2025 Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly—Housing in the Northwest TerritoriesOpening Statement to News Conference

Paule-Anny Pierre, Senior Assistant Auditor General of Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada—October 28, 2025

Good afternoon. I’m Paule‑Anny Pierre, Senior Assistant Auditor General with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. I’m pleased to be here to discuss the Auditor General’s report on public housing and homeownership programs in the Northwest Territories, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly earlier today.

Housing Northwest Territories, or Housing NWT, is the territorial corporation responsible for funding, supporting, and overseeing independent local housing organizations in their delivery of the public housing program. It is also responsible for delivering programs that support homeownership in 33 communities.

Overall, we found that Housing NWT did not provide residents most in need with equitable access to housing and housing supports.

Although Housing NWT had developed a rating system based on criteria like affordability and time on waitlists to guide local housing organizations in allocating public housing units, we found that it did limited monitoring of how those criteria were applied. As a result, Housing NWT did not know whether local housing organizations prioritized people with the greatest need when they allocated units. As of March 2025, people had been on waitlists for public housing across the territory for an average of about 2 years.

Once applicants are allocated housing, it is important to ensure that the units they move into are safe, well‑maintained. Tracking the condition of public housing units and carrying out regular maintenance are essential activities to document physical state, plan repairs, allocate resources efficiently, and prevent costly deterioration.

We found that Housing NWT’s monitoring of the condition of public housing units and associated maintenance work was limited. It did not monitor whether condition ratings of public housing units were completed every 2 years, as required. We found that on average, unit‑condition ratings were conducted more than 2 years apart, with the largest gap being slightly over 5 years.

Housing NWT also did not complete the required annual assessments of local housing organizations’ performance of maintenance activities. Poorly maintained units can lead to health risks, reduce quality of life, and potentially increase inequalities.

Through its 8 homeownership programs, Housing NWT helps residents most in need buy or rent homes and make repairs. The audit found that the corporation did not consistently apply key eligibility criteria, such as age and income, to ensure equitable access to the homeownership programs. These criteria are important to ensure funding is distributed equitably, for example to those aged 60 years and over when a program is meant to support seniors.

Housing NWT was also not monitoring the outcomes of its homeownership programs. As a result, it could not ensure that funds were allocated to meet the objective of equitable access to homeownership supports.

Many of the issues raised in this audit are not new. They were identified in our previous audits, in 2008 and 2012, and remain unresolved.

Housing is about more than shelter—it’s the foundation for health, economic stability, and quality of life. The Government of the Northwest Territories must act to deliver equitable access to housing and housing supports for residents of the territory.

Thank you. I am now ready to answer your questions.