Okay, thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, can the Minister give us an idea of this list that they have, the very detailed list, does it have a cost associated with what it would take to repair all of those units? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think what the Member's wanting to understand is, you know, if we do have the repairs that are throughout the Northwest Territories, ultimately what is that number for us to repair all of those units as a whole. I'll have VicePresident Martin respond. Thank you.
Thank you. VicePresident Martin.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Housing Corporation does, each year, look at the unit condition of our assets and we do identify certainly areas where we would like to invest additional MNIs, like renovation upgrades to our existing units. We do go through that prioritization exercise every year. We cannot get at everything. But we do take into consideration the health and safety of the units and certainly continue to operate units in a safe condition, and then look for additional federal opportunities and other sources of funding that could help us accelerate those desired repairs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, VicePresident Martin. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So I didn't hear a dollar number in that, and so I'm wondering if a dollar number does exist for that. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Madam Chair, it's quite a huge number. It's $40 million. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, no, I wanted to better understand that $40 million figure, if that had to do with simply repairs or if it also had to do with building new infrastructure. And so, no, thank you very much for the Housing Corporation for that, and I always feel very rude with my back to them so I'm sorry for that. But, no, I want so thank you very much for that clarification. And we did get a good news story this week from the NWT Housing Corporation, and that was an influx of $93 million to housing in the Northwest Territories. So kudos to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation for getting their hands on those muchneeded dollars, which obviously we can we can definitely use.
So of those $93 million, then, how much of that is going to retrofits of units in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have VicePresident Martin respond. Thank you.
VicePresident Martin.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, so in the current capital plan for this year, the Housing Corporation is delivering a capital plan of about $93 million. And within that capital plan, there's $50.5 million of federal dollars that has been provided to support with that delivery. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Martin. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, in the press release that we all got this week, it did identify that there was 213 units that will undergo major repairs, modernization over the next three years. One of the things that I'm noting is that in the document we're looking at right now, it does have 176 units of, I'm guessing, those 213 units, which would only leave 37 units left over. So is it the intent of the Housing Corporation to go over additional go after, sorry, additional federal dollars in future years in order to increase the number of units that they're providing retrofits for so that we can keep up with the units that require retrofits because to go from 176 here to 37 would see a lot of more units needing major repair in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Housing.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that is correct. I'll have vicepresident, or sorry, President Young respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. President Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and yes, that's actually work that the Housing Corporation is starting to position an application to Canada for at the moment, to do the assessment on the costs that we would need to put together for an application to do additional repairs, to supplement the work that we are currently doing. So we do intend to apply for some additional dollars for both construction as well as repair. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I think what we're really talking around here is core need in the Northwest Territories, and so I'm wondering if as part of this work, if we can expect to see a plan to pull the territory out of core need within a timeframe with budgets associated with it so that we have an actual plan of how we're going to fix the housing crisis in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister of Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I just needed you know, the extensive review that is happening right now within the corporation, looking at core need and looking at where we sit financially as well too, there is a lot going on. I'll have President Young elaborate. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. President Young.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I think what we could do would be put together an idea of what that could look like, but it would be very subjective because so many of these applications are subject to approval under the various funding pots. So you could put together a plan of, you know, what could be done but it would be subject to an awful lot of approvals to be granted as part of that process. But we could give a general picture of what pulling out a core need might involve. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it strikes me quite interesting that or it strikes me quite hard that one of the biggest uncertainties in the Northwest Territories is housing, even for the Housing Corporation, how to operate, how to build new houses, how to maintain existing ones. And so I'm wondering if there is a plan within the Housing Corporation, either within the GNWT or within the federal government, to create more certainty for the budgets going forward, because there is a huge amount of fluctuation and a huge amount of uncertainty within the corporation as to how they're going to not only maintain houses, build new ones, but also house the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Housing.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The corporation works very I want to say extensively with the Indigenous groups and with the smaller communities as well, and looking at businesses that may be able to help us bring and house the people in the Northwest Territories. But not only that, but also looking at the homeownership opportunities within the Northwest Territories. I know that core need really, it stands out there; it's strong. But there's the also the – the I guess I want to say the main to maintain and I guess the opportunity of, you know, how does the corporation end up looking at those the funding coming forward for these units and then also supplying and being able to operate and maintain and putting in new units on the ground. Looking at the core need throughout the Northwest Territories, I just you know, it varies throughout which region that you're actually living in, and it's for me, it becomes quite it's quite extensive. I'll have President Young elaborate. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Just in regards to time, I'm going to move on to the next. Member for Thebacha.
Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, when I look at all these retrofits, there are different values of dollars allocated to each community. You could have 23 units, say, out of Hay River, and it's only valued at a certain amount but you can have one unit that matches that. When you don't have the allocations by community within this detail, I find that very disturbing. I think that to be more accountable and transparent with these with the way it's listed here on the project listing, it has to be more there has to be more detail by community and the allocations and the total allocations with the retrofits. I think that's it's only fair to all of us who are representing communities and to see exactly where the money is going and the retrofits that are going to go to those communities by allocation. And I don't see that in this in the detail. So I don't know how we can correct these kind of things. I'm very much about numbers, always have been, and try to ask the questions so that accountability and transparency is upheld. And I don't see that here. So, like, I'd like to ask, I guess, Madam Chair, that I'd like to know the allocation for the 12 units out of Fort Smith.
Thank you. Thank you. Minister Chinna.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have that detail in front of me that's allocated for the in the dollar amount for each of the communities. I can get back to the Member with those with that information. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Thebacha.
Well, you know, how could you pass a capital budget with without the detail, especially when we're so compassionate about housing. You know, I have people out of Fort Smith who have been trying since for over a year now, since 2019, since 2020, July, to the same people are still trying to get into public housing and they still haven't got public housing, yet there's 12 units that are that are vacant in Fort Smith. There just seems to be a disconnect in gaps that are not being filled. I'm happy that we have an incredible board that has been put in place now. But the work still has to continue. This is winter. I've had a couple this week that had to go into a women's shelter because of housing, and these are people who are have mobility problems, and it's a major, major, major problem. And sometimes I feel that and every day almost, I send an email about these these four different cases that I've been dealing with for quite some time. And I feel that many times I'm being ignored. And as an MLA for constituents that I deeply care about, especially the impoverished people, and it's disturbing that I have to say these things during budget time. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I hear the Member about, you know, about the allocations and the waitlist, and it's something that we we have throughout the Northwest Territories as well, and it just you know, the certain amount of units that we do have and the amount of waitlists, people on the waitlist, it just doesn't balance. We're always you know, we need we need more housing. That's what we need. And to get these repairs done faster, more faster than later, I guess, and then whatever to making sure that we do have housing available in the smaller communities.
But I just want to go back to the dollar amount. I'm just my apologies as well, that my staff did have that that amount ready. So I just would like to have VicePresident Martin respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. VicePresident Martin.
Thank you, Madam Chair. For the 12unit retrofit project that we have in Fort Smith, the Housing Corporation has set aside $180,000 to support that work.
And just to speak to the reference to the numbers in the in the capital estimates, the Housing Corporation obviously follows the GNWT approach here, and these numbers are not included in this public document, and the primary reason for that would be it would compromise tendering outcomes potentially. So to supplement the briefing materials, we do prepare substantiation sheets for each project, which does detail the components of the investments as well as dollars. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, VicePresident Martin. Member for Thebacha.
So, Madam Chair, my next question is what is the total amount for I'm not sure if someone asked that question before, the total amount that we're using for retrofits in this budget. Is the is it the large capital projects or the small capital projects on those two lines, or is it the total?
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's total. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Member for Thebacha.
So that's what I'm trying to get at, okay. So 12 units at, say, $180,000, yet one unit somewhere else could be a million. You know, so when you're passing a budget without the detail, you can't do that, okay. So, because 12 units is only $180,000 out of all the out of all that's allocated for the retrofits. So we're comparing apples to oranges with each community.
And the other question that I want to ask while I'm at it is who decides which units are going to be retrofit? You know, is it the Housing Corporation, or is it someone else in project management, and how is clarity and who decides those things? Is it a neutral board? How is the accountability and transparency actually done; that's what I'd like to know. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll have VicePresident Martin respond. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. VicePresident Martin.
