Marci Cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of questions today for the Minister of NWT Housing Corporation pertaining to the aging-in-place initiative that is in our mandate. I would like to ask the Minister if there has been any form of evaluation to determine what the cost savings of aging-in-place would be for the GNWT. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of NWT Housing Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, no, to my knowledge we have not done an evaluation of exactly what the cost savings are to do aging-in-place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister tell me if there have been any discussions with the possible impacts on the need for a long-term care as a result of the upcoming work that would be anticipated by the Housing Corporation on the aging-in-place project?
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is working in close partnership with the Department of Health and Social Services. The goal is to help people to be able to age in place within their communities as long as possible; however, we do recognize that at some point some people do need additional support that they may have to leave their communities and at that point they may have to go into long-term care.
Is the Minister of the Housing Corporation able to advise the House if there have been any standards developed for the renovation of the units where we hope the elders would age in place?
The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation abides by all the standards, building codes, et cetera within Canada. In fact, our standards are actually higher than some provinces and territories. The reality is, though, that each individual is different and so what determines what one person who is aging in their own home needs will not be the same right across the board. So we look at each case on an individual basis to determine what supports they need in there.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if there has been any sort of evaluation on where the first projects will be rolling out on the aging-in-place. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories Housing Corporation has been working for many years, actually providing supports to seniors, to people so that they can stay in their communities. So the additional $500,000 that we put into the budget for this coming year is not a new program. It is new monies that we allocated to it, but we have been working for many years to provide supports to seniors so that they can age in place, putting mobility supports in. We have not done a formal evaluation, but there are a lot of evaluations out there that show that supports for seniors, rails, ramps, et cetera, are good, are really actually quite beneficial to keeping seniors in their homes.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
