Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about public housing in the NWT. For the past 30 years, the federal government has been trying to get people across the country to move out of public housing and, at the same time, they've been reducing funding with the expectation that they're plan will work, that the need for public housing will disappear. There have been a long list of programs designed to incentivize homeownership and funds to dramatically increase market housing.
But this approach, this theory of how things are supposed to work, simply hasn't worked in the NWT. A big reason is that most of our communities do not have functioning housing markets. It cost many times more to build a new home in a small community than a homeowner could ever resell the house for. So the moment it's built, a home becomes more of a liability than an asset.
Another reality is that the median personal income of people in our small communities is significantly lower than the cost of just maintaining and living in a home, never mind the cost of acquiring that home in the first place.
It's a myth that there's a huge number of people currently in public housing who will be just fine on their own, if someone, maybe just Indigenous governments, just built them a home. In a case study in one small community, about 40 percent of households could afford to maintain their own homes. We absolutely need more homeownership opportunities, but there are real limits on how many people can afford to take on the cost of homeownership.
A 2019 survey showed that almost a quarter of NWT households are in core need, meaning the household income is below the core need threshold. So that's over 3500 households. Currently, we have about 2400 households in NWT public housing. We also have a waiting list of almost 900 people. So those numbers show us that a large part of our NWT population will continue to depend on public housing for the foreseeable future, and it's important to remember that that is not due to the choices or the personal failings of those public housing residents. It is the system that has made homeownership and wage employment unattainable for such a large part of our population. It's not the fault of those people.
We cannot continue to deny that there's a need to increase the number of public housing units, and denying this reality is only costing us more money. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to just conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So denying this reality is costing us more money as we scramble to deal with increasing homelessness, poor education, poor health, and low employment, that are all rooted in poor housing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Member’s Statement 418-20(1):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, fixing up our housing crisis is the reason why I and many of my colleagues were elected to find solutions to accomplish. I have done some great work with the Minister of Housing NWT already, such as our fund agreement for home inspections, and my constituents are very thankful. Unfortunately, there is just so much work remaining, especially regarding the systematic faults in the GNWT housing policies.
The GNWT housing policies do not work for my communities, and the sprawling administration of our housing system is hard to navigate. This is why I've also been working with the Housing NWT Minister on a case-by-case basis as well to help individual constituents when the policies fail. Sometimes we achieve a lot greater together but now a year into our term, we still have some specific problems to solve.
Our biggest issue is eviction. Some of my constituents in public housing have some arrears that is regrettable. The Minister has made it very clear that a new process for arrears forgiveness is on the way next year. I was really pleased to hear this, but some of my constituents are still facing eviction before they can work their arrears out. It may be their duty to work out with local housing officials, but sometimes there's a lot of confusion and intervention needed to help fund them -- sorry, help them find the solution they need.
For example, one of my constituents in Fort Resolution had their home inspect improperly. Due to some exceptional circumstances, I was told to work with the district authority, but the district authority sent us to the Minister. After all the runaround, now they are being evicted because they did not solve their problem fast enough.
Another constituent in Lutselk'e, she has had a perfectly good private home besides from the fact that her sewage is backed up. We have been working on this since 2022. The previous Minister made promises that remain undeliverable. Replacing her sewage tank and pipes will cost far more than what the Housing NWT can provide her with -- with her support caught up in the policy and regulations. We try to get her family into public housing, but that only resulted in more confusion. Now, years later, she has to bring 17 buckets of raw sewage out of her bathtub every day, living with a rotting smell in her home that cause her home and many health issues and already resulting in headaches and sickness. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, colleagues. There are just a few examples of what -- where housing is still failing Indigenous families. This government needs and should to -- oh, sorry, should not be putting people on the streets or into other overcrowded homes when the Assembly is trying to do the opposite. We are struggling with a housing crisis so there are a few vacancies even to send families up through the Jordan Principles. Mr. Speaker, I would have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
