Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I wanted to ask questions of the Minister of housing. I appreciated today's update on the homelessness strategy and the news that they expect to be opening up the transitional housing complex out near the airport, near the Folk on the Rocks site outside Yellowknife before Christmas. I wonder if the Minister has any updates she can give the House in terms of any of the regulatory approvals or logistics that they've been trying to get sorted out to get this project underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And the transitional housing complex at the Folk on the Rocks site near the airport is -- had to go through a number of regulatory approvals and including Transport Canada working with the infrastructure team at Government of Northwest Territories, but also with NAV Canada because it's near the airport. And normally that process could take up to six months for approvals, and that approval through NAV Canada was approved today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So that is excellent news. Can the Minister explain how quickly they expect to be able to staff up, you know, get the site ready, but particularly in terms of staffing, because I know that's one of our biggest challenges, including training of staff. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, it's a big challenge to staff up and to operate a facility, especially a transitional housing facility. And we do have the request for proposal out. It's out for public procurement, and we hope to select an operator very soon. I'll check on the date and follow up with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that one of the big challenges around staffing these kinds of operations is being able to pay staff an equivalent wage to, say, government-run operations such as the day shelter and sobering centre. Has housing considered or put in the budget for the RFP considerations of having the wages come close to or match some of the other opportunities in town for similar work to ensure that we can really attract the right people and get it staffed up as soon as possible? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I don't have the information of how much will staff be paid through the operations of the transitional housing facility. I do know that shelters across the North, some are government run and some are run by NGOs. So some that are run by NGOs, like in Hay River for example, the wage could be a lot lower than the Government of Northwest Territories run facilities in Inuvik. We have two facilities in Inuvik. We have the warming shelter, and then we have the homeless shelter. So the homeless shelter and the warming shelter have been run by government since 2020, just right after COVID or right during COVID. And those facilities are costing government a lot of money, and -- as you could see in the main estimates.
The Hay River facility is run by an NGO through the Hay River Metis local, so we're lucky that the Hay River Metis local is able to provide that facility at a lower cost than government would normally provide. In Yellowknife, we have the Salvation Army, and we're so lucky again to have people like the Salvation Army that provides the support at the local level, and they're a wonderful partner with the YK Partnerships Committee. We have the Yellowknife Women's Society, another NGO, that's providing shelter supports. And we have the YWCA, another society that's providing shelter supports. So finding that balance between government run facilities and NGOs is -- it's a critical balance, and we're trying to meet those needs.
In Fort Simpson, Mr. Speaker, as you well know, with the Deh Gah Society, we are offering the shelter there and, again, it's run by the NGO. So finding that balance for supports is critical.
The wages is something we have to analyze, but I'd have to look at the operational budget to see what kind of salary is included in the overall budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
