Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, so housing, as the Minister mentioned, does undertake a regular review of our assets both in terms of condition and age, and this is good information to inform how we prioritize our dollars that are available for capital investment year to year. We also do look to the longer term, and we did outline in the core need report that was tabled I forget the date that was. It was tabled a year ago or so, but during the last review of the mains. And in that report, we did outline a 20year outlook for required public housing replacements to sustain our public housing stock, and those details were outlined there. And we did indicate that we needed to replace, over that timeline, approximately 1,300 units. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Johnson.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, admittedly I have to delve into that report. And I know we always throw around these numbers of billions of dollars to get our stock up to where it should be. I'm just curious, you know, we have a budget here with a $30 million increase and that's good. But do we have kind of a monetary figure of you know, in an asset management plan if you the last question was how are we going to pay for this or what is it going to cost. I'm just the bare maintenance, according to replacing that 1,300 unit number, how much money or additional money we need? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have vicepresident Jim Martin respond.
Mr. Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a big number. It's $1 billion. We mentioned this during the last review. But we do recognize it's a large number, and we do continue to certainly look for supplementary funding sources, such as the federal government, to help supplement our capital investments and stay ahead of this, the aging infrastructure investment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Mr. Johnson.
No further questions; just a comment. You know, I well, it would be nice to get I guess there's that $1 billion figure which is to basically do the bare minimum and maintain our assets going forward and replace those that are well beyond their life. How much approximately is that per year that we would need? Yeah, I think that's probably a more tangible number for me to understand, is how much would we have to increase the housing corp's budget to just meet that basic asset management standard? Thank you.
Is there a question?
What? That was a question there.
All right. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have vicepresident Jim Martin reveal the number. Thank you.
Mr. Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So annualized, that would be around $55 million a year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Okay, next on the list we've got Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's lots of good programs here under the grants and contributions and transfers part. And I would be remiss if I didn't ask about the seniors aging in place retrofits and repairs. Noting that it has dropped slightly from the 20222023 and I'm on page 388 of the estimates. I'm just curious to know why we're seeing a little bit of a drop there. And given, you know, I think that we've had lots of conversation around keeping seniors in home as long as possible, it's quite an important topic. So could the Minister provide more information on that? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have vicepresident Jim Martin explain the reason why the number has dropped. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Martin.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, so the seniors aging in place amount here at 2.1 for the 20222023 revised reflects the additional funding that was invested into homeownership programs overall, part of that $4 million that was mentioned. For the subsequent year, a component of that funding was allocated to the expansion of the hundred units to cover the O and M for 20232024. So that explains the slight delta there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So if I am understanding that right, a portion of the money that was meant to go directly to these retrofits or repairs was then used for administrative purposes by the department? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It was the operation and maintenance of the hundred-unit rollout. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Nokleby.
Is that a yes then, it went to okay, I'll move on. I'll follow up with the Minister after.
I am just looking at the preventative maintenance program line item as well, and I do note that it has stayed the same from the revised estimates that's on the same page. Right now, so it's sitting at $1.244 million. When we've done some of our community tours under social development, we've seen units within the different places, and I'm thinking of Behchoko right now, where there's not an obvious reason to an outsider or an untrained eye why that unit isn't being fixed up and repurposed or having someone moved into it. So to me what's the saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of flesh? And so, you know, I don't understand why we wouldn't want to be increasing funding into the preventative maintenance program in order to sort of decrease our expenses down the line in repairs.
Can the Minister speak more to whether we're going to see that line item increase soon or if there's other funding that can be accessed to do the same work? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have President Young respond. Thank you.
Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And there's two things that are happening right now. The first is that, as noted, there was an increase to these overall budgets implemented as of last year that we're starting to take applications for. The second thing, as folks will have seen through some of the recent announcements, a number of the programs we're adjusting the individual components, the individual limits, to those programs, and preventative maintenance is one of them. So we're increasing the individual amount available for each preventative maintenance application, or application for a suite of programs as it soon will be. So the first thing we have to do is get these programs rolling out, and then we will monitor and adjust as is required from there, taking into account where we see the pressure points. There are a whole bunch of changes happening at once, and it's a little bit hard to assess where the pressure points are going to be until we get a year or two under our belt with the combined changes. But we will be taking a look at it and monitoring it on an annual basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
Yeah, and I appreciate that. I think you have to sometimes and I keep saying let's move it 80 percent instead of always waiting for 99, which is unattainable. So I do like that idea of what I'm hearing and then it being an iterative process that, you know, the findings will be looked at. I guess under that, my question or comment would be, you know, if we are finding that people and I'm assuming this is people if they're coming in to get this money, that it's potentially going to be oversubscribed I'm assuming. And so if that is the case, and there's more want than we have money for, would the department be looking to come back to us for more money for that or would they just be saying no, we're done with our money for this time period? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once the review is done, we possibly would be bringing this back during our business plan review. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm now looking at the homeownership initiative. It's my understanding that the GNWT or the department has halted intakes on this program until the summer and not due to a limit of funds but rather an inability to process all the applications that are coming in. I'm hearing often from constituents and people, particularly as I have a riding that has several apartment buildings but then also several single dwellings, you know, a lot of people are wanting to move between those two and are finding that they just have no options. The fact that they need to move super quickly as well to purchase homes when they do become available is also an added stress. And so basically I'm hearing a futility in the group sort of demographic of people that should be now purchasing their homes, settling down more, starting their families, and most of them feel quite bleak that they're going to have any opportunity to do so in the Northwest Territories. So $814,000 is very low. Can the Minister or the department speak a little bit more to, am I correct that the application intake has been halted, and sort of what is the plan there to get that not waiting until December. Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have President Young respond. Thank you.
Ms. Young.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And as I mentioned a moment ago, we have a lot of moving things happening at the same time and we had just a bit of a miscommunication internally in terms of that program versus all of the other program changes and the move to a single intake process. So no, we are still accepting applications for the home bridges program and the district office is happy to see folks if they'd like to come in. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
I'm glad to hear that. And honestly, I think it would be good to maybe get some messaging out. And I don't know that I mean, it's a busy session, but it might be out there already, but I do think there is still perception that program has been shut down for now.
My next question is around the homeownership repair and mobility modifications program. And so it's my understanding that this has to do with helping people with disabilities and such live within a noninstitutional setting or at their home. You know, again very low amounts of money. We have an aging population. I get that there's sort of an overlap of seniors aging in place with disabilities and modifications for that. So can the Minister or department comment on do we see that you know what, and I'm looking at the wrong number. But, okay, well maybe if the Minister or the department can speak a little bit further to that and where that program is at and whether or not we're seeing again more need than maybe we have money for? Thank you.
Mahsi. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Member is speaking about the homeownership repair mobility modification program. $1.9 million increase? Is that the line that okay, okay. I'll have vicepresident Jim Martin elaborate on because we did we were undersubscribed during COVID so if you could just explain. I'll just have President Young respond. Thank you.
Ms. Young.
There's just so many changes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the one thing I want to say here is that as folks may be aware, we're moving back to a one intake process effective this coming year. And one of the things that's going to allow us to do is take a look at an application and move it to the right place within our budget and try to monitor that more closely and, you know, adjust within as we are working through the year to make sure that we're addressing. One of the things we heard, and one of the reasons we're moving back to one intake, is that if you weren't quick off the gun in getting your application at the beginning of the year, we would run out of money before somebody with perhaps a higher need was getting addressed. But going back to the one intake process, we can compare applications and address the most urgent priorities and work through the system that way and then try to balance through programs. So that's the attempt we're going to be making with the changes we're making this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.
Thank you to President Young for giving me four more seconds so I can ask one more question there. So, yeah, I do really appreciate that. And actually what I'm hearing, I'm hoping, is that this is now transitioning to more of a wraparound client service or focused thing. So I think that is great and sounds like people have been listening to our side of the House.
So my last question has to do with the Habitat for Humanity line item. There is no money, no contribution. I have only heard good things about this program. I'm assuming we've just sunsetted our contribution. However, can the Minister or department speak to whether or not there is more want to increase Habitat for Humanity funding and how they see that organization playing a role in addressing our housing needs? Thank you.
