Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement regarding the conditions in the Nova Apartment building, I'd like to ask the Minister of housing what housing has been doing and what they plan to do to ensure that the security of the building, first and foremost, has been managed and the conditions are improved. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Nova Apartments in Inuvik has been an ongoing issue over the last ten years. Both you and I know it, MLA Rodgers. Like, this is really important because these families that are living in these conditions are seeing ongoing violence and trauma every day. And the work that Housing NWT is doing is we're working with the landlord, the private landlord, to improve the conditions within Nova. It's difficult times, difficult conditions. We're see a lot of illegal activity. We're seeing drug busts on an ongoing basis. We're seeing crack being smoked in the hallways, and we're seeing tenants having to live through that. So Housing NWT is on this. They're aware of this. They're having these discussions with the landlord. And these are serious things that we push every day, and I push as Minister. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that. And I know the Minister is well aware of what's happening up there. I know she has very close ties to Inuvik and is very respected in Inuvik.
Would the Minister consider in the short-term, you know, if possible, relocating some of -- at least the families and the elders out of that building until such time as that their work's been completed to get this building to where it needs to be? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have asked the same question to Housing NWT, how can we relocate these families to get them out of Nova, to get them away from that situation. The problem is that we don't have any other units available in Inuvik at this time. We continue to push it. We try to move them out and move them to other locations that are safer within the community. We're looking at different security measures within Nova to beef that up. We are talking to the landlord. But at this time, we do have a lack of available public housing in Inuvik. That's the crux of the problem, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hopefully with our spanking new budget and our $50 million, we can get some of these boarded up units in Inuvik ready for some of these families to go in and enjoy life the way they should.
My final question, Mr. Speaker, is that would the department or has the department considered looking at -- and I'm not sure where the landlord is on this -- but, you know, purchasing this building, taking 100 percent ownership of this building, taking 100 percent responsibility to get this building up to where it needs to be? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Inuvik Boot Lake. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, we are so fortunate that this Assembly approved $150 million over the next three years for housing and public housing replacements across the North. Inuvik is one of the communities that will see public housing replacements, considering many of their housing units are 50 plus years old and families are still staying in those units and struggling in those units. But I talked to Housing NWT about the opportunity to look at purchasing -- perhaps purchasing Nova. They're having ongoing discussions with the landlord to see what's possible and, hopefully, we'll get some good news soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Sahtu.
