Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that shelter is fundamental to the overall long-term well-being of the Northwest Territories residents and is a major factor in creating sustainable, vibrant, safe communities, one of the priorities of the Legislative Assembly.
The GNWT continues to focus on ensuring, where appropriate and necessary, that there is sufficient supply of affordable, adequate and suitable housing to meet the housing needs of NWT residents. To guide housing activities that support this mandate, the GNWT has undertaken a Shelter Policy review. I rise today to update Members and the general public on the work being done for this review.
The Shelter Policy review is a broad-based examination of the government’s approach to housing programs, services and supports to residents. This review will provide a way forward that will outline the long-term visions for housing in the Northwest Territories, with a particular focus on policies and resources required to fulfill the GNWT and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation’s mandate regarding housing supply that is affordable, adequate and suitable to meet the needs of NWT residents.
We will be looking at the approach to programs, services and supports along the spectrum or continuum of shelter needs experienced by Northwest Territories residents. This includes areas such as homelessness, transitional and supportive housing, independent social housing, market rentals and homeownership. Consideration for emerging needs and population demographics -- a growing population of seniors, for example -- will be some of the many factors considered under this review.
The Shelter Policy review is a collaborative effort between the NWT Housing Corporation and the Department of Executive. As this is a broad-based review of programs, services and support that the GNWT provides in the area of shelter, the departments of Health and Social Services, Justice, and Education, Culture and Employment will also be participating in the review.
Through the Shelter Policy review we are looking at how we have delivered housing in the past, how we can currently deliver housing, and how we may deliver housing in the future. This Shelter Policy review provides an important opportunity to shape the future direction of housing programs, services and support delivered to NWT residents.
The Shelter Policy review also includes an evaluation of the NWT Housing Corporation’s Housing Choices suite of homeownership programs and a review of the NWT Housing Corporation’s approach to how it calculates rent under its Public Housing Program. Both of these are in progress now.
The GNWT will need to hear from NWT residents on issues and challenges around housing if we are going to be able to address housing needs in the Territories. The Shelter Policy review process will include engagement with NWT residents and clients of GNWT housing programs, services and support, as well as regional workshops with community representatives. These engagement activities will be taking place over the course of May and June.
The engagement with Northerners on Shelter Policy will also take into account what the GNWT has heard during the consultation with Northerners on issues associated with poverty over the last few months. Housing has been one of the central themes raised during these meetings and a lot of suggestions on future direction were received. Information collected during these consultations will be of value during the Shelter Policy review. Views of Northerners on priorities related to housing were also obtained through a survey that was recently completed and this information will also be considered as the Shelter Policy review proceeds.
The recommendations from the review will help the GNWT determine how to best address housing challenges and pressures in communities, and increase the supply of suitable and affordable housing in NWT communities, including housing for community service providers. An overall approach to these and various other housing issues will be examined.
While we were fortunate to have seen an investment in housing infrastructure over the past five years of $100 million by the GNWT and $100 million by the federal government which has resulted in new construction, renovation, and repairs that were clearly needed, we still need to examine our overall approach to declining Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation funding for the operation and maintenance of Public Housing Program units.
Based on this review, the GNWT expects to put in place a consistent policy framework around the principles and interrelationship of GNWT housing activities which will allow us to fully address the various housing needs of NWT residents. Reviewing our Shelter Policy is one of the actions that the GNWT identified under our strategic initiative to reduce the cost of living. We expect the results of this review will be available during the 2011-2012 fiscal year and look forward to announcing a renewed approach to housing delivery in the NWT that will assist the GNWT in providing a balanced and coordinated approach to delivering housing to those in need and for those whom the current approach may not be working.
