Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently the Housing Corporation announced a plan to build 40 new units for RCMP housing, new energy-efficiency units. Would the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation answer some questions about this? The federal government got out of RCMP housing because it was no longer cost-effective. Why is our financially challenged government taking this on and how we will make it cost-effective? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government is actually getting out of the provision of housing for RCMP officers effective April 1, so we don't have a lot of time to work on this. Their reasoning is that they don't want to do the retrofitting to the current housing that they're in. The NWT Housing Corporation is not looking at taking on their current housing, but providing services to the RCMP. Because of economy of scale, it's easier for us to provide all of the housing versus having to have them negotiate individually with market housing before April 1st. Thank you.
We've heard a lot about how our priorities have to be tempered by our fiscal restraints. I think there's a concern for many people that if the Housing Corporation is overreaching with new projects we may not have enough resources to go to very important social housing. Would the Minister tell us where this money is going to come from and whether or not it is confirmed spending?
Nothing at this moment is confirmed. We're still in negotiations with Justice and the federal government. Once we decide upon it, we would be putting in a request to the Financial Management Board. The money, actually, will not take away from social housing at all. In fact, it will help to provide social housing. Within the next 15 years -- 2032, in fact -- CMHC is expected to delete all of their funding for social housing, so we need to look at revenue sources to be able to continue to provide social housing and this is one method.
Is the Minister proposing that this plan to building RCMP housing is going to be a revenue-generating option for the GNWT? Is the government interested in being a landlord?
Currently, actually, the Housing Corporation does have some market housing. One of the reasons is that within the communities it's hard to find housing for professionals such as teachers, nurses, et cetera, RCMP as well. So yes, it will be a revenue base that we can actually use towards maintaining of our social housing.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question would be: what will happen to the existing stock of RCMP housing? I believe it's over a hundred units. That seems like a sufficient amount and I can't image that they all are in a position to be demolished. I'm sure there's some units we might be able to use. Can the Minister update us on what the quality of the stock is and what the plan to dispose of it is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Actually, there's only 45 units that the RCMP are interested in negotiating. All of their units, they are not interested in retrofitting them. The Housing Corporation is not interested in taking on their old housing either. So they are going to be trying to sell them into the market community, and if not then they'll negotiate with the Housing Corporation to take them on based on land value only.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
