Thank you. Regarding this homelessness program, you know, and I -- you know, in Tlicho region, especially in Behchoko alone, we have a lot of people on the housing waitlist but in the other small communities, there's a waitlist as well, like Whati and Gameti and even in Wekweeti, you know, there is a waitlist for people to get into programs. So right now I have a lot of people in the small communities where they're couch surfing or it's overcrowded, like in Wekweeti, you know. I didn't think that there would be because, you know -- but there is. Like I've said many times, a lot of people are coming home and, you know, for whatever reason happens in Yellowknife, you know, we have the family back in many of the small communities, so. And then, you know, in Yellowknife, there's a home-based program, you know, that cater to teenagers and, you know, support them in school and everything. You know, the home-based program is good but we do have some of those kids in the small communities where relations -- because of the relationship and some of the young people are homeless, and they're putting themselves at risk. And they really do need a safe shelter, like the home-based, with a home-based program so they have -- at least they have a chance to complete their high school and, you know, work. But because there's nothing so a lot of them are putting themselves at risk and getting into relationships or, you know, having families at a young age and that's to get out of the -- you know, the situation that they're in. But if we had a home-based program like this in some of the regions that really needs it, our young people will do a lot better, and I know that we will see maybe a graduation increase. And I am sure you probably have that in your riding as well. And I know that in 19th, one of our colleagues from, you know, different region also had the same issue. And this is nothing new. It's been like that for quite some time but it's just that it was never addressed. But until the home-based program in Yellowknife came up, and I thought hey, that's also in my region as well because we have some of those youth, you know, some of the youth that are homeless.
So I just wanted to ask the Minister if they're working -- like, I would like to see a home-based program so -- in Tlicho region as well. So if the Minister or the department of -- or Housing NWT are working with the Indigenous government or Indigenous organizations to possibly, you know, like, create a home-based program for our youth that are falling through the cracks and, you know, like, give them a chance to -- to have a safe place to sleep and give them a chance to complete their high school education. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I think the question or the comment from the Member around programming, especially around youth and homelessness, we're finding that in -- like she mentioned, in many of our smaller communities. The home-based program here in Yellowknife is funded through health and social services, but we do have a couple of opportunities through housing, and they're small, but still conversations with the local Indigenous governments or with the MLA. We do have a small community homelessness fund, and we also have a community housing initiative fund that we can talk about potential programming in community and those related to youth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. So that is -- the small community homelessness fund, is that application-based? First-come, first-served? Or how is this fund allocated? It's a good program. I know it's going to benefit some of the communities. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is something that we could bring up at our meeting with the Tlicho government when we talk about housing and our MOU, and continuing that memorandum of understanding is potential funding for -- like, a home base in another community in the Tlicho, in the Monfwi riding. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Thank you. Yes, I really do appreciate it. Thank you. I think that will be nice. It's going to help some of our young people, a lot of our young people, and not some but, you know. At least if there is a housing or if there's a -- you know, like, then they can fall back on so they're not really stuck. Because right now, since we don't have anything, they're kind of stuck. And then I just don't want to -- you know, a lot of them to get into an unwanted relationship and because, you know, they are our future. They are -- you know, like, we need to do more for them. So that's why I am -- you know, I am really, like -- I want to see something for them in the regions.
And emergency shelters, I know -- you know, like Whati or Gameti, they don't have -- none of our community have emergency shelter. You know, I mean, this is overnight, you know. But a shelter where, you know -- like, with what happened in our community, you know, with the unit that -- we have -- we don't have enough, like, from the local housing, so we have to go look elsewhere, you know, outside. So even in -- in any of the small communities, I don't think we have -- we don't have any emergency shelter. I know this is different but, you know -- but it would be nice if we can, you know -- if we can look at possibly doing one or, I mean, having that program in the small communities. Maybe you can put that on your agenda when you're talking about a home-based program. So thank you. I think that's about it for this section.
Minister of Housing NWT, do you want to respond?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think, again, having that working relationship with the Tlicho government allows us to have these ongoing conversations about how to improve housing and how to help, especially with the homelessness file, considering, like the Monfwi riding, there's a lot of people on the waitlist waiting for housing. And I think that it's really important that we just advocate for future housing needs. And looking at numbers, like numbers tell the tale of people waiting for housing and proper housing supports. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Next I will go to Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, there's a big increase from your emergency shelters on page 382 from your revised estimates of 2025-2026 from 2.9 to 10.2. Can you give me some information on the big increase in your main estimates? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So we just spoke about this earlier, but it was incremental initiatives funding for emergency shelter programs. We talked about the increase in emergency shelter programs, the forced growth initiative, the funding for the two shelters in Inuvik, the funding for Fort Simpson shelter, Hay River shelter, and also the transfer of the day shelter and the sobering centre here in Yellowknife to Housing NWT. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just following up on my colleague's -- what she stated about homelessness in our smaller communities.
