Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I also want to talk about housing in Yellowknife.
According to the 2009 Housing Needs Survey, there are 6,742 households in Yellowknife. While the city is often overlooked in discussions about housing in the NWT, I note that this is where most of the households are located in the North.
It is true Yellowknife housing is different from the housing issues in other NWT communities. The survey identified that 14 percent of Yellowknife households have affordability issues. That means there are 928 households struggling to come up with that 30 percent or more to help cover the costs of things like mortgage or rent, electricity, water, heating, and even property taxes. You can see that clearly Yellowknife has an affordability issue.
In Yellowknife there are 289 public housing units. I see in the proposed capital plan that housing is proposing to replace one multi-family unit and they’re looking at retrofitting 25 family units. These actions don’t seem to be targeting the affordability issue at all.
Some may wonder why should we care about affordability as an issue compared to other things such as suitability and, certainly, adequacy. However, we know that the lack of affordability in Yellowknife means that when someone was thinking about moving to the NWT -- it’s either for a job or to unite with family -- they can certainly be overwhelmed by the housing challenges and consider changing their plans. We all know that the cost of living is very difficult.
The same is true in small and regional communities. If a family from one regional centre with employment, perhaps maybe even at a mine, thinks about moving to Yellowknife and that becomes impossible because of the high cost, they can easily relocate to Edmonton or Grande Prairie because they can find affordable housing. Affordable housing, I say again.
Finally, I could go on at length about the accessibility to barrier-free housing here in Yellowknife and in the North for our seniors and disabled community. I am very concerned about the suitability and adequacy as to what we’re doing for the people of the North, because I think we are denying them a true, fair living of a much deserved quality of life. This challenge affects every one of us in this Assembly and in the North.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
