Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So what's reflected on the sheet is the budget that we have across the board. So the budget hasn't changed, but the expenses are higher, which is why you see for the 2023-2024 actuals that higher number. And what means is that we do have a smaller amount that is budgeted for the Inuvik shelters, but we're spending much more to support those shelters. So what's happening right now is that Housing NWT is finding that money from within and we're working with local organizations to try to find a provider that is relevant to the community and would be able to do this for a more cost effective price. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just to clarify, some of the cost of the shelter is included here or the assumption of what the cost would be if it was contracted out to a non-profit, but it's just the extra that's coming from within? My concern is that currently we're funding the actual amount that's needed from within, and it's not showing up, but is that a sustainable way to budget for providing this service that clearly needs to continue being provided? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dr. Kelly will provide that information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So in the budget that we have, there is an amount that used to be spent with other providers to fund the Inuvik shelters. It is costing us additional funding, mostly because of the overspend is because of compensation and benefits because we're hiring the staff through the GNWT. We recognize and in our discussions with folks in Inuvik have discussed that there will need to be an increase in the amount but not to the same extent that we're seeing here if another organization was to take it over. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And on the same subject of sustainable funding for shelters and non-profits, I mean, we see under the contributions for these various kinds of shelters and initiatives that support homelessness, the numbers haven't increased over time. It's the exact same, right? And so we're not incorporating inflation which we know has been a big -- a big rate of inflation over the last couple of years. And yet, I mean, across all other aspects of GNWT operations, we see the budget increase due to forced growth inflation. So I guess the question is why don't we see the numbers increase? Why do we expect our non-profit partners to continue year after year, no matter how much inflation there is, to continue offering services around shelters, homelessness, for the exact same as the year before and especially when we're seeing increased numbers of people accessing these services and increased need? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dr. Erin Kelly will provide that information.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I completely understand what the Member is bringing forward, and I know that there's ongoing discussions about that and that EIA has been leading some discussions with end goals related to it. In this case in particular, we're challenged by the fact that we're an organization that's being -- there's a lot of want to build new units and to spend the budget on items like that, and we're trying to balance the budget across all of the needs that folks have for Housing NWT. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, I do understand that, but I also think that by trying to spread the money thinner or sort of take for granted that we can keep this number the same and do other things instead, we're endangering the current relationships and arrangements that we have and then we could end up in more situations like the Inuvik situation where, you know, we -- the government has to take over operating a shelter and realizes that it has to spend much more money than it was paying before to the non-profit. Anyway, that's another soapbox for another day.
But my final question on this item is so the rapid rehousing last year had a line item of 400,000, and there's nothing in the 2025-2026 Main Estimates for rapid rehousing. My understanding was that the contributions that had previously been distributed under rapid rehousing are now going to be distributed under Northern Pathways to housing, but then I don't see that number going up in terms of contributions coming out of Northern Pathways. Can the Minister explain where that $400,000 has gone? Is it that we're giving out $400,000 less in total, or it's coming from somewhere else that I can't see on the budget here? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dr. Erin Kelly will provide more information to the budget adjustment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're correct about the budget adjustment but, unfortunately, I'm going to have to ask if Jim can speak to this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the vice-president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. These funds are being -- have been reallocated to the Northern Pathways program; however, at this time that $400,000 is being funded internally within our internal resources. So funding will remain at the same level for next year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. Is there any further questions from the Member from Yellowknife North? None? Thank you. Is there any other Members? I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Yeah, I just want to ask about this Northern Pathways. Many of these programs are very important, especially to small communities where there's limited facility. So Northern Pathways to housing, shelter enhancement fund, emergency shelters, I want to ask the Minister if all these funds get used up within the fiscal year.
Okay. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can confirm that all the funds get used up. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.
Yeah, you know, shelter enhancement funds, okay, if it gets used up because like I said it's very important, especially for small communities where we rely on many of these programs and these funds. For example, the shelter enhancement fund, $100,000, is it going to increase anytime soon? Because I'm sure there's -- you know, there's facilities out there in small communities, they -- you know, they access these funds. So is it allocated based on first-come/first-serve basis, or how does this money get allocated? Because it's not a lot of money. So thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. From what I understand with the shelter enhancement fund, it is an application-based with Housing NWT. It's not a lot of money. But perhaps Dr. Erin Kelly can provide more information related to that fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So my understanding of the question is will this increase. And the answer is this is what we've got in the budget. But if you look at the actuals versus the budget, often you'll see that there's increases above what the budget is. And when that happens, it's Housing NWT using our internal resources to augment what we have. So where there is need, we try our best to try to help to support that. We also try to look in our internal resources -- and you were provided with a page that shows -- and try to project where we need to put some more money because we know that there's going to be pressures there with our internal resources. But we don't have enough money to increase everything over time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you for that information. And I'm grateful that, you know, the Minister and her team went to Behchoko and looked at some of the programs and see how hard many of these -- the people that are working there or the program and the organization are working hard to house their people, you know. I mean, these funds are very important to many of them. So I would like to ask too is that, you know, emergency shelter, I don't think we have that. We have a warming shelter, but it's not the same as this emergency shelter where there's -- there's a facility in Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Smith, and Inuvik. It's good, you know, because in small communities where we don't have too many emergency shelters in small communities from the most northern communities all the way to, like, to Tlicho region, you know. We need more of this because you've seen the number of our unhoused people and during the day, you know, if friendship centre is not open, then, you know, like, I mean, they're kind of wandering, you know. So we are trying our best. We're doing our best. The community is trying their best. You know, like, Tlicho government are doing their best. Friendship centre is -- they're doing their best, and I'm very grateful, thankful, to the recent federal government announcement, you know, so to help many of our people that are suffering with addictions.
