Advocates say GNWT transitional homes plan is ‘excellent idea’

A transitional housing initiative announced by the NWT government this week received praise from people who help others find homes and support.

The temporary program will house up to 25 people in modular units on a site across from Yellowknife Airport.

“It is absolutely an excellent idea, something we sorely need here in Yellowknife – throughout the Territories, actually, but certainly right now in Yellowknife,” said Tony Brushett, executive director of the Yellowknife Salvation Army.

“They’ve secured the property, they’re getting ready to secure somebody to quickly build on the property, and it looks like we’re ahead of where we were last year.”

Brushett hopes the new facility will be ready to accept residents by the time cold weather hits this fall.

He would like to see mental health, addictions and housing counsellors on-site alongside front-line staff, so residents can work on their health and work toward more permanent housing.

Brushett thinks the camp’s location – away from central Yellowknife on the city’s edge – could be beneficial. He has heard from unhoused people that Yellowknife’s downtown sometimes confronts them with triggers.

“Based on the dozen or so folks who used the on-the-land camp this past winter, they liked it because it was away from the epicentre of a lot of the problems that were in their lives,” he said of a GNWT-created camp that ran late last year at a site some 50 km outside the city.

Former NWT health minister Julie Green, who is now the president of transitional housing operator YWCA NWT, was pleased to hear about the new program.

“It’s a great initiative because of the number of homeless people there are, how crowded the shelters are,” said Green.

“I’m pleased that the government has decided to take this more concrete approach than the camp, to actually invest in the modulars. That’s a good move.”

Green said she is slightly concerned about the location of the camp, recalling her experience trying to find a suitable site for Yellowknife’s day shelter in her time as health minister.

“I just wonder how people are going to manage going back and forth to downtown,” she said.

“Providing transitional housing is one thing, but people who enter transitional housing with addictions will still have addictions, and so they may want to be in other parts of Yellowknife, not just in the camp.”

The initiative also received praise in a Facebook post from Yellowknife city councillor Rob Warburton.

“This is the type of response I want from my government. Decisive and realistic approaches that aren’t afraid to learn lessons,” Warburton wrote, “and truly listening to housing providers and operators on how to solve problems.”

In its announcement, the GNWT said it would work with Folk on the Rocks and Yellowknife Pride to ensure those festivals have continued access to nearby recreational spaces. The transitional housing facility will be located next to a parking lot those events use.

In an emailed statement to Cabin Radio, Folk on the Rocks executive director Teresa Horosko said the organization is looking forward to building a positive relationship with its new neighbours.

“Folk On The Rocks is aware of the GNWT’s new transitional housing initiative and is currently working with the government to ensure the continued success of Folk On The Rocks,” Horosko wrote.

The GNWT says it will issue a request for proposals in July for an operator to deliver day-to-day programming and services.

Based on initial meetings, Brushett said, the Salvation Army is interested in submitting a proposal. He said the organization needs to more closely study the request for proposals first.

Green said she cannot yet say if the YWCA might be interested.

Currently, the YWCA’s transitional housing program is focused on families and women who have experienced gender-based violence.

After this article was first published, Eric Neba, executive director of NWT-ICS – the group that ran last fall’s on-the-land camp for people experiencing homelessness – said the initiative is a “great step forward to solving homelessness in Yellowknife.”

He said it would be up to the organization’s board to decide whether or not it would submit a proposal to the GNWT to run the new program.