Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister tell us what kind of a dent that is going to make in our core housing need in the area of availability? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Obviously, with the new units, it is going to make a dent in terms of core housing needs, but you are going to have to look at some of the other programs that we are doing within the NWT Housing Corporation. I did field some questions in the House during this session about core housing needs and meeting our goal of 250. I mentioned to Members that we are well beyond that with various programs. We are developing a document that we will share to Members to show how we are adjusting core housing need in many areas throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister compiling and sharing that document. We know that one dimension of core housing need is to address overcrowding, which is acute in some communities. The houses are very overcrowded, and the only way to un-crowd them is to provide more houses. I'm interested to know: 31 units and not in the most crowded areas, which are in the Tlicho area, how this is going to address that dimension of core need if he has that information to hand. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. By putting these new units, it will help alleviate some of the overcrowding. We don't know the full details or the data of how many people are living in overcrowded houses, but we do know that it is an issue, and we are trying to address it in various ways.
We are also working with the private sector with their investments, looking at building multi-family units and looking at other ways that we can just address the issue. Obviously, we are also looking at a homelessness initiative and other programs within the Housing Corporation. That's about it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Minister can find information on overcrowding in the 2014 Community Housing Survey. That is broken down by community, how many households in each community are experiencing overcrowding. That information is fairly easy to access.
As far as other initiatives to create more housing, could the Minister elaborate on what work is going on with the private sector? Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Williams.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our program that we are rolling out with the private sector is in Fort Simpson, where there is a huge need for market units. We have a private developer that has entered into an arrangement to bring in three duplexes into Fort Simpson to help alleviate the market needs in Fort Simpson. The delivery is supposed to be in this fiscal year. One unit is already on stream in the community. It came in before the ferry shut down. The other two will be delivered when the ice roads open. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you. I appreciate the detail on that. What is the Housing Corporation's role in the development of these market units? Are they buying the units, and they are going to be the landlord for them? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do provide support under the Rural and Remote Housing program.
Just a little bit further onto what our president and CEO had mentioned on the previous question, we are also closely working with the federal government to hopefully finalize shortly. We are very encouraged with the discussions on our bilateral agreements moving forward, and the co-investment fund, to see how we can all work together to address getting some new builds and building infrastructure in the communities as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I feel like the housing bilateral agreement is like the Sasquatch; there have been sightings, but no confirmation. We are all looking forward to seeing that.
It leads me to my next question. The question is whether the initiatives in the housing agreement will require matching or any amount of funding from the NWT government in the way that other infrastructure is being matched, 25 percent from GNWT, 75 percent from Ottawa. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, I would ask our vice president, who has been heavily involved in the file, to get some of the details. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Vice President Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Minister mentioned, the Housing Corporation is nearing the conclusion of the negotiations for this bilateral agreement. Under that agreement, it is anticipated that there will be a few main components with distinct programs within that agreement.
The Housing Corporation has completed a preliminary assessment of the cost-sharing needs and believes that, for the most part, the cost-sharing details are now available. There are still some components, however, where we do need to follow up and conclude those negotiations to have certainty on the balance of the arrangement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Martin. Ms. Green.
Thank you. Where in this budget do we find the cost-sharing, or if it isn't in this budget, how is that cost-shared money going to be brought online? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Vice President Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The cost-sharing arrangements would be comprised of a combination of the capital dollars that we currently have tabled, as well as our base O and M dollars. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Martin. Ms. Green.
I am trying to understand that. Will there actually be new money for housing in this bilateral agreement? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member alluded to earlier about this bilateral agreement, I am anxious myself. We are just working out the details, and I can confirm with the Member that there will be new dollars with the signing of that bilateral agreement. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could we have an estimate of when that agreement is expected to be made public? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can confirm that our staff is going to be meeting with the federal government via teleconference on Monday to discuss further details and hoping that, in the next couple of weeks, we will have something signed and can officially announce and then start working with our partners to get those dollars spent. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Next Member, Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. On page 68, it says, "Materials and labour, two units, MH, Hay River." Is the MH "market housing"? I see people nodding their heads, so I will take that as a yes.
