Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are still under contract to deliver those units to Fort Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Thompson.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Just in regards to Fort Liard, again I have to give credit to the department. They are removing units. They have given a contract to Beaver Enterprises, for which I thank them very much, that they are removing that. However, when are these units going to be replaced in the capital planning? Because I do not see any replacements of those units in here presently. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Cochrane. Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Currently, the Housing Corporation has $105,000 set aside for major maintenance and improvement work. However, based on a current assessment of the condition of the units in Fort Liard, the methodology that the Housing Corporation follows in terms of prioritizing investment amongst our existing housing units, Fort Liard at present has not been prioritized for investment for 20182019 in relative terms to the other communities. However, it is certainly something that we do assess on a yearly basis. For units that are in Fort Liard that do meet the investment criteria, we would certainly consider those units at that time.
Just to point out a couple of other notes here, right now, the units in Fort Liard have an average unit condition rating of 92 per cent, so they are still in fairly good shape from a unit condition rating assessment perspective. In the last five years, the Housing Corporation has delivered two new PH units, PH replacement units, for the community of Fort Liard. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will try to be quick. There are a whole bunch of units that were taken away. There were units that were in very poor condition that were removed by Beaver Enterprises, and the Housing Corporation worked with them to get it done. When we say 92 per cent, are we including those units in the process, or is it the ones that presently exist? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We manage each community within a certain allocated inventory, so the units that were actually demolished would have been replaced, probably prior to the demolition or at the same time. Therefore, the actual housing units within that community would remain stable. There would be the exact same amount as previous. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that clarification. I will go count the houses, and then I will subtract them on my next tour. In regards to tiny homes, I have heard this numerous times. I have been in my communities, and, when I am seeing thirdgeneration people are living in the homes, from grandparents to grandkids, I have had young people look at me and ask about tiny homes and what we are going to be doing with that. Can the Minister confirm that the Housing Corporation is looking into this? Then my other question, because I only have 30 seconds left here, is: will she make a commitment to work with the community of Fort Liard to have a meeting to discuss this? There is a contractor wishing to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are not averse to tiny homes. In fact, we have a home that is being designed in Aklavik, actually, in a partnership with the Aboriginal government. They are looking at a onebedroom design that is only 300 square feet but still meets the national building code. We are looking at partnerships with communities if they want to move into that. I am very respectful of communities, and so, hopefully, municipal governments or Aboriginal governments would come to us if they are looking at a tiny home concept, and it would a partnership model versus the Housing Corporation going in and just putting a whole bunch of tiny homes all over. I think it is better to work in conjunction with the communities on that. I would be more than willing to meet with any community, in fact, including Fort Liard. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Time has expired. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Housing Corporation initiated a celebrated deal of having northern businesses construct a number of housing units, and I would like to ask the Minister how the progress is going on that work. I believe it was around 50 units that were selected to be built here in the North, by northern contractors. What is the status of that work? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation does try to support northern businesses taking care of northern housing, and so we are working with the contractor still, to this date, to push those units forward. We actually were supposed to meet with him today, but I believe that will now be tomorrow because of staffing. It was to build 45 units. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Of those 45 units, how many have been completed? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Seven are at the state of partially completed, that there are just a few last touches to do, and then there is a number of them that are actually at various stages of construction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for that response. Is the Housing Corporation pursuing other capital projects with Northern contractors along the same lines as this deal? Is that feasible for the foreseeable future as we continue to build public housing units? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. All new builds are now with northern manufacturers or northern builders. No new builds are being done from the south. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Cochrane. Minister Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and that's good news, and I hope that policy continues as we move forward. There are a number of Kam Lake businesses that are quite skilled in this field, and it's good to see work flowing directly to northern manufacturers and northern businesses; it creates growth and jobs in our communities. I'd like to thank the Minister again for taking the Housing Corporation in this direction and investing in the NWT. Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Cochrane.
Thank you for the compliment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Seeing no one further on the list for comments, Mr. O'Reilly, we are doing one round here but I'll give you another shot. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. It's a simple question, I guess, for the Minister: when she goes to Ottawa, do we have a proposal, a plan, for housing that she can give to Ministers to say this is what we need and we've got a plan to fill it?
This sort of harkens back to the motion that was passed in this House calling on the corporation to develop a plan to reduce our core housing needs by 2 per cent per year. What can the Minister give to a federal minister to show what our needs are, what our plan is to deal with housing, other than a long list of sorry statistics? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have a partnership with all three territories, so we have provided to the federal Minister a tri-territorial proposal. We have been successful in actually advocating for the needs of the Northwest Territories and the other two territories, which is shown by the commitment for $300 million over 10 years that is already designated for the territories.
There have been other pots that are going to be designated just for the Northwest Territories, so we have secured quite a bit, and we've also written a letter. The National Housing Strategy, we've met with the federal Ministers at the FPT meeting, which is federal-provincial-territorial meetings. We've met with them; they gave us a deadline to get in letters to them specifically for our provinces and territories. We have submitted a letter on behalf of the Northwest Territories on its own, aside from the tri-territorial that we are working on. We are working hard to try to make sure that the National Housing Strategy addresses the needs of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. This isn't a mid-term review.
It isn't?
I said it isn't the mid-term review. You don't get to talk about your qualifications. Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the efforts of the Minister, and as I recall, of the $300 million that was given to the three territories, our portion was rather miniscule; all we got was $30 million.
If the Minister could share a portion of the tri-territorial submission, the letter that was given, that would help convince me that we've actually got a plan or something to give to the federal Ministers to show what we need in terms of social infrastructure investment. We seem to have all of these projects and proposals off the shelf that we can give for roads, whether it's Slave Geological Province, whether it's the Mackenzie Valley Highway, connecting the hydro grid to Saskatchewan, but we don't seem to have anything for housing.
If you can share those submissions with the Regular MLAs, and where's the plan for housing that we can give to the federal government? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Within the last letter that we wrote specific for the Northwest Territories, we did identify that we would need around $100 million to be comparable to the money that was received by the Government of Nunavut. I will take the request back to Cabinet and after Cabinet's decision I will make a decision on whether we can provide the letters and the territorial working relationship with standing committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know I'm pushing the envelope here. Lastly, then, the motion that was passed in the House to develop basically an action plan to reduce our housing core needs, when are we going to see that action plan? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We are just doing the final touches, putting the pretty pictures on, and it will be tabled during this session. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Next I have Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. During the planning on retrofits, upgrading, the list of units identified, is it a practice of the department to upgrade with additional features to include energy efficient appliances and techniques, for example? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. All of the new builds actually meet the Energy Guide 80, which is a high standard of energy efficiency. We also partner with CMHC, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, on any energy efficiency initiatives that they have and we work closely with the Arctic Energy Alliance as well to see if there are areas that we can either support them or use their programs to support residents. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. McNeely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My last question is: are there any pilot-type projects under way or being planned? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Minister. The Minister has indicated that Mr. Williams will field this. Mr. Williams.
