Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was pleased to hear the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation's announcement about the construction of nine-unit seniors' buildings in five communities. This is welcome news; however, suitable, adequate, and affordable housing remains in short supply. Housing in Canada is measured by three criteria. Suitable housing has the appropriate number of bedrooms for occupants. Adequate housing has working plumbing and does not need major repairs. Affordable housing costs less than 30 per cent of household income. A dwelling is considered to be in core need if it doesn't meet one of these conditions and the household income is below the core-need income threshold. In 2014, 32 per cent of all NWT households had some sort of housing problem and 20 per cent in core need. There are many complex challenges associated with providing quality housing in the North. Waiting lists for public housing are long. Inadequate supply leads to serious, chronic over-crowding. Social housing clients complain of unfair eligibility assessments. When clients do get housing the units are often in disrepair. Sadly, many public housing clients also need other forms of social assistance, such as support for addiction and mental health problems, so homeownership and maintenance is a very difficult goal to reach. Many communities have boarded-up homes that could be put to good use if the GNWT would resolve obstacles to their accessibility. As well, government has to balance the benefits of stick-built versus modular units, while also achieving energy efficiency. A lot needs to be done, Mr. Speaker. We need to promote homeownership, especially in non-market communities. We need to offer homeowner training programs about mortgages, home buying, and maintenance. We need to work with communities to secure available land and with the federal government to secure long-term support.
Later today, I will have questions for the Minister of the NWT Housing Corporation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