Recently, in your Minister's statement on homelessness you often used the phrase throughout the Northwest Territories, and you're still using it, but yet you're funding only programs in Yellowknife, Inuvik, and Fort Simpson. And, you know, there's -- I get a lot of comments from residents saying why can't this government put a place somewhere in a community like Fort McPherson. We have a lot of people that are couch surfing. They're sleeping in abandoned buildings because they have arrears with housing or they're way out on the waitlist. If you're going to use the phrase throughout the Northwest Territories, like, implement it. You know, it's something that I often go by units and, like, LJ's has trailers there that he bought and he uses it for his workers. I know how much that cost him. But, you know, I think that something should be done in that regard where we can help our people in the smaller communities here. Rolling all this money into Yellowknife, Inuvik, Fort Simpson, and Hay River, to me you're just putting a welcome mat out there saying come to the larger centres, we'll look after you. At the same time, you go to your larger centres, they have a residency clause there that you have to live in -- let's say in Inuvik, you have to live there for a certain amount of time before you can go be -- participate in some of their services. I think that's just more of a statement saying, you know, like be careful with your words, like using throughout the Northwest Territories often, and it's just four regional centres that you're referring to. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Do you want to respond to that, Minister of Housing NWT?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that tomorrow's announcement on the territorial housing needs assessment is going to give us a clear indication of the housing needs across the North, and it's across the North. Especially, you look at our waitlist, but it's going to provide more data on the need for housing across the North and throughout the Northwest Territories. Because we know, every one of us knows, especially as MLAs, you know, the need, the number of BFs that come in, the people that are couch surfing, the suppressed households. This is -- it's going to be -- when I looked at the report, I was pretty astounded with the numbers, and -- but I shouldn't be surprised because this is something that we're seeing right from Sachs Harbour to Fort Smith. People need housing. And many of these houses are old, old houses, and the systems are breaking down because they're so old. And that's why it's really important that we continue and press the federal government to provide us, you know, federal housing funds to build more infrastructure within community. But also our systems are breaking down in the community too, where in the past families used to take care of families but now we're faced with so many different issues within community that it's hard for people to actually to look out for each other. There's really -- people are facing hard times. And I will say across the Northwest Territories or in the Northwest Territories because it's true, and you can see from the waitlist.
And in terms of the homelessness programs, I mean, these are programs that have been instituted well before my time but there is increased need for shelter support systems, and mainly in the regional centres, because that's where people get caught in the system, either from leaving correctional institutions or health-related issues or they have to migrate to a regional centre because of a health-related or an education-type issue. So I understand that we do have much increased need in small communities. Regional centres have been funded for emergency shelter support systems for a number of years. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member -- okay.
Seeing no further questions, we will proceed to the next activity summary without voting on this activity total. Moving on to homeownership assistance programs, starting on page 383. Are there any questions?
Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So in the business plan, it says that the department's going to do reviews of some of the programs, including the home purchase program. We'll start with that one.
It says that the timeframe is 2028-2029, but has Housing NWT already started to review how effective the home purchase program is or come up with any ideas for changes that need to be made to the design of that program? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Our homeownership programs and home repair programs have been -- are being reviewed by Housing NWT presently. And President Kelly can provide more information in terms of the details related to the reviews. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. President Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This has been a real focus because we've seen that there have been some things that have been ineffective in the past. As the Minister mentioned earlier, for the home purchase program, the down payment piece, we've opened it up for folks to go into the district office who are in communities that are ineligible and, if they meet eligibility criteria, to try to support them in that way. So this is ongoing work right now, and it's taking -- it's going to take some time, but we're reviewing homeownership broadly to see if there's ways that we can improve upon and learn from what we've done in the past. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So can the Minister just confirm, then, that while so far the down payment program was only available, like, in regional centres, is it available now in smaller communities to people to take advantage of the down payment program? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Madam Chair, yes, I've asked Housing NWT to consider those outside the regional centres for the down payment assistance program. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that, and I really appreciate the Minister's willingness over her time in this role to really look at policies and whether they make sense and to make changes. That, I think, is quite remarkable.
I also just wanted to ask, I know that in the past few years Indigenous governments have taken on much more of a role in, you know, getting funding and building homes and trying to ensure local people can own more of these homes. Has Housing NWT considered working with Indigenous governments or transferring over any of these programs to Indigenous governments that are more active seemingly right now in this space of trying to help people and communities own their own homes? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. President Kelly will provide more in-depth information related to this question, because it's daily conversations with IGs, Indigenous governments, especially those that we've signed MOAs and MOUs with. So President Kelly will provide more information related to this. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go to President Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So we've definitely considered what programs and heard from Indigenous governments on what programs they're interested in, and a lot of the focus is on the home repair programs for owned homes. And so there's been a number of relationships built through the MOUs and outside the MOUs where we're supporting Indigenous governments to do that part of the programming, to do some homeownership repairs. We haven't transferred the program over but we've supported them to do the homeownership repairs. There are those that are interested in that transfer, and we continue those conversations.
