Mr. Speaker, lots of people here in Yellowknife dream of being able to afford their own home, but more people in small NWT communities can't even dream about it because the path to homeownership is barely possible. And it wasn't always this way. This is a story that many others in this room know much better than me.
Obviously, people used to build their own homes where they wanted, then the federal government started pushing people into government housing around the late 1950s with the promise of $2 a month rent. And sometimes the government actively demolished the homes that people had built for themselves to leave them no choice. The government houses were notoriously small, terribly insulated, and quickly started falling apart. The territory took over public housing in 1969. In the 1980s, NWT communities, starting with Fort Good Hope, convinced the government to try a way that would be better for everyone. The government would provide materials, and the people would provide sweat equity to build and own their own homes. This was called the homeownership assistance program, or the HAP, and over the span of ten years, it successfully delivered over 1500 homes across the NWT. It wasn't just a free house, the HAP unit needed to be completed within two years or else the materials could be repossessed. Meanwhile, the government decided in the '80s that social housing was a nuisance to operate and maintain and tried to start pushing people to take ownership over public housing units. The idea was that housing markets would just magically appear in all communities, everyone could just own and then start buying and selling their homes. Well, that was just never realistic.
There were a series of mostly failed programs that never got much uptake from a rent-to-own program, to the HELP, or H-E-L-P program we're currently phasing out. We've had a HAP, a HELP, and now a HIP. Mr. Speaker, we do need better pathways towards homeownership, so we have to learn lessons from why these programs have failed in the past.
First, we've been asking tenants to take on homes that are often in very poor condition and need costly repairs or have high utility costs to maintain. Other barriers include requiring that people take on large mortgages or non-forgivable loans that they can't afford. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to my colleagues. Finally, I just wanted to say that I'm committed to working urgently with all of my colleagues on both sides of the House to find a better path towards homeownership for all NWT communities. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Great Slave.
