Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. I am wondering if the Minister will commit to removing the community residency requirement that is currently used by local housing authorities and local housing organization in communities across the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Member's comments about the residency requirement, but it does provide consistency for the Northwest Territories as to how we allocate units. We have a significant wait list, I do hear the Member on that. Looking at the tenants in the smaller communities, whether they are going off to school, fleeing a domestic situation, and they are wanting to return back to the communities, the Housing Corporation will work with those clients and there are specific forms and paperwork that they would have to complete and fill out just to maintain their housing unit in the smaller communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I had the luxury of listening to one of my colleagues, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, earlier today, and he had a quote that actually works quite well in this moment in time: "This policy is actively contributing to the social and economic disparities of Northerners, and the harm currently outweighs the good." I appreciate the Minister's desire for consistency. I believe that this policy has run its course, and it's time to get rid of it. I am asking the Minister, in the interest of creating safe spaces for Northerners and ensuring that all Northerners have access to housing and returning to their home communities, if the Minister will please remove the community residency requirement currently used by local housing authorities and local housing organizations.
No, I will not commit to that. I will not remove the residency requirements for local housing authorities. We have to maintain and make sure that, if we have a housing list in one of our smaller communities and we have new residents coming into the smaller communities and they are able to get on the housing list while we have a housing list that has already existed, the Housing Corporation has to maintain consistency and maintain how we allocate the units at the local level. I do want to keep in mind that I do know that we have a wait list of 900. We need to get houses on the ground, and with that, we're looking at partnerships at the local community level. With that, the Housing Corporation has made a significant impact throughout the territory, and we are working toward putting houses on the ground; slowly, but it's coming along.
One of the things that the Minister referred to was making sure that she maintains fairness within the housing lists. The housing lists that are created are created on a first come, first served basis, and then people are prioritized within those lists based on their needs. I feel that, if it's based on need and it's based on first come, first served, you are still maintaining the integrity of the process, but what you're allowing people to do is to access education. You're allowing them to access healthcare. Maybe somebody has a child, and they need to come to Yellowknife in order to access inclusive schooling opportunities that aren't available in their home community. Potentially, somebody could be moving to Yellowknife in order to access Aurora College, or they could be moving to Inuvik for that same reason.
When we're going out to communities and we're talking to our constituents and we're wanting people to take advantage of different opportunities and to bring those opportunities back to their home communities, we also have to make sure that they have the housing available to do that. What I am asking the Minister is: how does she intend to get around this policy so that people can access different opportunities and bring them back to their home communities?
As an Indigenous woman who comes from a smaller community and has relocated outside of my home community and tried to look for career opportunities in order to become successful on my own and represent my people at this level, it had taken me to move out of my community. Returning back and looking at the housing wait list and looking at if I were to relocate, the Housing Corporation is not the only housing solution that is available at the community level. Right now, the Housing Corporation is working toward looking at our Co-investment Fund applications and encouraging Indigenous groups to come forward. Not only that; I do hear the Member talking about the domestic violence and the tenants who are wanting to pursue educational opportunities. The Housing Corporation has developed I want to say a formula, almost, an application process that, should the applicant be wanting to exit the community for a number of months, there is an opportunity for them to return and the house will be available for them upon their return.
The other thing is that I don't want to discourage local individuals from leaving their community to pursue other goals and other education opportunities and other positions and looking at that. I will be bringing this back to my department, but then, I'm not going to be removing the residency requirement.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