So with that in mind, THARP, I mean, it's a transition housing for addiction recovery program. I know that we didn't get one last -- you know, last fiscal year. So is there a plan in place where Tlicho region might get funding for that program? As you know, many of our people are -- you know, like, they are in -- a lot of our young people, they go for treatment. Some of them, they come back, they don't last long. Like, maybe a day or two or a week, and then they're back to what they were doing before because they're back to the same old situation. And we do need a safe place for them. And, you know, Tlicho government with the warming shelter, they are doing their best. And then even I know that the friendship centre, they said it to us too that, you know, they are doing their best to accommodate many of these young people to stay sober, you know, so -- but it's just that it's a place to stay that they're having problems with. So I just wanted to ask that if there's a plan in place anytime soon that, you know, Tlicho region will get some -- a program to help our young people returning back from the addiction program. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Understanding that THARP is led by health and social services, that's one of the questions that we do have is right now we have THARP units, both in Yellowknife and Inuvik, and many other communities are looking at the same type of supports in place for much of the people in the community that need that transitional housing after they attend addictions recovery program. So it's a big question, and the MLA is right, this is happening in many of our communities where supports are needed in place, and THARP is one of those key supports. So perhaps Dr. Erin Kelly could talk a bit more about a THARP and the planning going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the role of -- and Housing NWT is to help to support the renovations for the building of the location. Health and social services is the lead on selecting the location for that. But I do know that there's several communities, and Behchoko is one of them, that are on the radar for that.
I would also note here that of these line items, Behchoko also gets money for Northern Pathways, and the Northern Pathways is what fund the transitional housing in Behchoko. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the information. Yeah, we had a real good visit, and we were told about all these programs that, you know, the facility use, and it's very important to them. And Northern Pathways program was mentioned by the transitional housing program. So I am quite pleased. But it's good if it is on the radar. I am pleased because I know many of -- many of the people have been asking about it, that we need something for our young people. You know, some of them went out to treatment two or three times, you know, like they -- we know that they really want to get better but it's just that they're going back to the same old situation. So I do feel for them, I do sympathize, and we all want our community, our young people to get better, you know, do as much as we can while we're here. So I am glad that it's on the radar. And that's it. Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any further questions from the Members? Seeing none, no further questions. We will proceed to the next activity summary.
Moving on to the homeownership assistance program starting on page 392. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My first question is about the seniors aging in place program to provide financial assistance to eligible households, seniors, I assume, to support repairs or upgrades that helps them stay in their home. Can you tell me if this is eligible for people who do not live within a municipality? So, for example, people whose home might be in a rural area, are those people still eligible to get this funding for seniors aging in place? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand that there has been a request in the past to Housing NWT for applications for aging in place, and what we can do is we could provide more -- the information to the MLA regarding this question. We can provide her something in writing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you for that, Mr. Chair. I know that there are a number of seniors, at least in my riding and I'm sure in many others, who don't live within the boundaries of the city of Yellowknife but really want to stay in their homes and, in fact, we need people to stay in their homes where possible for the betterment of the whole territory. We don't want them to leave, and we don't want them to need to, for example, have to move to a long-term care facility if they could be accommodated at home. So I hope that we can make sure that that program can serve seniors who want to age in place everywhere in the territory.
I'm also wondering about the preventative maintenance program. Is it -- has it been fully subscribed? I notice that it was increased a bit from 2023-2024 and then -- but between that and 2024-2025. I assume it's on an application basis, whoever applies to -- for that funds? So is that program fully subscribed I suppose in -- out of last year, the 2024-2025 budget? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dr. Erin Kelly will provide more information about the program itself. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the president.
Mr. Chair, it was slightly undersubscribed in 2023-2024, which could have been related to some of the things that were going on in that year related to fire, for example. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
