I have two motions, Mr. Speaker, waiving of rent for elders in public housing unit, Mr. Speaker,
WHEREAS elders aged 65 and over living in public housing in the Northwest Territories often face financial hardship due to fixed incomes and rising costs of living;
AND WHEREAS the limited affordable housing options in the Northwest Territories disproportionately affect elders in smaller and remote communities;
AND WHEREAS elders contribute significantly to the cultural, social, and community fabric of the Northwest Territories and deserve dignity and security in their housing;
AND WHEREAS elders play a vital role in preserving Indigenous languages, culture, and traditions, and ensuring their well-being strengthens communities;
AND WHEREAS housing insecurity among elders can lead to negative health outcomes and increased reliance on health and social services;.
AND WHEREAS waiving rent for elders in public housing would reduce poverty, improve health outcomes, and support aging in place;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the Member for Dehcho, that this Legislative Assembly calls upon the Government of the Northwest Territories to implement a policy to waive rent for all elders aged 65 and over residing in public housing units as soon as administratively feasible;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories respond to this motion in 120 days.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. To the motion. Member from the Dehcho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Colleagues, I want to voice my strong support for this motion calling on the government to implement a policy to waive rent for all elders aged 65 and over residing in public housing. This is not simply a matter of financial relief. It is a matter of dignity, equity, and respect for those who have built and continue to sustain our communities.
Across the Northwest Territories, elders living on fixed incomes face increasing financial pressures. The rising cost of food, fuel, utilities, essential goods, place an ever-growing burden on those least able to absorb it. For many elders, every dollar is already stretched to its limit. When rent becomes one of the most significant monthly expenses, the result is hardship; hardship that no elder in our territory should experience especially after a lifetime of contributing to the well-being of their families, communities, and cultures.
This issue is even more pronounced in our smaller and remote communities where affordable housing options are extremely limited. Elders in these regions often face higher costs of living and fewer economic opportunities, intensifying the strain. Housing should not be a source of insecurity for the knowledge-keepers, language-holders, and cultural leaders who play such vital roles in the life of Northwest Territories.
Elders are central to preserving Indigenous language, cultural practices, and community identity. When elders thrive, communities thrive. Ensuring stable and secure housing for elders supports healthy aging in place, allows them to remain in their home communities, and strengthens intergenerational ties that are fundamental to cultural continuity.
There are also clear social and health benefits. Housing insecurity is linked to poor health outcomes and greater reliance on health and social services. By waiving rent for elders in public housing, the government would reduce poverty, reduce stress, and promote better physical and mental health measures that would likely reduce pressure on government systems in the long run.
Rent waivers are not merely a financial policy. They are an investment in community strength and cultural resilience. They honour the contributions of elders that elders have made throughout their lives and acknowledge the responsibility we carry to ensure they are cared for with the respect they deserve.
For these reasons, I urge the members to support this motion. Let us act decisively to ensure that elders aged 65 and over living in public housing can live with dignity, security, and peace of mind. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Dehcho. To the motion. Member from Monfwi.
I want to say thank you to my colleague from Dehcho.
Mr. Speaker, across the Northwest Territories, many elders who reside in public housing are facing increasing financial hardship. With fixed incomes and continuously rising cost of living, even modest increases in expenses can push elders into difficult choices between essentials like food, heat, medication, and housing.
Mr. Speaker, these challenges are felt most acutely in our smaller and remote communities where affordable housing options are limited and the cost of living is even higher. For many elders, public housing is not just a place to live; it is the only viable option available to them.
We must remember that elders are the heart of our communities. They are the keepers of our languages, our knowledge, and our traditions. Their contributions -- cultural, social and emotional -- enrich the Northwest Territories in ways that cannot be measured in dollars. Ensuring their well-being is not only an obligation, it strengthens families, communities and the continuity of culture for future generations.
Housing insecurity among elders is not just a housing issue. It has direct impact on health, increasing pressures on our health care and social systems. By waiving rent for elders in public housing, we can reduce poverty, improve health outcomes, and support elders to age in place with dignity.
Mr. Speaker, through this motion we are expressing a clear expectation that elders should no longer face financial strain simply to maintain a safe and stable home. It urges the government to take meaningful action to eliminate rental costs for elders in public housing, ensuring they can age in their communities with dignity, security, and the respect they deserve. I urge all Members to support this motion and reaffirm our commitment to honouring and protecting our elders. Masi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be voting in favour of this motion. I like the spirit and intent of it. If anything, I have based my career on -- a lot of it was supporting seniors and elders, and any way to make their life better is certainly an issue, you know, I will take on, a fight I'll take on anytime. I have not forgotten the journey of those who have come before us, and to me it's an important story of their life that we must make sure that the winter of their life is not as burdened as much as possible.
