Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before I give my question, I do want to have a quick congratulations to Minister Semmler and Minister Kuptana and their Member statements today and congratulate them on this special day as well.
Mr. Speaker, I spoke about the waiting lists and the issues around housing in my community. My questions are for the Minister of housing. The first question is how many vacant units are there currently in Inuvik, Mr. Speaker?
Thank you, Member from Boot Lake. Minister responsible for Housing.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently in the town of Inuvik, there are five units for occupancy that are in the process of being allocated, seven units with repairs in progress, and 14 units requiring repairs that have not yet begun. While officially we have 26 units vacant in Inuvik, five will be shortly occupied. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank the Minister for that information and hopefully we can get those repairs done sooner rather than later and that we have the funding certainly allocated to do that.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister provide the current number of clients on the public housing waitlist in Inuvik?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Inuvik, like many other communities across the North, we have a long waitlist. In Inuvik, we have a total of 80 families on the waitlist, one-bedroom 52 families; two-bedroom, 17; three-bedroom, we have 8 families, and the four-bedrooms, we have 3 families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Minister Kuptana. Obviously, that speaks to the need, Mr. Speaker, that we need, you know, additional housing not only in Inuvik, and I'm sure that's, as the Minister says, throughout the territory, especially in our regions, smaller communities.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to prioritizing housing for the elderly and disabled? I'm not sure how many of those families or how many on those lists for the onebedroom are elderly or have disabilities, but can the Minister commit to prioritizing for disabled residents on the waitlist and elderly residents, please?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this subject, with elderly and disabled residents, it's become a discussion item, a discussion point, throughout the Northwest Territories and with the Council of Leaders. So as part of the strategic renewal, Housing NWT has committed to ongoing policy and program improvements and will work with NWT Housing Forum to consider additional changes to the point rating system that may be needed. Housing NWT works closely with the Council of Leaders housing working group to update its policies in the 19th Assembly as part of the Housing NWT Strategic Renewal.
The current point rating system, after input from the working group, includes considering suitability, adequacy, and affordability of the individuals' current housing arrangements, as well as considering social factors such as victims of family violence, individuals with disabilities or medical conditions aggravated by their current living conditions, or those individuals who are homeless.
Housing NWT does design and maintain some homes that are designated for seniors or those with mobility/accessibility requirements and is currently delivering five duplexes to five communities across the Northwest Territories designed for specific clientele. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Again, it's important that we get this information out there and that residents understand, because myself as well, as I'm sure as many other MLAs, do get a considerable amount of phone calls on the issue and to get this information out there, I think is great.
One final, Mr. Speaker. The Minister signed a collaborative agreement on housing with the Gwich'in Tribal Council, which I think is amazing and it's the kind of work we need to be doing. Can the Minister describe how the department is also working with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Inuvik native band? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Housing NWT has shared samples of formal agreements established with other Indigenous governments for consideration by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. Housing NWT is committed to work with Indigenous governments through formal or informal arrangements. Housing NWT continues to meet with IRC informally and is working with them, for example on specific partnership project ideas as well as supporting them in securing land required for their own housing investments. This includes reviewing all vacant land buildings owned by housing and determining if those properties could be released to IRC in their communities or for their use. Housing NWT has signed a collaborative agreement with the Gwich'in Tribal Council and will work with them as well as the Inuvik native band and the Nihtat Gwich'in Council on housing priorities in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Housing NWT. I got it finally right. I said NWT Housing. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
