Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of the Housing Corporation questions about her Minister's statement today. I realize that the nine-plexes are something that's positive for the communities in which they're going to be built. They've been on the books for some time. When this government put aging in place as a mandate, my thought was that it was going to largely be for home ownership. I would like to ask the Minister which program will be used to target to the seniors to allow them to age in place in their own homes, in their own communities.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are actually a number of programs. Of course, there is the SAFE program that addresses immediate safety needs. There is the CARE Minor that will address things like small renovations that need to be done, perhaps a rail in the bathroom, and then there is CARE Major that will address larger things that include things like ramps going up to access into the building, et cetera, so quite a variety of programs. I also want to mention that we are doing the community needs survey. Once that comes in, we may be changing our programs based on what the communities say that they want.
In order to keep one senior in long-term care in the Northwest Territories on average it costs about $125,000. I'd like to ask the Minister if there will be an attempt to keep seniors in their own homes, not in the nine-plexes, in their own homes, to design a program that provides barrier-free access to homes.
Yes. The Minister does acknowledge that the best care for seniors and our people is to be able to be in their homes as long as possible without having to go to disturb that. There is a huge component that says wellness and individual mental health is linked to being able to stay in their own facilities. I just wanted to state that we will be looking at prioritizing seniors.
The federal government has given us within the next two years a budget of $1.5 million that we will be using. Then, within that, the NWT Housing Corporation for this coming fiscal year, we're going to be doing 63 senior public housing units that will get the modernization and improvements for a total value of $2.6 million we're going to be spending on that project. With the 356 units that we currently have for seniors, the extra 63 we'll be doing this year, we're looking at 459 units that are actually suitable for seniors to be able to live in by the end of this fiscal year.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister also indicated in their Member's statement that they were working with the Department of Health and Social Services. I would like to know what type of work is going on between NWT Housing Corporation and the Department of Health and Social Services to ensure that seniors are aging in place.
The Department of Health and Social Services and the NWT Housing Corporation sit on a number of ministerial committees that we talk about various issues. Seniors are one of the populations that we talk within that. We want to make sure that the Housing Corporation provides these services to people as long as they can maintain their own care, and then when they get to a point where they can't, then we want to make sure that we have kind of as seamless as possible a transition into long-term care. Really working closely hand in hand is key to be able to facilitate proper care for our seniors in the long term.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along that same line, so what I'm hearing is that the work is to sort of monitor the seniors and, once a senior needs long-term care or gets to that level of care, they just move them into long-term care. My idea, and many other people's idea, on aging in place was to make it possible for them to remain in their home and get the services that they need so that they don't go into long-term care. My question is about what work is happening with Health and Social Services to allow the people to remain in their homes, not what work is happening with Health and Social Services that will give them access to long-term care. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I apologize for the miscommunication. I can't really speak for the Department of Health and Social Services, and my colleague is not here today due to illness. What I can say is that we are committed to try to keep people within their communities as long as possible. However, there does come a point when the capacity of the community is such that people, some people, will need to be moved into long-term care. My commitment is, as long as we can keep people within their own homes, within their own communities, then as Minister of Housing I will do my best to make sure that we provide the services so that people can live in their own space. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
