Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have President Young respond. Thank you.
Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yesterday we spoke about our homeownership initiative program and under that program, we do a book value calculation but actually the tenant will not have to pay for the house. We forgive the value of the house over a three to fiveyear forgiveness period. So the homeowner will take ownership of the house at the beginning of that period, but they don't actually have to pay for the value of the house through that program. We actually forgive that through a forgivable loan. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Say if there's a unit now that's a little bit newer, say whether it's 20 or 30 years old with a higher unit condition rating, if a family is living in there, say they have some adult siblings and there's only one income, so would that homeowner take into consideration the older siblings or that kind of thing or children as a dependant so that it could be calculated in the sale of that house? You know what I'm saying? Because you got one because we got big families, eh, in our communities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have President Young respond. It's kind of a complex response. Thank you.
Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So if I understand the question, it would not affect the sale price of the house at all because that's calculated based on the house. But we would be speaking with the family on the income that comes into the house to ensure that they can afford to pay the utilities and operating costs. So we would be counselling and working with the family to make sure that they feel comfortable and that we feel comfortable, there's adequate income to cover the cost of operating a house. We don't want to set somebody up for failure. And so that would be the conversation related to the income. It wouldn't affect the sale cost on the house itself. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yesterday I mentioned that there was over 2,900 public housing units you have. How are you guys going to or better yet, how are you going to get rid of these northern rental units and Webber homes? What's your inventory going to look like, say because we already know that 2036 CMHC's going to be cutting back their funding. So what is your plan in liquidating all these homes, these older homes throughout the community? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have 600 singlefamily dwellings across the Northwest Territories, and those units are currently up for sale but we'd work with the client to making sure that they do have adequate income to run a home and also the upgrades that may be required for those units as well too. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to, say, if there was a client that you had that lives in these Webber units and were interested in purchasing that unit but they have arrears, is there a way that you guys could have a plan to work with the homeowner to look at maybe liquidating these units even though it's at, you know, 40 or 50 years old and say if it's rated at 45 percent on unit condition rating, would you guys be able to look at something like that? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If there is an interest out there that, you know, the individual does have arrears, we will enter into a payment plan. And if they are interested in a homeownership program, three to five years, I'm interested in working with that tenant. But I want to make sure that they're able to afford the fuel, the utilities, and so on for those units as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Thank you. And, yeah, and then I guess you have to consider working with probably income support too because some of these families again, in small communities, we don't have employment. And so I guess you have to be flexible. So would that be something you guys consider as well? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The homeownership program is this is why we look at the income, to making sure that they're able to operate and maintain these units, that they would solely have to be able to cover the cost on their own. I'm not too sure about income support. If we're selling one unit and then depending on another social program to pay for the unit, that was not the intent. The intent is to have people become homeowners. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In this budget this year, CMHC has you guys have a $20 million budget there to get from CMHC too for your operation and maintenance. What's going to happen here now in 2036? It's going to come to an end so how is Housing NWT going to start dealing with public housing after 2036? What is your plan? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at what we may be looking at, 2036, I can't predict the future, but we are working strategically within the department to try to find ways to recover and trying to take care of the declining CMHC funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi for that. I believe the date is 2038. Mr. Edjericon.
Well, yeah, regardless what date it is, I mean, we're still going to be you know, still going to be needing social housing. And so, again, I'm not really sure how you're going to deal with this after those dates. I'm sure Canada's not gonna just drop the ball and say sorry, we can't give you any more money. At the end of the day, we are going to continue to need public housing. We're also like I said yesterday, we're going to need immediate housing, about $5 billion to catch up to housing and to make homeownership repairs and additional maybe even a hundred units a year. But, somehow, we still got to figure that out.
Going forward, though, yesterday I asked a question in the budget here. I asked a question about the $5 million. There was $25 million that came from CIRNAC and then another 30 this year. Can you maybe explain to me where did that $5 million go to from the CIRNAC funding received from the $60 million? I know you mentioned yesterday that was it was your answer was all over the place. So I just want that question answered. Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just looking at the $30 million to be correct as this is the $30 million that is for this government here that's a part of the 60 over two years, is that what the Member's speaking about? Thank you.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
That's correct. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That funding has not been spent. That $30 million, $60 million all together, that will be going towards the repair and renovation of public housing units across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Last year when the budget was approved and we went through it, there was a commitment made of $5 million to be added into housing. And the question I have is that if there was a commitment made by the Finance Minister that that money's going into housing, I want to know from the Minister, did you get that money, and where did the money go to and which community was impacted? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just trying to be clear on what the Member was speaking about. So this was $5 million that was committed to housing over three years, this money was to support the 25 percent for the coinvestment applications going forward. To date, we have 13 that have been approved. And I think there's another eight that are in the process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Okay. So would you be able to provide us the House in regards to the breakdown of that so that I could see it in front of me so that I understand where the money went to, because whenever we make commitments, I mean we got to make sure we're on top of that and I just want to make sure that I understand where the money's gone to. So will the Minister commit to that? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will provide that to the Member. I don't want to take up all of his time reading a huge list. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Edjericon.
Yeah, just a comment. Again, I just want to say that small communities do matter. Housing in the communities are in great supply; we need money, we need to come up with a plan. So again yesterday I mentioned that we're going to have start working closely with Indigenous governments. Again, going forward, I'm just and I kind of heard some of the responses yesterday, so. Anyway, 2038 is just around the corner whenever you think about it. And thank you.
Mahsi for that. Next on the list, Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions are for the next section.
For the next section? Okay. Any further questions on this section, finance and infrastructure services? Seeing no further questions, we shall move on to programs and district operations, beginning on page 387 with information items on pages 388 and 389. Any questions? Mr. Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just wondering if the housing corp has kind of an overarching asset management plan. And I know we have our capital planning process, but I'm more just curious whether there is some sort of document that exists that sets out the asset management plan going forward for all of the units? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Annually the housing corporation does conduct a unit condition rating. I'll have vicepresident Jim Martin respond. Thank you.
Mr. Martin.
