Mr. Speaker, increasing the availability of safe affordable housing and building stronger relationships with community governments and other stakeholders are two of the priorities agreed to by Members of the Legislative Assembly. I am pleased to report that the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is working on both of these priorities by creating new local housing organizations in Fort Liard, Gameti, and Whati. Not only will this create jobs in the community and increase economic development, it'll also greatly improve service to community members. Residents who previously had questions about their housing corporation of rental units or homeowners that were interested in repair programs previously had to contact their housing corporation district office for more information. These changes mean that the residents get the answers that they require immediately.
The investment in new local housing organizations in these communities will result in the hiring of fulltime housing support staff, including a housing manager, a maintenance supervisor, and a housing maintainer for each community. In Gameti, the housing office and workshop have been setup and are now open for business. Planning for housing offices in Whati and Fort Liard is now underway. In the communities of Colville Lake and Wekweeti, the Housing Corporation and the Department of the Executive will be partnering in an initiative that will have Government Service Officers provide some housing information and administrative support. The expansion of housing services in communities and the increased emphasis on a more person-centred approach will make the delivery of services more accessible to community residents across the Northwest Territories. These changes respond to the needs of our people and will build community capacity as local residents will be hired and trained to take on the roles in the new LHOs that are being established. These actions support our government's priorities of ensuring that we invest wisely in our workplace and that we have a housing system that is safe and affordable.
Masi. Ministers’ statements. Colleagues, I'd like to draw your attention to the special guests in the gallery today. We have 10 young men and women who are participating in the Ontario Legislature Internship Programme, visiting us for the rest of the week along with their academic director. I understand that they are looking forward to seeing consensus-style government in action, and I want to assure them that they have come to the right place.
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