Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not sure if this is actually the right spot to ask this question, but it's one that I wanted to ask. Mr. Chair, how is Housing NWT collaborating with the health and social services to enhance support for transitional housing for individuals in recovery or addictions. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dr. Erin Kelly will provide some information around the third program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Mr. Chair, we're currently working in Inuvik and in Yellowknife on housing for folks when they come back from addictions treatment for transitional housing, and our hope -- there's some buildings that are being renovated to accommodate this, and our hope is that there will be other communities that we'll work together on as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me just check my notes here.
Yeah, if I could, Mr. Chair, I would just ask, this is a pretty high level and general question but falls into this area. I'd be curious how Housing NWT is doing in terms of making efforts on filling gaps in the northern housing continuum. I note -- have noted already that this is an item that Standing Committee on Social Development has been doing a lot of work on with their housing as a human right project and very much look forward to the recommendations that come out of that project. But how is Housing NWT supporting programs across government that move individuals along the housing continuum? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's a big question, especially for Housing NWT, because we're focused on public housing, providing social housing in communities, but also market housing. We have the, like we've talked about before, the HELP units, and we also have RCMP housing.
So one of the things I've noticed, and especially when I went to Behchoko recently, was going into a transitional housing, there was an individual in there for a number of years and the reason why he was in there for a number of years was there's no housing available in the community for him to move on. And he's ready to move on but considering the 135 people on the waitlist, there is no housing to move on to. So these are difficult discussions that housing has on a continuous basis, especially with the other departments and partnerships. But we do what we do, and we do what we can with what we have. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Maybe to give a bit more of a specific question, I do want to note that, you know, I've heard from constituents, and I certainly experienced when I was on the -- when I was on the board of the Yellowknife Housing Authority, that we're still working on perfecting the housing first model in terms of ensuring that there's adequate wraparound service, that it's a model that is getting people into housing. And, you know, one of the issues I heard about recently was a constituent who is -- got themselves into housing first and they're now homeless again because they were kicked out and it's -- the hope with housing first, of course, is that it moves people up, you know, and gets them out of housing first and into, you know -- as I asked in the first question about the housing continuum, we want to be moving people kind of along.
I'm just curious if the department can discuss any improvements or changes or enhancements to the housing first program to kind of address some of the hiccups that have been happening and to better support residents to ensure that, you know, there are systems and supports in place to ensure that the housing first model isn't just simply, you know, sticking people in a home and we're done but that there's supports in place to help people succeed with housing first and use that as a stepping stone. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and this is something we can discuss further. But, you know, in my FPT meeting this morning, another province was talking about the different models they have with their public housing units and that's interesting because there's about five or six different models just within that one department. So I'm interested to know what other provinces and territories are doing. But in terms of what we're doing with housing first here in the territory, Dr. Kelly will provide more information to that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that we recognize that there's some growth to do with respect to housing first, and we're trying to make sure that we're learning lessons from past experiences. But I think one of the challenges, as the Minister put forward very clearly, is that we -- because of the lack of transitional housing, we are putting people into public housing that sometimes are not ready to be in those units and the support for them is less than what we would like. So our preference is to try to work, and that's much of the work that we're doing, to support some of these transitional housing projects across the board, with Indigenous government partners as well, and hopefully increase the stock that we have and the supports -- the folks can go to those units instead to get the support that they need. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you. And I'd just like to build upon what the president just shared there. So if the goal is increasing stock and, you know, making sure that we've got enough resources to move people through the spectrum, can the president or Minister discuss what is being done particularly within the term of this Assembly to do that, to achieve that goal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll pass that to Dr. Erin Kelly to provide for information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So as I mentioned already, we are working with health and social services on some transitional housing with respect to folks that are returning from addictions treatment. We also have the Northern Pathways units where we're -- that are transitional housing units. We have a funding proposal that we're working on currently that would increase transitional housing in the Yellowknife area. And we're always looking for opportunities in other communities to build on the transitional stock that's there with the resources that we've got. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that is -- that's it for me on this page. Thank you.
Thank you. Next on my list I have is the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is on the emergency shelters. Can the Minister confirm if this activity is in support, or is there a contribution agreement between this program and the Fort Good Hope shelter? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Jim Martin will provide more information to the question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the vice-president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Housing NWT has a number of agreements, contributions, with various organizations that are supporting the delivery of emergency shelters. And we have two in Inuvik, one with the YWCA, Yellowknife Women's Society, Salvation Army, Hay River shelter, and in Fort Simpson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister help me out here -- and maybe it's not this department that is providing the assistance there for the Fort Good Hope shelter, but is there another program that is in partnership in funding contributions to that shelter in Fort Good Hope or another department? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Jim Martin will provide information to that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the vice-president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Housing NWT is providing support through the Northern Pathways to housing program. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you. So it's Northern Pathways that is supporting the Fort Good Hope shelter, yes or no? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is confirmed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Is there going to be renewed funding in this budget for that shelter in Fort Good Hope through Northern Pathways? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is confirmed. There is renewed funding for that program.
Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Sahtu.
Mahsi. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to -- next on my list is the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, my first question is, so the Minister had previously indicated that the extra, like, $2.3 million that showed up in the 2023-2024 actuals under emergency shelters was due to funding the Inuvik day shelter. But that money doesn't appear after that. It goes back down to about $3 million both in terms of the program and the contributions. So can the Minister clarify how the Inuvik day shelter is being funded now and whether the GNWT is still running it directly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for clarification, there are two shelters in Inuvik that are operating, for clarification there. But more information with Dr. Erin Kelly here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
