The member is exactly right. Housing, particularly in our smaller communities, has significant problems associated with it. It's the adequacy of the housing units. There are crowding issues, and there are affordability issues.
When you and I buy a house in a larger community, we expect we will have an opportunity to be able to resell it and maybe have it appreciate in value. There really is no private sector market, so the role of social housing in our communities is much different from what you see in the south. The problem is not shelters and those sorts of things, although those are an important part of it. It's the houses people live in and, in many of our communities, it's the majority of housing. The decline in funding that the territorial government has received has meant that all of our investments have been just to maintain the status quo.
I think Sara mentioned the huge waiting lists we have. We continue to have a fairly young population, which means the demand is there for more housing. As well, our seniors population is getting to the point where it's extremely difficult. With that price quote I gave you, you can imagine what it's like to try to get services in small communities to do maintenance and those sorts of things. The result of all that has meant that our home ownership units are starting to suffer really heavily as well.
There's a significant need for investment and ongoing funding to be able to make sure we can continue to provide those. Housing really is the core of a strong, healthy community, and if we don't have those, it's hard to imagine how those communities can carry on.