Julie Green

The Minister himself has said that having people in public housing turn into property owners has been a challenge, even with various incentives and training programs. What is the rest of the plan to expand the housing stock, given that the uptake on homeownership has been low?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, housing is an important issue in Yellowknife Centre, where so many of my constituents are renters. Affordability remains a major issue, with one in seven households overspending on rent in the marketplace. Availability is also a significant problem for people who need rent geared to income. There are long waiting lists at the Yellowknife Housing Authority, Northern United Place, and Avens Court. With these facts in mind, I attended the announcement of the new federal-territorial housing agreement in November with great anticipation.

The agreement is worth $140...

Thank you. Well, that is the commitment that was made, and so I'm looking for an understanding about why that commitment can't be met. What's the problem? Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, further progress is needed, and I would suggest it needs to happen in a quicker way. During our consideration of the business plan, the Minister told us that regular members of the “G” Division will be required to have completed the course called "Consent Law and Common Sexual Assault Myths" by the end of this fiscal year. Could the Minister update us with how many of the “G” Division staff have actually completed this training? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my concern in this area is that the unfounded series that kicked off the debate about third-party review of sexual assault complaints that are considered unfounded, this started two years ago, and the third-party reporting of sexual assaults has been requested since before that. My question for the Minister is: at what point are we going to see a justification for increasing the grants and contributions in this portion of the budget indicating that action is actually being taken on these two issues? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have questions on page 268, the revenue summary. Is that a page that we are going to go back to? Thank you.

Can the Minister assure Members on this side that all of these initiatives that he has enumerated will result in a 15 percent increase in the number of available units across the NWT?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about the new bilateral agreement on housing announced in November, and today I have some questions for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation.

One of the goals of the federal strategy for housing is to expand the stock of rent-assisted housing by 15 percent. Does that mean that the number of special housing units in the NWT will increase by 15 percent to 2,760? Thank you.

Thank you. Unfortunately, the overall message here is that, while the Minister says that this issue is important, the walk is not equivalent to the talk. I feel there is really room for improvement in this, and I encourage him to make those improvements as soon as possible. That's all for me, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for that information. So what are the chances that the remaining 29 percent of the members will have completed the training by the end of this fiscal year? Thank you.