With respect to homeownership assistance programs like these ones, we haven't heard that much input from Indigenous governments, to my knowledge anyways, of wanting to take on that aspect, but we have seen some really innovative work done by Indigenous governments on homeownership that we're certainly watching. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I will keep it short. I think it's good that the Minister at Housing NWT has made this a priority. I've certainly heard a lot about the importance of homeownership from my colleagues in the past few years and trying to move away from being dependent on a public housing system. And so I think it's an important theme. I certainly don't have the answers, but I am glad that this is a priority topic that the Minister is engaged in. So I will leave it there. No further questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Seeing no -- oh, Member for Monfwi.
Okay, thank you. Seniors aging in place, retrofits, and repairs. So I just wanted to ask the Minister, for the last fiscal year this fund 1.6, was it used up to date? Like, did we use it to the capacity? When did this program run out? Because I know that I've been getting a lot of phone calls or, you know, talk to elders that, you know, they were approved but they have to wait until the next fiscal year. So do they need to do an application? Do they need to do another application even though they were approved within the last fiscal year, and they realize, okay, they have no more funds available.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I find this, again, throughout the Northwest Territories, where sometimes we have -- we issue RFPs and they're delayed, depending on the contractor or the contractor's schedule or who's available with contractors and local community to do the work. So sometimes things are delayed. One thing we are finding, especially in the Tlicho region and also in the Gwich'in settlement area, is working with our MOU with the Indigenous government. We have a conversation, say this is delayed, could your development corporation take this on to get this senior's home repair completed, those kind of conversations are happening at the regional level.
In terms of the funding, the funding is set aside. Once they're approved and they receive notification that they have been approved, it's just usually finding the contractor to do the work. So in terms of a reapplication, I think that they would contact the district and the district would just affirm that, yes, we're just waiting on quotes or we're waiting on a response with the request for a proposal. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. So they don't have to redo the applications and just move forward. Okay, that's good, then, because, you know, in the past, elders were getting tired. You know, they were, like, upset because they have district office going into their house, invading their space, you know, asking them the same old questions again and taking pictures and it's, like, they're not getting anywhere. So because of that, a lot of elders said, no, don't come in my house because I know I am not going to get approved. So that was the attitude at that time because it's just that the policy wasn't, you know, friendly, and it didn't work for some of the people, and so it's good then, you know, they don't have to redo the application.
And then so when you ask your partner to, you know, complete the work, do they -- does Housing NWT reimburse them for the money that they spent to fix up the unit? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's through a contract. So once they've completed the work and there's an inspection after the work is complete, usually the funds are paid out for the contract. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Thank you. You know, we were talking about having -- you know, we have a lot of people on the waitlist. It's not just the young people. It's the seniors. It's the elders, you know, 65 and over. They're on the waitlist for independent living unit, so -- and we have two, I know that in Behchoko, and there's one in Whati and in Gameti. There's nothing in Wekweeti. So I just want to know if the Minister had been talking to the local leaders over there, possibly doing an independent unit, because it -- you know, some of the elders living in their own home, it's good, but it's costly for some of them. And so if we had an independent unit there, I am sure, you know, like, the elders would enjoy their golden years, you know, living -- still being independent. And not just over there too but we do need more independent living units for senior citizens in Behchoko as well. So the waitlist, it's from young to the elderly and it's just -- you know and I know how some of these get in. Like, I mean, you know, they shouldn't be on the waitlist. They should, you know -- because right now some of those are living in an overcrowded house, and they don't have their own place. And I know a lot of them would like to, you know, live on their own. And so that's why I am asking that. I know in Tlicho region, we need more independent units. So is there a plan in place or that have you did an assessment or, you know, to see, regarding the needs? So is there a plan in place that, you know, Housing NWT is going to build more independent units for senior citizens in Tlicho region? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister of Housing NWT.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With the territorial housing needs assessment that's going to be released tomorrow, one thing it does is it provides, like, a community profile for each community in the appendices of the document. So it just gives a clear indication because every community is different in terms of needs. And then looking at Housing NWT, we do have a 20-year infrastructure plan that shows the growth of housing within community for each community across the North, and it's usually based on a waitlist, condition of the units within the community, the ages of the residents within the community. So it provides more demographics, unit condition rating, waitlist, condition of unit. Like, these are all -- these are all important -- what's that word -- it's just important criteria that we add to the 20-year infrastructure plan. But, again, I think with the communities themselves, this territorial housing needs assessment will provide a really good profile for each community and confirm the need across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member for Monfwi.
