Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is good to hear Housing NWT will accept all recommendation made in housing audit. Mr. Speaker, I assume accepting recommendation means commitment as well. With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents have asked about the possibility of having ownership of their market rental unit transferred to them. Has Housing NWT conducted any assessments or consultation with residents in small communities to determine interest or readiness for ownership transfer of market rental units? And if not, will the Minister commit to initiating this engagement? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister responsible for Housing NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last year, Housing NWT has conducted a territorial housing needs assessment going into community to look at the quantitative portion but also the qualitative portion of housing units. We also follow the unit condition rating, and we do assess the market and public housing unit stock within community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my region market rental unit, despite the condition of the unit, tenants are paying $1,900 monthly in rent. So I want to ask the Minister what step is Housing NWT taking to support homeownership in communities where private housing market are limited or nonexistent and how will the department ensure that Northerners in these areas are not left behind in housing policy decisions? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. This question in her riding is a question in many other ridings because people want to be homeowners, they want to contribute to their household, and they want to stay in that community. So this is the conversation I'm having with housing, and I'm happy that the Office of the Auditor General raised this in their report because it provides us even more of an urgency to get this done. Homeownership program is going to have a fulsome review with Housing NWT and how we deliver that, and especially in small community, small and remote community, is really important. We need to provide them the same access to the ability to buy a home as any other larger centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I’m speaking I'm not only speaking for my region, but I'm speaking for the rest of the Northwest Territories. So there's a lot of people that are in the same situation. I know that.
So with all the recommendation made -- or with accepting all the recommendation, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to exploring a policy that allows long-term tenants in market rental unit, especially in small communities with no housing market, to transition into homeownership through a formal transfer of ownership? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, again, a really important conversation that we're having at Housing NWT is how we're supporting small community, how we're supporting people to remain in their community and to live within their community and providing those supports, and I do commit to working with Housing NWT to provide a good, solid review of the homeownership program and how we can deliver positive results. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister responsible for Housing NWT. Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