As this is a public housing issue, I'm also worried -- and it gives us a chance to do some evaluation with respect to it, cost it out. And often I've thought about the issue whereas in it's just a shell game, you know. For example, housing or maybe health is paying the rent -- sorry, my apologies, income support is paying the rent of housing, which is just a government shell game, taking one money from one pocket and moving it into the next. And I don't see any true efficiency of that. It's like once people are assessed, you know, maybe that's when you say okay, they've been fully assessed at this time. So we need to stop doing this process. All we're doing is making work and making paperwork, and that's certainly not efficient. This process could actually help define and save government money in the long run.
So in short, Mr. Speaker, I'll be supporting this motion. I would like to know some details further along the lines when the government does its evaluation for implementation because I'm confident they'll see the wisdom of this motion.
And, lastly, I want to thank the Member for Monfwi. She continues to be an ardent champion on supporting elders as well, and I must acknowledge her strong will and the voice of her peoples. So I cannot imagine not helping carry some of that voice and passion with her. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. To the motion. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise as well to give support to this motion. I just want to just reflect back to the 19th Assembly when we had a social development committee that travelled to Behchoko and to talk about housing in that community. And I recall we had an elder that came to that meeting, and it was very touching because that elder lived in public housing but his senior income from his pension was about 80 percent garnished and he got $20 a month, and that's very disturbing, all because the NWT Financial Act talks about that. So that Act needs to be updated in line with UNDRIP.
But, Mr. Speaker, as we get claims done and self-government agreements done, similar to what's going on in Behchoko, you know, our elders are the ones that are, I guess, teaching us right from as we're growing up. And I was raised by an elder too, like, my grandparents. And it's very important that -- you know, that these homes that they're talking about that -- that I really support this motion because it brings a lot of memories to them in these homes. But I've got to think back to as well that in 2038, Housing NWT is also going to be -- their agreements with CMHC are going to come to an end. And what becomes after 2038? What becomes of all the housing assets, the liabilities? All that needs to get sorted out. So it makes only good sense that we start looking at this and look at ways to liquidate these assets, even if they're old. I'm sure that we could figure that out at the community level. So, Mr. Speaker, I do support this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. To the motion. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will support this motion. I've had tea and bannock with a number of elders throughout the communities that I represent and talked to the elders in some other communities, and I don't think we should be treating our elders in their golden years of their journey but be there to ease the tension as we all know the cost of living is so high in all our communities, they're really extremely battling the hardships of stretching their dollar values and still being there for their children, their grandchildren, who is always requesting some money assistance for their toys or whatever the children want or request at the time. So that's just part and part of a parcel of my efforts to show support for our elderly community. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. To the motion. Member from Thebacha.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as this motion makes a recommendation to government, Cabinet will be abstaining from the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Thebacha. To the motion. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So first I want to say I really appreciate the intent of this motion. My colleagues have spoken to the financial hardship that many elders experience, and I agree that it seems that even though we have housing subsidies and we have income support that those things don't necessarily have appropriate thresholds and that we may be still demanding too much rent, for example, from people who are in demonstrated financial need so it is a significant hardship on them.
My colleagues also mentioned that it may be the case that elders who may not be in such financial hardship or need may not have other options in a community except to live in public housing and that also speaks to the need for us to create more housing options in communities that are appropriate for people both in varying levels of financial need but also in need of various kinds of supports, and we need that fuller spectrum or range of housing options.
And I think my colleagues also spoke to the fact that there's a different motivation besides solely financial hardship driving a request like this that even if a person -- if an elder is not necessarily in need that we want to have a way to show our appreciation for them and what they've contributed throughout their entire lives, to their families to their communities, and I think we often -- or the government often forgets about that side of things. I think we focus solely on, you know, demonstrate your financial need and and that's that's the only or main factor in our financial support programs. And I think if if we take that desire seriously, that part of these support programs is to show our appreciation and support for people and what they've done, it would create a different angle and an approach both to income support and public housing but I think we need to contemplate more fully, it's not cut and dry, but I think something we need to think about more seriously.
