Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have that information with us here today regarding the 12 LHO apprentices who have become journey certified since 2007. We have had one housing maintenance supervisor in Aklavik. We have had a plumber in Behchoko. We have had two housing maintenance servicemen in Deline. We have a housing maintenance serviceperson in Fort Good Hope. We have two oil burner mechanics and a carpenter in Fort Simpson. We have one plumber in Fort Smith. We have housing maintenance serviceperson in Inuvik, two of those. Tsiigehtchic, we have a housing maintenance serviceperson. As well as in Tulita, we have a housing maintenance serviceperson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Martin. Mr. Thompson.
Thanks to the Minister to provide that list. As I was writing it, I could not hear the whole thing, so if we can get the Minister to provide that information to us, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Cochrane, supply the question?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will get that information to the Regular Members tomorrow. I do want to clarify, I do recognize that you do need a Journeyman to teach apprenticeships. When I was talking about that, I meant only apprentices, not journeymen, who need to train. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to come to an understanding in terms of the progress of the need towards establishing LHOs, and understand the challenge in terms of moving from home ownership to public housing rental systems in some communities, and more so, too, in my riding.
I just wanted to see if there has been some progress made. I understand there has been the realization that it might make sense to establish an LHO on a reserve, as an example. I just wanted to see if there have been some advances. I know the Minister has stated that she is planning to meet with chief and council from the Hay River Reserve. Is that, perhaps, an item for an agenda to be discussed? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is open to having the band come to us and to talk about the development of a local housing organization on the reserve. We do need the Aboriginal government to approach us on that, and we would be more than willing to look at their proposal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is encouraging. The other aspect to this question is again a challenge in terms of administering at least accountable measures of collecting people's rent. Some communities do not have LHOs, and again, I think in Kakisa there has been some movement towards, perhaps, a model of an LHO that could be established, and whether the Minister is maybe waiting upon the initiative of the band to enter into dialogue on that matter? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The issue of actually collecting arrears should no longer be an issue to communities because the corporation actually took that internally into headquarters a number of years ago. We do not need LHOs to collect arrears at this point anymore. Again, Kakisa is a very small community, but if they wanted to approach us, we would consider it. I can't commit, but I can consider looking at a local housing organization if the need justifies it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the other question I wanted to ask is on page 353. It is regarding grants, contributions and transfers, whether that is perhaps the line item that is within the scope of agreements that the Housing Corporation is entering into with the Aboriginal governments?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do need some clarification. Are we talking about page 353 or 354? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Nadli, could you refer to which page your question was on?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, 353.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The grants and contributions have nothing to do, actually, with the Aboriginal governments. This is actually the 2012 dollars that is for the local housing organizations. That was the surplus, and so, if they have $5 million in surplus, then that $200,000 is coming from the monies provided to local housing organizations. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Nadli.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I will hold off on my other question for the appropriate time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The MLA said that he would hold off until later on, and so thank you, Mr. Chair.
Nothing further from Mr. Nadli. I have Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in my opening remarks, I spoke about the need for transformative change by the Housing Corporation to meet the needs of people in the Northwest Territories for social housing. What we know is that the core need rates are fairly steady over time. We also know that the waiting lists are fairly substantial and not going down. We also know that the number of seniors in the NWT is forecast to increase by 40 per cent over the next seven years. As I spoke about earlier today in my statement, there will be a big need for social housing for many of those people. How is the Housing Corporation going to reduce core need in housing in the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do recognize that there is a huge need to provide seniors' housing, so we are looking at that. For many years, we focused on multifamily units. We are looking at continuing with multifamily, but also looking at singles' units that will work with seniors, as well. We are looking at seniors' market rental units so that we can actually have combined seniors' units, and that will bring in some income. So, it will be a combined seniors' centre that has some market rental units that people can afford and some public housing, which would supplement that, as well.
Like I have said many times, currently, for over 20 years, at $22,000 on average per public house, that is $220,000 every 10 years we are providing to keep someone in public housing. If we can move people who have the skills and the financial means into home ownership, we will be able to address our core need by actually having more people in home ownership and being able to reinvest money into public housing units to meet the need. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I realize that my initial question was quite a large question, so I will break it down into a bit more detail. Not only are there not enough units for seniors, there are not enough units for families, either. We know that the core housing need for the size of the home is at very high levels in some communities. I can think, off the top of my head, of a couple of the Tlicho communities that have very high core need based on the size of the house. What is the plan to provide more units in all the different ways that there is a demand for social housing? Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
I just asked the question. You need to ask the Minister. Thank you.
I apologize. It is been a long few weeks. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It would have been interesting to have the Member actually answer that question, though, and just kind of see her input.
---Laughter
So to address the whole issue of core need, like I say, we are looking internally to see if we can be more effective, more efficient with our current programs. If it makes sense to move people out, we are trying to do training programs so that, out of 200 houses, we don't have to fix 108 windows every year. We are trying to train people so that they can actually maintain their homes better. We are trying to look at home ownership versus public housing.
The other thing we are doing is we are really strongly lobbying the federal government, all three territories, actually, to not only have a triterritorial housing strategy but also to address the declining CMHC funding, because, right across Canada, that is an issue that all provinces and territories are struggling with. So, united, crossjurisdictional, all housing corporations are lobbying the federal government to do something about the declining CMHC funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I might have given an answer that was similar, as a matter of fact. I think that it is important to recognize that social housing is for people who have low to moderate incomes. It is my understanding that there are people living in public housing who have sixfigure incomes. Public housing is not for that income group, so, if there is a way to move people on, I think that that would be very useful.
The other thing I want to address is affordability. Affordability is a big issue in Yellowknife, not so much in other places. People are in core need because they can't afford the rent. I know the Minister is keen to ditch the transitional rent supplement, so what other approaches might make housing more affordable for lowincome people in Yellowknife? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just on affordability, within the market communities, we try not to compete with them when it comes to public housing units, so we are not going to flood the market and build a whole bunch of new public housing units when we actually have vacancies within communities. Like I said, I am not a fan of the transitional rent supplement program. It was not, in my opinion, an effective program. We did not give people the training that they needed to be able to get off after two years. So, instead of a transitional rent supplement program, perhaps we need to look at a rent supplement program versus transitional. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am a little unclear. I understand how the rent supplement program potentially could help with affordability. Are there other measures that might help with affordability? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a question that I am hoping that will come out with more ideas within the survey. I don't have all the answers, but I am open to any feedback. If I do not see it in the survey, if the Members have ideas on how I could do that better, then I am more than open to hearing their feedback. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My final question is about the National Housing Strategy. I know the Minister and her colleagues in the other territories have been lobbying. What is your expectation about when the strategy and the dollars are going to be delivered? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That question is really hard to give a definitive answer to. I was expecting that there was going to be a federal announcement on the National Housing Initiative when it was National Housing Day. That never came to effect. I was hoping that the federal budget would have come in February; that has now been pushed to March. The only thing I do know is that they have committed to doing a tri-territorial housing strategy separate and we have been told that there should be funding coming with that, substantial. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I see nothing further from Ms. Green. I have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As my colleague mentioned earlier, give credit where credit is due. I know housing is a challenging department here, but with respect to one of the LHOs in my riding, I receive no more phone calls. So something must be done right by the department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
