Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to ask some questions related to housing for physically and mentally challenged residents in the NWT. In general, we talk about assisted living housing for our persons with disabilities and those that have mental challenges. We have a number of different types of housing, I know that, and we have different models of accommodation, but I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not her department, or the government in general, has a policy that addresses this particular housing need. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have a program and policy to address the persons with disabilities. Thank you.
I would have liked to have heard the name of the policy, but that’s fine. I’d like to know from the Minister, her department generally manages the programs, the assisted living programs. I’d like to know if we have a policy that looks after housing needs for people who are challenged and who need assisted living. Does the department work in concert with any other department? I would hope they would work in concert with the NWT Housing Corporation, but do they work in concert with any other department in order to acquire and build the necessary housing for assisted living? Thank you.
The Member knows that the Department of Health and Social Services is not in the business of building houses, so we would not be involved in that. The Member also knows because she had asked in the past and I’ve given her information about the kind of support we provide for persons with disabilities. We have various programs. The Member mentioned an assisted living complex in Hay River, but we also have group homes, we have supported living, we provide respite care. I mean, the persons with disabilities don’t come in one shape and size and need, and so individuals are assessed and they are supported in the best way we can with the programs we have and the resources we have. Thank you.
To the Minister, I didn’t ask about whether or not you were in the business of housing and I wasn’t asking about particular placement options. I’m talking about housing and getting the necessary capacity of housing that we need. It’s well known that we have a need within the whole of the NWT assisted living housing, whether it be rented, whether it be built. I’d like to know if the department would consider establishing a process to actively build up the housing supply for assisted living and whether they would partner with the Housing Corporation to build the necessary types of housing that’s required so that we can place more of our people in assisted living accommodations. Thank you.
I think the mandate of the Health and Social Services is busy enough, full enough, demanding enough. I don’t think, unless the government tells us to, the department is interested in getting into the housing business. We have the NWT Housing Corporation that does that. I am aware that the Housing Corporation has built units and renovated units for persons with disabilities, whether they be seniors or non-seniors. I would ask the Member to kindly refer the question to the responsible Minister. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, I would like to ask again, I’m not asking the department to build houses, I’m asking the department to establish a process to work in conjunction with the Housing Corporation who does build houses -- I agree with you -- but asking if they would set up a process to partner with the Housing Corporation to provide the assisted living housing that we need. Thank you.
We do that already. We work closely with the Housing Corporation. So if the Member has specific situations or a constituent that she would like me to look into, I would be happy to do that. As I’ve stated, the Housing Corporation does have a program that addresses the persons with disabilities and, of course, Health and Social Services works closely with ECE and Housing and Justice or whoever we need to.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
