Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I have questions for the housing Minister. Crisis in housing for Paulatuk: What's the status for the emergency shelter planned for Paulatuk? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Minister responsible for Northwest Territories Housing Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Looking at the emergency shelter for Paulatuk, I would have to revisit that initiative, and I would have to get a further update on if that was concluded for the community or what was the reason that we did not construct that facility. I would also have to follow-up with my colleague for the department of health, as well, if we are providing such as service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm going to rephrase that question because it's not an emergency shelter. Housing has an emergency house if something goes wrong, somebody's house burns down or some emergency. Last year, I was told in the House that there is a unit, but that they were waiting to get it furnished. Is that unit available for the community now?
Thank you to the Member for rephrasing that question. Last year, the Housing Corporation did set aside a number of houses throughout the Northwest Territories to deal with COVID-19, and should we have an outbreak in the communities, these units were set aside for that use. I will have to follow-up with my department. Right now, it is a priority, and I'm looking at: Should we have an outbreak, I would still like to have those units available in the high Arctic communities should we end up having to use them in the future.
I think we have to have a unit for the community. I have people that haven't, been trying to get into housing for over a year now. I keep sending letters in to the Minister to no avail in regards to one individual in the community. If there's a house available for that, is he eligible to go into and to use that unit? Will people be able to go into that unit to stay warm because it's minus 40 or 50 below back home, and it's really needed.
I hear the Member's comments, as well, because we do have similar concerns brought throughout the Northwest Territories, but we do have a certain amount of units that are available. I'm not going to comment on the individual, but I do want to really express the importance of the pandemic that we are currently in and looking at these units and setting them aside. I will have to follow-up with the Member and furthermore provide more information as to what is available at the ground level in the specific community and also looking at the waitlist, as well, because we do have families that are in need of housing. We do have overcrowding, and I would have to follow-up with the Member.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister commit to working with ECE and the Housing Corporation because we are lack of housing in the community? Like I said before, the teachers are being -- one was evicted. She came home. She got a letter. She was evicted. Then, the next thing you know, we had to rush and try to find her a place in the community. The hamlet did that for her, but we need more houses for teachers, for professionals, to draw them in because if you don't have housing, you're not going to draw the quality of people in because you're worrying about stuff like that. That's the last thing they should be worrying about. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will be working with my colleagues from the department of education, as well, and looking at the significant need throughout the Northwest Territories for teachers. I just wanted to reiterate and clarify that we did not evict the teacher out of the unit. We did work with that individual, and we did provide options for the individual, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
