward, I’m looking forward to that carrying on and seeing more homeowners in the territory.
If the Minister could just give a little update on the status of the facility in Aklavik and when they plan to open that as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, the contract in McPherson has been awarded and my understanding is they are going to start the work this summer. The one in Aklavik, they are doing a great job on it. It should be opened in late spring. It should be completed in late spring. So we are looking forward to seeing how that rolls out.
Some of the Member’s comments, he was talking about the units in the communities. We recognize that we need places to stay in communities. It’s one of the reasons this government has committed $21 million over three years to put an additional 100 market rental units in the communities. I think that is going to go a long way to addressing some of our housing needs in the communities. We are doing replacement units right now and we keep saying we are challenged by the declining CMHC funding. We have been using that for a reason for a number of years, which is the truth. We are fortunate that our government has stepped up to the plate and I think they’ve contributed an additional $2.5 million to the NWT Housing Corporation to offset some of the declining CMHC funding. That’s a challenge that we face right now, but we feel with some of the programs that we have, with HELP and trying to transition more people out of public housing into homeownership, then that would free up more public housing units, because there’s always going to be a need for public housing units.
The elders, in many cases we have elders that will be in a particular public housing unit for 40, 45 years, pretty well since it was built. We’ve heard the concerns and we’ve actually kept many of these elders in their units because they just don’t want to move. There are some that do want to move to smaller units and we try and accommodate them. But for the most part, we try to keep the elders in a unit that they’ve pretty well had since the unit was built back in the ‘70s. We’re challenged on both sides, but we would like to get many of them into smaller units if that is their wish.
I think I’ve touched on all the Member’s points, and if I missed any, I’m sure the Member will remind me.
Thank you. A number of years back, I think it was in the mid ‘80s or so, there was the HAP program. A number of people took advantage of that in the communities. Residents were given the opportunity for materials and it was up them to either put in labour or a lot of them constructed their own houses throughout the territory in all the communities. There are a lot of people out there that would like to see a similar program like that moving forward. Are the Minister and the department looking at that sort of program in the near future?
The quick answer is no, we’re not looking at that particular type of program. It was a very successful program when it ran. We were able to get many people into homeownership units and some of them are still in there. Many of these units, through some of our other repair programs we’ve actually paid for all of the renovations to these units. I think at the time it was the right program at the right time and it did, I think, transition a lot of people out of public housing into their own homes. Off hand, I can’t think of how many we did across the Northwest Territories, these HAP units. There were a number of them that were done, but some of them are still there. Some of them were turned back over to the NWT Housing Corporation because people realized, once they were in there, that they had to pay all their own utilities and it got to be quite costly. I think that’s a minority though. I think the majority of them managed to keep up their units pretty good. Now, through our CARE program, we’re renovating a lot of those units that they basically got for free during the HAP days. It’s not something that we’re looking at any time soon.
Next on my list I have Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m wondering if the Minister can answer how many new units will the NWT Housing Corporation be putting on the ground and can he provide a list of those locations.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. New units, we’re doing 40 replacement units in ’15-16 and we’re doing the 36 market rental units in ’15-16. We will be glad to provide a list to the Members. I believe we have all the locations and everything. We have all the locations, so we’ll provide that list to committee.
When the Minister says 40 replacements, we’re doing one for one. When he says the Housing Corp is doing 36 market, is that new, new, in the sense of new in a net context? If he could provide that detail.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is correct; the 40 are replacement public housing units and the 36 market housing are new units. Thank you.
As far as housing investment, what type of money is the Housing Corporation investing into the Territories here, working with private vendors to develop housing initiatives or options for people in the range of $100,000 to $250,000? What I’m really getting at is entry level housing for people to be able to afford to buy, getting out of the apartment building style of living where families want to get out. In this type of ballpark, usually it’s treated as people’s first step into the market world. What type of initiatives is the Housing Corporation partnering in order to target first time homeownership for people?
Mr. Chair, we have, through the PATH program – providing assistance to homeowners – and the HELP program. The HELP program is one where we try to transition people out of public housing. They’ll stay in a HELP unit for a couple of years and then if they feel that they would like to be homeowners, they can transition into the PATH program, which is providing assistance to homeowners. They have the option, I think, of purchasing the HELP unit that they’re in and I think they’re given a $10,000 incentive to move into homeownership.
We have $7 million that we have invested into CARE and PATH for 2015-16. We have a breakdown of the numbers of what’s in each program and I will be pleased to provide that to committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chairman, I will be pleased to accept that. The Minister has already mentioned 36 market rental units and he said that’s adding to the 100 market rentals in the smaller communities, which is good. I assume with the 36, would the Minister be able to provide the detail as to where those 100 market rentals are in the smaller communities? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, 36 is year two of our goal of 100 over three years in the $21 million investment. We have locations picked for all of the units this year and the ones that we did last year, and I’d be pleased to provide that information to committee so they’ll know the whereabouts of all the market rental units. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. What’s driving the location of those particular units, the 100 market rentals objective? Are there statistics or surveys being done? Are they working in collaboration with an organization that says we want to hire 10 people but we don’t have 10 homes to put on the ground to either sell them or rent them? What’s driving the direction of where those units will be placed? Thank you.
Mr. Chair, we work closely with the NWT Teachers’ Association. They provided some of the information as to some of the communities that are most challenged as far as housing goes. We relied a lot on some of the information, some advice we got from them. I will have Mr. Stewart add on to that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to add on, certainly the Teachers’ Association was an important part. We also work with our Department of Human Resources to understand where there were vacancies, for example in communities where there were barriers in the past in terms of being able to recruit people for services in those communities. Then we looked at our own stock in terms of where we may have existing units that are vacant or where there is particularly high demand to help sort of come up with the overall allocation of those 100 units by community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. With that said, do we have any particular market rental units in existence in any of the communities that aren’t being utilized at this particular time? If so, can I get a list of that as well as what the market rents would be charged? I assume a monthly basis for those particular units.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will provide a list of… I couldn’t answer offhand if we have any vacant units in the communities, but we can look that up and provide that information. The rents are basically in line with the public housing rents. We try to calculate it along the same line. For example, the monthly rent for a two-bedroom unit would be $1,250 in Trout Lake and $1,410 in Ulukhaktok.
The Minister had mentioned that there was going to be some new homelessness money going from $325,000 to $855,000. Can I get some detail on what that initiative is specifically targeted at and where we can expect to see it rolled out?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s a number of programs we have in terms of the homelessness. I will just quickly go through them. The first ones are obviously the Homelessness Assistance Fund, which is about $125,000 per year and it provides support to individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in terms of getting them out of that circumstance.
We have the Small Community Homelessness Fund which provides support for community organizations that are in our smallest communities that are providing things like soup kitchens as well as food banks, those sorts of activities, and we can provide a list of those that are being funded right now.
We have the Shelter Enhancement Fund, which is $100,000 that’s application-based for existing homelessness shelters to be able to provide support for capital improvements. That’s capital in the sense of the building envelope but also equipment that they may need to have as well.
Then we have the program we introduced last year, the Northern Pathways to Housing, which is about $280,000 in terms of the operation. That’s four, those four pilots on the transition housing in the smaller communities and we’re working with a number of community groups to get those projects started and I think we are getting some good input from a variety of communities.
Then lastly, as was mentioned, we are setting aside $150,000 to implement a Housing First model in Yellowknife and we will work closely with the Community Advisory Board here to come up with the best approach to do that particular project, but our resources would be focused on the infrastructure side of that and we would need to work out some of the processes in terms of identifying potential clients and making sure a variety of services are available.
That’s all of the homelessness funds we have available. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Hawkins.
