Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, my question is: does the NWT Housing Corporation have plans to expand the Northern Pathways to Housing program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do believe I did a Minister's Statement on the good work that we are doing with the Northern Pathways to Housing program.
Currently, we have one of those programs set up in Fort Simpson that is being managed by the Liidlii Kue First Nation. It is working really well, and I am proud to say that we have helped some people transition into housing or get the support and assistance that they need, whether it is treatment or to get back on their feet. We are going to get one shortly up in Behchoko here, and we are hoping to see some good results out of that. As I mentioned when I did that statement, we are going to be expanding one into the community of Aklavik.
We are going to monitor and evaluate, like we do all of our programs, and see where we can address some of the homelessness concerns and issues outside of the regional centres into some of the smaller communities. I am sure the Member is referring to Nunakput, and as we monitor and evaluate the program and see how we can expand it, we will definitely look at it. It is a pilot program, and on its initial stages and evaluations, we are seeing that it is serving the right purpose. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
During these past couple of weeks or, actually, during this session, we have seen realities. Sometimes we don't need studies to see that programs or departments are failing, and they are failing hugely. One of my colleagues mentioned to the Premier that they need to be accountable for the services that we provide to the territory. We really need to stand by that, Mr. Speaker. Housing in my region is becoming less and less as the population grows.
Mr. Speaker, core need as well as general housing availability are critical housing issues across the territory. Mr. Speaker, how is the Housing Corporation planning to increase available housing stock, specifically in Nunakput?
I will refer back to another Minister's Statement that I gave earlier this session, and that is the work that we are doing with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. We have seen some great success. Also, in partnership with the federal government, we have been able to build some new housing stocks in all of the communities in the Nunakput region. We are going to continue that partnership moving forward.
One thing that I have also mentioned, which is a great initiative under the NWT Housing Corporation, is that we are going to start developing these community housing plans that are going to identify what are the priorities, what are the core needs of each of the communities across the Northwest Territories, whether it is seniors, whether it is homelessness, singles, multi-unit units, and we will work with the community leaders and the stakeholders to address them.
There are a few things that we are doing. One other program that we have been working on is a new home ownership program, and we are going to be rolling that out, hopefully, over the next year, and identifying getting some new homes in each of the five districts that we have across the Northwest Territories.
As I mentioned before, I do pride myself on partnerships, and I am looking to work with the local governments, Indigenous governments, and I think one of our strongest partnerships that we have right now in the Northwest Territories is with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and I continue to look forward to strengthening that partnership and helping them address the housing needs in their communities.
I appreciate the response. There is such a need for housing in every aspect, not just here in Yellowknife, but across the territory. We don't see it. We don't travel often enough to the regions to see the suffering, sometimes, of some people. I think, Mr. Speaker, we need to make a point of getting out more and maybe having sessions outside of Yellowknife. I know this is the legislature, but there are times when we need to go to different regions to see what it is really like over there.
Mr. Speaker, my next question to the Minister is: what other corporation initiatives are planned to address the need for additional transitional housing across the territory?
One of the things that we are doing within the NWT Housing Corporation is going through a strategic renewal to identify some of our priorities, look at our policies, and what needs to be changed to make it easier and better for people to either own a home or get into public housing.
As I mentioned, the community housing plans are going to help us identify those, because we will be working with leaders and the people in the communities for them to tell us what they need, and I think that is a big step.
For transitional housing, I know that is an issue right across the NWT, and we want to address that. We want to work with our stakeholders, our NGO groups.
We also have a program, the Community Housing Support Initiative, where we do work with community governments to help identify some of those needs and how we can work together to build, whether it's a transitional unit or just, kind of, housing stocks in their communities and promote our programs that we have.
There is a lot going on. The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, they have a good understanding of our programs. We meet with them on a regular basis, and we are hoping that information does filter down to the communities in the Nunakput region.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response. There is a real need for collaboration across departments and, as well, with the government to Indigenous organizations and Indigenous governments in the territory. Mr. Speaker, there is a real need.
Mr. Speaker, to date, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation was given $24 million directly from the federal government to build homes in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Mr. Speaker, with $24 million, one would think that $24 million would result in more homes as injections like this are key to the government. Over this session, I have listened to Ministers --
Member for Nunakput, what is your line of questioning?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with $24 million given to the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, one would think that that would inject more homes in the region, mind you, in the territory. Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister doing to ensure that the number of homes increase with the population in Nunakput and then across the territory? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have named off a bunch of programs that we are doing. One thing that we also are doing and actually have a good partnership with the IRC is unit disposal plans. If we can get rid of some of these, whether they are derelict units or units that have reached their life cycle, then we open up land to build new housing units. We are continuing work with the IRC to address some of these housing concerns. We will continue to support them, work collaboratively with them, and continue to lobby and work with the federal government to see how we can get some of the Indigenous housing funding through their National Housing Strategy here to the Northwest Territories so other Indigenous governments can have the same success that the IRC is showing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
