Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions today deal with housing, but I'll direct them to the Minister of health and social services as they relate to a program that is split between the two departments. So there are really encouraging plans to develop a transitional housing program for those returning for addictions treatment, and the pilot will involve one in Inuvik and one in Yellowknife. So does the Minister know, first, how many spot are needed in Yellowknife as in how many folks in Yellowknife do we generally have at any given time who are returning from treatment and need somewhere to live to get back on their feet? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yellowknife North. Minister of health and social services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as aftercare and transitional housing is not currently being offered in the Northwest Territories right now and it hasn't been offered in Yellowknife, we don't exactly have we don't know how many until we start to be able to track. We do know how many people go out for treatment. We do know that not all those people going out for treatment that are returning back need somewhere to live, but there are those that may. So this is will we don't have those numbers at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my understanding is that the program in Yellowknife will have the capacity to house five to six people at any one time for 30 to 90 days, but if there are more than six people in Yellowknife that need transitional housing after returning from treatment, how can the department still support those people? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while the five to six spaces may not address the full need of the once we start to, you know, monitor who's coming back and whether or not what the type of facility or recovery or aftercare that they're going to need, housing they're going to need, it's this specific area is for those that are returning back and being able to support them through transitioning on to living on their own; however, I understand the Member's concern that right now we don't know how many we're going to need this. You know, we may. You know, at this time, I can't I couldn't answer that. But there are other programs and other services that we you know, we will continue to support residents returning back from any type of treatment. Thank you.
(audio) oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my understanding is that this is meant to be a pilot project, which implies that it's time limited, so how long is this pilot project intended to last? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this funding is for two years, and then we will as part of the business plan, we'll continue to move forward into the 20262027 business planning cycle for you know, for future funds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of health and social services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'm going to throw this last question at the Minister, but if she doesn't have the stats on hand, I'd be happy to get a written response later, but does she have any idea of the number of people in a year that go to away to addictions treatment and who might be returning to Yellowknife. She said they do keep numbers on those sorts of things. I'm wondering if she can give us a sense or if not get back to me with a sense of, like, what volume of people we're talking about that are returning from addictions treatment to Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will commit to getting the numbers that people that are being sent out from Yellowknife necessarily you know, if they come back to Yellowknife doesn't mean that this may be their end location because if somebody goes out and is getting well has gotten well, recovered from you know, and they may go to back to their home communities as they may have supports in those communities, so I what I can commit to is knowing the people that have been sent out from Yellowknife to the Member. Thank you.
Minister of health and social services. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
