YK women’s shelter seeks public’s help amid capacity issues

The Yellowknife Women’s Society says its shelter for women has been at or over capacity for 10 of the past 14 nights.

Executive director Renee Sanderson said last week’s closure of an on-the-land camp outside the city for people experiencing homelessness had contributed to overcrowding in the society’s space.

People living at the camp – which was open for 10 weeks – were transported back to Yellowknife on January 14, the Government of the Northwest Territories previously said in a press release.

“When it’s cold out, we don’t want to send people out on the street and we try to work with them,” said Sanderson. “But I think it’s just too many people in a small building.”

This led Sanderson to ask community members for help on Facebook. In a post, she asked to be put in touch with anyone who might have land available for the Yellowknife Women’s Society to set up its own camp.

“That’s our quickest way to ensure everyone has a place to go,” said Sanderson.

She said a fast way to meet people’s needs would involving setting up canvas tents – or something similar – equipped with wood stoves.

Sanderson said some former residents of the on-the-land camp were doing well there because they had access to a bed that they knew would be theirs every night, and space to put their belongings.

She said shelters, though, operate differently. Beds are first-come, first-served, while there are only small bins for each person’s belongings.

When more people require shelter than the women’s society can accommodate with its 10 beds, Sanderson said the organization doesn’t want to turn people away.

“Sometimes there’s an overflow in the kitchen where we’ve run out of cots, we run out of blankets, and we’re just trying to grab whatever we have to keep them covered, or have a mat or something for them to lay down on,” she said.

According to Sanderson, calls to improve space for shelter users that she and others made last spring ultimately led to the creation of the temporary on-the-land-camp. Now the camp has closed, she’s looking for other solutions.

So far, she said, a few people have answered the call for help. Some land on the outskirts of Yellowknife may be available, but nothing has solidified yet.

Sanderson said the society’s long-term goal is its own piece of land on which it could consolidate all programming – currently delivered at five sites – into one location.

More shelter space available elsewhere

Last week, the GNWT said data from the past five weeks indicated there were “consistently enough spaces” at Yellowknife shelters to accommodate everyone in need.

Tony Brushett is the executive director at the Salvation Army, which runs a 39-bed emergency men’s shelter.

He said the shelter hasn’t hit capacity since October last year. While the on-the-land camp likely helped free up space since November, Brushett said there could be other factors at play.

“If I was to take an uneducated guess, all of these extra folks we had staying in tents and everything the summer and the fall, seems like some of them have left Yellowknife – they are not in our system anywhere,” said Brushett.

The Salvation Amy also runs a withdrawal management program, which Brushett said was able to accommodate three people who were living at the on-the-land camp so they wouldn’t have to stay in the shelter. Some folks who were in the withdrawal program moved into second-stage housing units at Bailey House.

Now, Brushett said, both programs are full.

“We’re kind-of glad right now that the camp is done, because it was becoming a bit of a sticking point for those who couldn’t go to the camp because maybe they couldn’t stay sober for 72 hours before they went there,” said Brushett, referring to a camp abstinence policy that required applicants to not drink for three days before admission into the program.

“Because it was done, I guess, as a last-minute fix, it became a very expensive project as well,” said Brushett. “So you know, having that in the rear-view mirror? Probably not a bad thing.”

An ‘expensive’ program

The on-the-land camp was made possible through contributions from the federal and territorial governments worth $635,000 and $7,000 respectively.

It had the capacity to temporarily house up to 30 people. The GNWT said there were between six and 20 people living at the camp for the duration of the program.

The territory said the camp’s distance from Yellowknife – about 50 km east of the city along a highway that doesn’t connect to any other community of note – was a factor in the overall cost.

To run the program, operator NWT Integration and Community Services (or NWT-ICS) had to hire “a number” of contractors given the remoteness of the camp, according to Robert Tordiff, an assistant deputy minister at the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, which oversaw the camp.

Tordiff said those services included the delivery of water and round-the-clock access to on-site medical services.

“A lot of the logistical costs were fairly significant, given the distance from the community, and I’d say that that probably contributed a fair amount to the budget,” said Tordiff.

“Ideally, if the government was to pursue this type of activity again, we would probably look for a location that’s a little easier to service.”

Tordiff said the program ended in January in part because it was always intended to be a temporary solution, and also because GNWT research indicated shelter space would able to accommodate residents by that point.

The camp’s grounds, which are owned by a separate non-governmental organization, were also reserved for other purposes during the winter months, Tordiff said.

Tordiff said the GNWT will work with NWT-ICS and other partners in the coming weeks to evaluate the program using feedback from residents and service providers.

Emily Blake contributed reporting.