David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, this was an initiative that was done trying to ensure that we meet the needs of our communities and looking at the long-term initiative. The first phase was to try to accommodate the professionals in communities. We heard from the DEAs and the education councils. They said there was a need for housing in those communities. By the time these units were in place in those communities, a lot of people…Right now, we have Fort Res residents approaching the Housing Corporation to purchase these units. In Fort Res, those units came in at a cost of about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, it’s a process that we go through by way of a 10-year plan that we have developed. In that plan we are implementing the new needs surveys and also trying to ensure that we are able to accommodate communities that are in need, according to the survey. But more importantly, Mr. Speaker, it has to meet the budgetary criteria for the corporation. As we know, we are now phasing out social funding. Again, in order to meet that need, we have to work within the budget. So right now, Mr. Speaker, we have to allocate based on need, but also within the budget...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member should maybe go into these communities and see how many people are occupying these units.

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In the community of Fort Good Hope, we have three teachers staying in one unit. So you accommodate three people in one unit, and that does not mean that all four units aren’t occupied. I think the whole idea to bring down the cost if people want to share rent and whatnot by having roommates, more power to them because they are only paying in the area of $300 a month for rent. I think you can’t go wrong with regard to that, where we have people in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my honour to recognize three people in the gallery, famous artists: Mr. Antoine Mountain.

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Also Margaret Donovan, who runs a gallery here in Yellowknife, from Tsiigehtchic.

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Also Victor Stewart, who’s a recreation director in Fort McPherson. Welcome to the House.

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I think it’s important that now we have something there establishing a market in the community where we never had a market before and by having something that’s affordable where individuals can afford to pay a mortgage on these units knowing that the cost is $130,000.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have a major housing crisis on our hands and this is one of the ways that we’re trying to resolve that crisis.

Again, Mr. Speaker, the Member keeps touching on what we’re doing with seniors and people with disabilities. We are working with those groups. We are looking at our programs and services and because of the opportunity we have in front of us in reviewing our mandate, looking at the programs and services that we have and also looking at the possibility of revising policies and guidelines that could assist with regard to ensuring that we’re able to follow those guidelines to meet the needs of our seniors and people with disabilities. But again, Mr. Speaker, I must make it clear to the Member...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been working closely with the Seniors’ Society. We do have a universal arrangement with them where we’ve funded them to work with us on different promotion packages, such as the seniors’ disabled maintenance programs. We do have a lot of programs directed towards seniors with regard to the housing proposal. Again, we are working in conjunction with the different organizations: the Council for Disabled People and the Seniors’ Society. So we are working with them, but we also have programs that are directed to seniors and people with disabilities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that’s the goal we are facing. We have spoken to respective companies that are considering working in that area. They are companies that are looking at the possibility of establishing such a business. But again, there are proposals that we are suggesting going forward with through the Business Development Corporation, the Business Credit Corporation and working with those other arms of government to help the entrepreneur or the business community that we’ve spoken to companies in Yellowknife and Hay River and also in Southern Canada who are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the core components of our initiatives is to look at the affordability, adequacy and suitability of housing for people in the North. I think the biggest element of that is affordability. We hear about people trying to get mortgages, people trying to get into homeownership, but the problem that we’re running into is the costs of stick-built homes in the Northwest Territories are excessive. We do have a manufacturing directive that looks at manufacturing products in the North, and in the last 10 years we’ve spent $18 million in that area. All that goes...