I would certainly be interested to hear back from the government in terms of what would be the financial implications of a policy change like this, but I think it's it's worth having this conversation, it's worth getting a response back from government, getting more information so we can explore this, so I will be supporting the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. To the motion. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker I'm going to be brief and do my level best to not repeat what's already been said. So appreciate the comments by the Member for Yellowknife North and want to echo some of those. Mr. Speaker, I think that, you know, I've spoken a bit during this session -- this sitting, sorry, about turndown thresholds and how they affect our ability to effectively provide social supports, and I think that's a relevant part of this conversation. And you know, the availability of housing is another big one. You know, we just received the housing needs assessment and as the Member for Yellowknife North just pointed out, you know, the need is great. It also pointed out that the need amongst Indigenous people in particular is higher than that in our remote communities; we have a lot of housing need. And so that lack of availability is a significant contributor to this issue, and so I think -- I'm happy to support the motion. I think it's worth noting that, you know, where we can incorporate income testing into our programs to ensure that we are helping the people with most need is really important and so I am interested in hearing the government's response to this, hearing how the government is changing the way it is approaching this issue and listening to the voices of our Indigenous Members that speak so well to the issues that they see in their communities and how we are, you know, constantly on the journey of decolonizing our government. And so I am very curious to hear the response to this and how the government wants to approach it. I know that it is very difficult for us to help everyone as much as we want to but that doesn't negate the need for thinking how we can do things better, how we can do things more efficiently, and how we can deliver programming in an effective way and thinking more about how our government can be service-oriented as opposed to mired in process as it often feels like we are. So anything that we can do to address those issues I hope can be seen in the response to this motion.
And, you know, I just want to say again I was very very impressed with what was in the housing needs assessment and very impressed with some of the innovative work that I see our housing department doing and hope that addressing this motion can become a part of that as well, so. I am supportive of the motion and appreciate the Member from Monfwi bringing it forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. To the motion. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also too want to thank the Member for Monfwi for bringing this forward. Not too long ago, she and I spoke after a long day and talked a lot about elders and folks with disability, and so I do also want to tie this back to my statement earlier this week that certain issues that no longer have Ministers responsible for that portfolio, one being seniors and elders and the other being disability, are issues we still need to really drill down into, Mr. Speaker, and I really appreciate the Member for Monfwi for being that tireless advocate.
I do believe that the mover and the Minister responsible for Housing NWT have been doing some really good work together, have been having really good positive conversations. We've seen that now with some of the programs that have been announced this past week, and I think there's more good work to be done ahead, and so I look forward to the government response to explore and understand and cost out and to develop a good way forward on the intent of this motion. So thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. To the motion. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too will be supporting this motion, not only do I, you know, have parents who are elders themselves but elders are the foundation of our communities and the cultural fabric that holds the North together. And, Mr. Speaker, if there's anything we could do to make the North more affordable for everyday people, then it's an issue that I am going to support, and this motion is calling exactly for that. It's addressing a policy that can be changed in order to make things just a little bit easier for people who have given so much to our communities and it's a no-brainer, in my mind. The only thing I'd say is the government response here is going to be important because the motion does say as soon as administratively feasible. And I would hate for the government to come back and say well, until -- once we have the money we'll do it and we'll never have the money because there's too many priorities. So I really will encourage in the response that does come that there is an actual effort put into finding a way to do this in a realistic way that can benefit the lives of seniors and elders living in the Northwest Territories. So I look forward to that response as to my colleagues -- as colleagues have mentioned, and I thank the mover for her tireless advocacy for seniors and elders in the Northwest Territories. And I will be supporting it. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. Member from Monfwi, do you wish to conclude debate?
I want to say thank you to, like to all the colleagues here, to Dehcho for seconding the motions and to all my colleagues here, the Regular MLAs for speaking in favour of the motion. You know, this motion is really important for many of our elder senior citizens living on fixed incomes. The struggles are real especially in small remote communities, so I know in many of the small communities where elders are paying rent from $75 to $400. That's in my region. But what about the communities further up North? Maybe they're paying more than that but I'm not sure. But so this will really help and alleviate some of the financial stress that the elders are going through. And, you know, speaking about that, seniors, because of their grown children, they were not on the lease and they were employed, they are still stuck with that arrears. Just like my colleague from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh mentioned, that elders, one of my elders are getting garnisheed, his pension is getting garnished. So this will really help a lot of our elders to enjoy their golden years. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi.
Mr. Speaker, I ask for a recorded vote.
