Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide Members with information on the housing needs data that has been collected through the 2009 NWT Community Survey.
According to this new data, core housing need in the Northwest Territories has risen from 16 percent in 2004 to 19 percent in 2009. Household need varied across our Territory from a high of 36 percent in the Nahendeh to a low of 14 percent in the North Slave. Approximately 27 percent of households in the Beaufort-Delta were in core need compared with 36 percent in the Sahtu and 17 percent in the South Slave.
The increase in core housing need is the result of increases in the number of dwellings that do not meet our adequacy standards, meaning that a unit is either in poor physical condition or lacking the basic facilities for a healthy living environment. This problem continues to be more prevalent in our smaller communities than in regional centres. Between 2004 and 2009, adequacy problems in smaller communities increased from 27 percent in 2004 to 37 in 2009.
Mr. Speaker, the increase in core housing need between 2004 and 2009 was anticipated by the NWT Housing Corporation. Though this period saw the Housing Corporation spend over $155 million in federal and territorial housing funding to build or repair approximately 1,750 units replacing or repairing older public and private housing units.
As well, Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that the downturn in the economy in the months prior to the
collection of this data also has an impact on this data, as a household is considered to be in core housing need only when household income is not sufficient for the residents to deal with on their own. The increasing cost of living in our communities has made housing in general less affordable. As affordability problems continue to grow, the ability of the corporation’s homeownership programs to meet the needs of some residents is impacted, leading to gaps in programming and services. As Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, I have asked my officials to closely examine the gaps that exist between our housing programs and to come up with solutions to fill those gaps.
Mr. Speaker, it is also important to note that eight communities in the NWT saw their overall core need decline from 2004 to 2009. Those communities are Fort McPherson, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic, Norman Wells, Hay River, Hay River Reserve, Lutselk’e and Kakisa. Four of these communities -- Fort McPherson, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic and Kakisa -- have seen the number of households in core need drop below 30 percent. These are positive developments for these communities and we will continue to invest in all of our communities in an effort to improve housing conditions.
Mr Speaker, the increase in core housing need reaffirms the message we have been sending to the federal government as recently as this past December during the federal/provincial/territorial Housing Ministers meetings. While the investments made in northern housing by Canada in recent years are welcomed, they are not enough even to maintain housing need as it currently stands, let alone to make progress in improving conditions.
We will need new federal housing programs for the North that deliver based on need rather than on a per capita basis. I have joined with my territorial colleagues in calling for a new approach to northern housing as the only way that we will improve housing conditions north of the 60th parallel. This new approach would include investments in new capital construction as well as the reinstatement of funding for the operation and maintenance of new and existing units.
As Members are aware, I have expressed my concern with the continuing and escalating decline of federal funding through CMHC for the operation and maintenance of public housing units. It should also be noted that while we appreciate the funding provided for housing through the Northern Housing Trust and Canada’s Economic Action Plan, at the end of this coming fiscal year, this funding, which provided our Territory with $100 million between 2006 and 2011, will end. There is no indication that funding for new construction will be extended beyond this date and the only federal assistance for new construction will come in the form of much smaller programs that are allocated on a per capita basis. This will greatly impact the ability of the NWTHC to address housing need in our Territory.
However, Mr. Speaker, we cannot continue to sit back and wait for the federal government to make investments, or to simply continue to cost-match these investments and hope that our housing conditions will improve. This government must continue to forge partnerships with all levels of government, with individual households and with all relevant stakeholders, in an effort to aggressively tackle the housing needs facing our communities. Our approach must include programs and housing designs that are created by Northerners for Northerners. It must find ways to address the unique needs of our smallest communities as well as our largest centres and it must ensure that where gaps exist in the ability of residents to house their families, that this government is there to provide meaningful solutions to housing problems.
Later today, at the appropriate time, I will table the first report from 2009 NWT Community Survey which provides information on housing needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
