Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the theme for today is about elders and seniors, I have some questions for the Minister of Housing. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Housing please advise the House how many public housing units have seniors in them in Nahendeh? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently there’s 37 public housing units with seniors residing in them in the Nahendeh communities. Of those 37 units, 29 of them are actually senior designated, meaning that they are specifically designed with accessibility features and these include the eight new units in the seniors independent housing complex that was just recently completed in Fort Liard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Minister for her answer. It’s very encouraging. What is the Minister prepared to do to ensure our seniors are able to age in place and live in their communities in the Nahendeh region?
The increase in the senior population is really concerning to the Housing Corporation. We recognize that within the next five years, as much as 25 per cent increase in senior’s population within our territory. in response to that, we’re really focusing on building seniors’ independent living complexes within the communities and we’ve collaborated with Health and Social Services on the design of these complexes to make sure that they’re the most appropriate we can for our aging population. The most recently completed facility, like I said, was in Fort Liard and that will be fully operational very soon. Of those facilities that we’re looking at building, they’ll house eight seniors in each unit and then they’ll also have a place for a caregiver within that just to make sure that the wellness of seniors is maintained as well.
I thank the Minister for that answer. In my region actually, it’s probably getting really excited about some of this great stuff that’s happening. Mr. Speaker, besides public housing, what other programs does the NWT Housing Corp offer that will help our seniors remain in their communities?
Besides the public housing that we have, the things that we specialize specifically for seniors in their communities are, there are things that they can access like the emergency repair. We are really focusing on preventative maintenance with seniors. We’re actually trying to get out of the office, like one of the other Members have said and actually into their homes. We’re making it easier for them to access services. We have programs such as the SAFE program that makes sure that ramps, et cetera are done, CARE Major that they can come and get repairs up to $100,000, such as roofs, ramps, which are very expensive, et cetera. The biggest thing that the Housing Corporation is doing though to reflect on the needs of their aging population, is that we’re looking that all new housing units will be accessible in that they will have wider hallways, they’ll have entry-level floor levels, we’ll have bathrooms on the bottom floors and more secure walls within bathrooms so that we can add the ramps for people to help get out of showers, et cetera. We’re looking at it within a more of a holistic approach that all new housing will incorporate senior’s accessibility standards. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I’d like to thank the Minister for her answer. There has been information, Mr. Speaker, on small four-plexes being developed this year. Would these smaller units be made available for seniors in the future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, we’re doing a pilot with the four-plexes within the communities at this point because we realize that, when we build four-plexes, actually, it’s more energy efficient. We can have, for example, one furnace room that heats all four units. The other really key thing within that is that, in my own personal belief and probably research would back that, is that seniors are very sociable, and so we need to really respect that. We need to keep the brain capacity of seniors going. We can’t isolate them in units that are individual, although we do have some units. The new four-plexes really allow for seniors to actually have that social network that they need and that does stimulate brain development If these work out and it’s cost effective, then we’ll be looking at that design within most communities.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
