Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier, like many other Members, I spoke about the crisis of family violence and the need for the GNWT to mobilize like it's actually addressing the crisis. I heard that the government is undertaking cross-jurisdictional analyses of best practices, but I'm afraid that's not the silver bullet that is going to address this problem. So, in the meantime, we need to support the organizations that are on the front line, supporting the victims of family violence. One of those organizations is the Family Support Centre in Hay River. They provide a safe space for people fleeing family violence. They've had to demolish their old site, and they're right now working out of a temporary site. However, there is this Federal National Housing Strategy money, the Co-Investment Fund, that seems tailor-made for organizations like this. One of the necessary partners in this is the GNWT, and that's flowing through the Housing Corporation. I brought this to the Minister's attention, and they've reached out to the Family Support Centre, and the Housing Corporation has been working with the Family Support Centre. I'd like an update from the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation on what work has been done to date. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member that some of our partners, our stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, that are on the front line doing the work for people, as we heard today, there were a lot of statements on victim services, and I appreciate the work that the Hay River Family Support Centre has been doing. I do know that the Member has brought this up before, especially when the federal government made the announcement on the Co-Investment Fund. He was on top of that and wanted to see what we can do in terms of partnering with the Hay River Family Support Centre.
I am committed, and I have gotten my staff to go and have a meeting with the Hay River Family Support Centre, as well as having chats with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to ensure that all the application guidelines and requirements are met. We are going to be having a meeting in the coming weeks to make sure that the application is done properly and that those types of funds that the Family Support Centre is looking for has been done properly so that they can have an opportunity to secure those funds.
I know it has taken a little bit of a long time, but as I mentioned, I am committed to working with the Member, working with the Hay River Family Support Centre, and making sure my staff is in contact with them to get their building up and running again so that they can provide the services for their community members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate that answer. I know the Minister stated that it is taking a long time, and with this federal money, there is a lot of information that they need. I appreciate that the department is helping the Family Support Centre get that information, but I think everyone would like to see this move a little quicker.
On the first day back of the sitting, I said I am here to light a fire under Cabinet, so that is what I am trying to do. Can we get things moving a little quicker? What kind of timeline can we expect before we actually see money start rolling out and we can see shovels in the ground?
I answered some questions last week in terms of how we had gotten shortchanged on the Northern Housing Fund. We are continuing to work with the federal government to ensure that we secure funding from them so that we can have strong partnerships.
I have always said that one of the strong points of the Housing Corporation is developing those partnerships. I have made two statements in the House about working with the Tlicho government, as well as working with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. This is another partnership that I want to get on, and we are just waiting to get some of these details, sign our bilaterals with the federal government, so we get that money flowing, so it goes to the communities, so it goes to initiatives such as the Family Support Centre, homelessness initiatives, housing initiatives, and we are continuing to put that pressure on the federal government.
I am committed to making sure that we get that funding so that our residents have a roof over their heads, our NGOs have a roof over their heads, so that they can provide these good programs. I just want to let the Member know that I don't have a timeline in place. We are still working with the federal government to ensure that we get that funding flowing to our government and then to the communities, as well as the Indigenous organizations and working with our NGOs.
I appreciate that answer. The Minister mentioned a lot of things there, homelessness, poverty, and often what accompanies family violence are situations like homelessness and poverty. It is not just the Family Support Centre in Hay River that provides support; there are also places like the soup kitchen, and they are also in need of a new building. This co-investment fund could be used for them as well. I have spoken with them a bit about it.
Would the Minister be willing to get his department to reach out to the soup kitchen in Hay River to see if he can also work with them to get an application in for a new building with this co-investment fund?
The NWT Housing Corporation has a lot of programs that we initiate to assist places like the soup kitchen. One of the ones that comes to mind is the Small Community Homelessness Fund, in terms of providing O and M for such organizations like that. I know we have other departments that provide O and M costs, whether it's for a soup kitchen or the Family Support Centre.
However, if we are looking at infrastructure investments, it is on an application base. We are working with CMHC, as well as our other stakeholders to look at investing in certain infrastructure projects like that. I would encourage the staff, the board, and the Member to maybe sit down with myself, and we can see what we can do moving forward, but we are committed to working with our stakeholders, our NGOs, Indigenous governments, to address some of these issues.
Like I mentioned, we are going to continue to put pressure on the federal government so that we get dollars that can actually go out into the communities to provide homes and provide infrastructure and projects for our residents of the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I arrange something between the soup kitchen and the Housing Corporation, can the Housing Corporation sit down with the board and figure out how to move forward with this? This co-investment fund, it is a big application. The feds want a lot of information, and the Housing Corporation has been good at helping navigate that.
If I set something up, will he commit that his department can sit down and see how the soup kitchen can access this money to get a new building? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
From my understanding, the soup kitchen that the Member is referencing does do a lot of programs for a lot of people in the community, and I know that they probably do need more space to allow people to go in and have a meal. It would be a proposal, an application base, as I mentioned earlier with the Hay River Family Support Centre.
We are working with that organization, as well as CMHC, to make sure that all the application guidelines are understood and that the requirements are met so that they can meet the requirements to get funding. We would have to see a proposal, we would have to sit down, and I think that is the next step we take from this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
