Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I understand that president Young has, you know, only recently come in to the Housing Corporation. So I know that she has adopted a lot of the work that was already being done, but I just wanted to point out or ask of the Minister that it is the expectation that this is an allofgovernment approach and that the strategy will include participation of other departments. So can you Minister confirm that other departments participated on this and that it is an allofgovernment approach? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I'll narrow it down, and the Minister might not have the question or the answer, and I will admit I didn't provide the questions to her in advance and I understand that this is quite detailed.

The one that I'm really after is the amount of people served by the emergency shelters funding number of 2.997, and I'm wondering if that is given it's more specific of a number request, if that's one that the Minister has?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Yeah, Madam Chair, I and I absolutely agree with the president, that the Housing Corporation cannot do it alone, that it is going to take partnerships in order to be able to pull the NWT out of the housing crisis that it is currently in.

But that being said, the federal government isn't funding O and M. The federal government is putting forward funding for building new capital. We even saw that in the rapid housing initiative money that came out that was due I believe the applications were due at the end of December. That application process mandated that...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another priority of Health and Social Services was to streamline application and reporting processes for various funding opportunities. In speaking with different NGOs, I know that there is a struggle out there for some of the expectations on some of the applications and reporting situations. Procurement does have a red tape working group and a mechanism for businesses to come back to the government and let them know what is lengthy or overburdensome and I'm wondering if health has the similar process. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's response. I've taken a look at the community wellness plans, and they range from anywhere from three pages to some are 20 plus pages. So they are very different, depending on what community that they come from. Also taking a look through them, I've noticed that not every plan contains mental health as a community wellness priority, for example. And while I know that perhaps there are competing priorities within communities, mental health and mental wellness is definitely a priority across the board for every single...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the municipal funding gap is something that you hear all Members talk about. And one thing I think that we can all agree is there's huge gains to be made by closing that gap from a community level. I'm wondering if the government will commit or when the government will commit to providing committee with a draft plan to reduce and address the municipal funding gap once and for all? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week a colleague of mine tabled written questions in regards to the municipal funding gap specifically asking for the status of that gap and specifically also by community.

I'm wondering if the Minister responsible will commit to tabling actuals of the funding gap on an annual basis by community as this is a question that has come up annually since our term has begun. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the final day of the 18th Assembly, the government quietly tabled a study. The study was a strategic response to the municipal funding gap. It contained some dire findings. Specifically, it showed that from 2014 to 2019, despite increased GNWT funding of over $8 million, the municipal funding gap was basically unchanged at $40 million. Communities' cost to maintain and replace infrastructure grew faster than the GNWT's funding. And that study showed that from 2014 to 2019, community infrastructure costs increased by an average of $2.7 million per year.

In...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that health and social services is also currently working on a supportive living review, and I just wanted to clarify, do the two documents speak to one another and work in conjunction together so that they are are collaborative, I guess, in that sense?

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And I think without even seeing the number, that we can all probably agree that housing people on an emergency basis is generally far more expensive per person than it is to keep people housed, which is what I'm looking the question I'm looking to answer there with that number.

And so I want to just kind of put in a plug here for the work that is being done by the Housing Corporation as far as renewing their mission, vision, values, and the policies that go with that, and what I'm hoping that we see is a system that values keeping people housed over evictions...