Yellowknife city councillors are backing plans to spend $260,780 in federal homelessness funding to enhance the Street Outreach program over the coming year.
On Monday, councillors discussed a recommendation from the city’s Community Advisory Board on Homelessness to allocate federal Reaching Home funding toward expanding the program in 2025-26.
“I’m excited we’re doing something,” councillor Rob Warburton said. “We’re increasing this level of service without tax burden.”
The municipality currently provides $380,000 in annual funding to Street Outreach, a program operated by the Yellowknife Women’s Society that provides safe rides, food and water to the city’s street-involved population.
A city-funded review of Street Outreach – released last month – proposed an expanded program expected to cost $850,000 in its first year, $820,000 in its second year and $950,000 in its third.
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While the additional funds the city plans to commit to the program next year aren’t nearly enough to fully implement that proposal, city manager Stephen Van Dine described it as “a down payment” toward achieving that goal.
“We believe this program is one that is quite effective in the community and has room to grow,” he said. “However, our financial resources to grow the program to the degree that the ambition has been outlined in the evaluation are not as large.”
City staff said they plan to prioritize recommendations to increase hours of service beyond 12 hours, implement a dedicated team of two staff to complete foot patrols of the downtown core, and provide staff with a living wage.
“I think this is a fine compromise based upon the report,” deputy mayor Garett Cochrane said. “Is it perfect? No. Can we get it perfectly funded in our current financial circumstances? No. But the changes make a lot of sense to me.”
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The women’s society has previously asked for more funding to expand the program, while the city has long called on the territorial government to invest in Street Outreach.
Councillor Ben Hendriksen, chair of the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness, said on Monday the board is looking at other potential funding sources to enhance Street Outreach.
The city also said it is continuing to seek more funding from the territorial and federal governments.
Councillors are set to formally vote on whether to approve incrementally increasing Street Outreach service levels on December 9.
