Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here as well. Housing is quite significant throughout the country, but I really want to press the importance of housing and the effects in the northern communities as well, and also of looking at the delivery and the funding that we do receive. I would like to look at direct funding to the Northwest Territories. We have been working with the indigenous groups too, as well as with their lobbying efforts.
For the Northwest Territories, we do have 2,600 public housing units throughout all 33 communities, but we haven't had a new housing delivery in decades. We have a delivery this year of 90 public housing units that are under construction right now through that delivery. We're trying to be very innovative with that approach and trying to create employment in smaller communities, trying to work with the indigenous groups as well. We are looking at the operation and maintenance of these units. The price to operate them is drastically increasing.
Throughout the territory, we have several different climate effects as well. We have coastline communities where erosion is affecting our builds. I had the opportunity to travel to Sachs Harbour last year shortly after we were out of session to look at the condition of those units. I was quite surprised to see the amount of mould issues in the housing units in the coastline communities and not being able to replace them and repair them. As the minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, one of the questions I'd ask is how much money we are going to continuously invest into these 50-year-old assets, looking at the timeline when they were built and the evolving of the Northwest Territories and looking at the significant impacts of residential schools and people returning to the smaller communities.
I know we have a time limit here, but I really want to emphasize looking at the funding that is available on housing delivery. I would like to see direct funding to the Northwest Territories. We have increased our partnership with the indigenous groups too. One of the things the territories has done is we've created a council of leaders working group where we have every indigenous group at that table trying to come up with housing solutions, but with the 2,600 units that we have in the Northwest Territories with no increase in the past 50 years, our assets are deteriorated. We are trying to invest in them and they are just going to be beyond economic repair. We need to replenish that stock.
Thank you.