There doesn't seem to be any public housing in this budget for Hay River. In Hay River, we recently lost 26 family homes. I believe they were three bedrooms each. I think the rationale was that they were replaced by seniors' units, a seniors' complex. There is a bit of a shortage of family housing. I think the last time I saw the waitlist for across the territory, Hay River had a higher portion of families in need of housing, and sorry, this is sort of a long-winded way of getting to a complex situation here.
We have the Hay River High Rise in Hay River, and last time I checked there, I think there were 24 or 25 units rented out to people on income assistance. There has been talk for years about whether that building is going to last. I mean, the fire marshal has had concerns. You can literally see pieces falling off the building. It is concrete, so when the stucco falls off, that doesn't necessarily mean it is falling apart, but it is indicative of poor maintenance. For years, it seems like we are on the edge of, perhaps, everyone having to move out of that building.
There is not enough housing for the families that need it right now in Hay River, and potentially, we have another 10, 20, 30 families that could need it if this building shuts down, and we don't have the market rental units to absorb all of those people.
How is the Housing Minister working with income assistance to address this issue, if they even recognize it as an issue? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member's concerns. As I mentioned, when we do put the capital planning forward, there are a few factors that we do take into consideration right across the Northwest Territories, as I mentioned them earlier at the start of questioning. Looking forward to Hay River, there could be potential partnerships through the Co-Investment Fund, which I have discussed and the Member has asked me questions in the House about, and working with industry to address those concerns. I do appreciate the Member’s concerns around the municipality of Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. We could be facing a situation where, I mean, the housing wait list could double with all the people who could be evicted from the high-rise. I am not saying this is going to happen. Every time I inquire about it, people say, “Well, we are paying attention. We are coordinating with the fire marshal,” all this kind of stuff. There is always that lingering thought.
Like I said, there isn’t the market housing in Hay River to absorb all these people. Because of Hay River’s location, you know, even though we are just north of Alberta, it is seen as remote. Not the same rules apply to it when developers want to borrow money to start developing. There are different rules. It can be difficult. It is not like building in high levels. It is not even like building in Yellowknife. It is a little more difficult to get funding.
Has the department been in contact with any private developers who are looking to develop property in Hay River and seeing if they can do anything, whether through the Co-Investment Fund or anything like that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Mr. Williams.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Certainly, we know there is a huge demand for land in Hay River. We have been working closely with the municipal government. They expressed their desire to expand and create some new lots because land will be an issue. If the people have to vacate the high-rise, we will have to need land to build new units.
As working with private developers, we are aware of a private developer in Hay River who has been working closely with CMHC to do a development in Hay River. I think it is about 30 units. That is very encouraging to see the private sector stepping in to help out. We hope to see more of that with the Co-Investment Fund. The rules have changed or will change once we get this new fund in place in dealing with the private sector on housing investments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Williams. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you. That is good hear for the reasons I had mentioned earlier. Will the Minister please make that information available to the Members once that new money is available so I can bring it to people who have expressed an interest in developing some property in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will commit to that. In fact, we will probably be making an announcement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am the Sasquatch, and I know where the Minister can find $8 million for public housing retrofits. All he has to do is work with his colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, and get that missing $8 million in the Low Carbon Economy Fund. The allocation for the NWT was $32 million. The agreement that has been signed so far is only $24 million. Four million of that is for public housing retrofits. Nunavut got $12 million for public housing retrofits. Can the Minister work with his colleague, the Minister of Infrastructure, access that extra $8 million that is missing from the Low Carbon Economy Fund, and put it into public housing retrofits? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Member’s comments. Obviously, we will work with all of our departments. When the funding was allocated, we got our share of the LCEF funding. We will always push to try to get more money. I think this announcement that we are going to hopefully be saying soon will help alleviate a lot of the infrastructure needs that we see in our communities. Looking forward to making that announcement. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.
