Shauna Morgan

Okay, thank you for that. And do we have numbers yet for 2024-2025 in terms of whether it was fully subscribed? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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.

Okay. I mean, just to follow up on that line of questioning. I wonder is the Minister considering any other possible strategies or ways to try to recruit or find qualified people who either currently live or willing to live in some of the communities outside Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So under community operations, I'm just noting under active positions, all 14 of the positions for community operations are located in headquarters in Yellowknife, I assume. Can the Minister explain why all of the positions related to community operations are located in Yellowknife? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I don't -- under the expenditures related to this, I don't see anything listed by way of, like, the staff costs of managing these leases unless I'm missing something in the list there. But is the cost of staff time managing this included anywhere in this budget laid out on page 397? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, that is good to clarify. So thank you for that. Although that does seem like a pretty low goal, but.

I just want the to finish -- so page 409 of the business plan sets a goal for total housing investment in the territory, and the goal that's written in the business plan is that there would be $50 million per year of housing investment coming from Housing NWT and then $50 million a year coming from outside organizations. Now, we heard yesterday from the Minister that the $50 million per year from Housing NWT, we're not sure if we can find yet because we need to go to outside funders like...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it does sound like perhaps the focus is on training existing staff to sort of up their skills for what is coming and what's needed, which is super useful I understand. I think we do need sort of a more ambitious strategy around how we're going to ensure that we have people with the right skills in our communities to do the kind of repairs, renovations, housing maintenance, that we need to actually take care of our housing. And I know that goes beyond Housing NWT, and it requires working with other departments. I'll just put it out there now. I do think we need clear...

Okay. And can the Minister clarify, and maybe this is not all decided or sorted out yet, but who is going to operate the units? So if residents don't want to own them and they don't necessarily need to be kicked out, so -- and we're going to save money by not owning and operating them anymore, who is going to own and operate them and rent them to tenants? Thank you, Mr. Chair.