The NWT government says it has awarded a contract to the Yellowknife Women’s Society to operate its new transitional housing facility near the city’s airport.
The territorial government announced in a Monday news release that the facility is expected to open next month and will be able to accommodate up to 24 people. (When the GNWT first announced the initiative in May, it said it planned to create a facility for up to 25 people.)
The NWT government said on Monday the facility is intended to “provide a structured environment that bridges the gap between homelessness and permanent housing.”
It said the Yellowknife Women’s Society will deliver programs and services at the facility including case management, life skills development, transportation, and help with employment, income assistance and housing applications.
“This new transitional housing facility represents a meaningful step forward in supporting residents experiencing homelessness,” housing minister Lucy Kuptana stated. “It offers a safe and stable place to stay and the services and supports people need to move toward long-term housing and wellness.”
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Kuptana added that the facility will help address barriers some residents experiencing homeless can face accessing shelters in the city.
The NWT government began seeking an operator to deliver programming and other services for residents of the planned transitional housing facility in late August.
Documents indicate the Yellowknife Women’s Society’s winning bid for the contract was $5 million.
The request for proposals stated the contract had an expected term ending on March 31, 2027, with the possibility to extend the contract for up to one year. The NWT government said it anticipates the temporary transitional housing facility will operate until April 1, 2028, at which time a permanent structure will be completed.
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The territorial government awarded a nearly $5 million contract to build temporary structures on land outside the Folk on the Rocks festival site to Paul Bros Nextreme Inc in August.
Documents indicate the facility will be made up of modular units with single rooms and shared bathrooms, laundry facilities and a common area for residents, as well as office space for staff.
The project has faced several delays, some of which housing minister Kuptana has attributed to “waiting for approvals from Nav Canada and Transport Canada, due to the facility being close to the airport.”
The NWT government has said the project is part of its response to “a significant increase in unsheltered homelessness” in the territory over the past four years. It described “a notable increase” in people living in camps and informal encampments in Yellowknife in 2024, with 30 to 60 more people experiencing homelessness than there were shelter beds in the city last year.
The territory attributed that increase to the Covid-19 pandemic, wildfire evacuations, substance use, and enforcement activities that have resulted in evictions and reduced access to informal housing arrangements, such as staying with friends.
The NWT government recently said the average occupancy rate of shelters in the city in October 2025 was 83 percent, meaning there were an average of 17 unused shelter beds a night last month.
Housing NWT also acknowledged there can be barriers that make it difficult for some people to access shelters such as a lack of secure storage for belongings, hours of intake, being separated from a partner, bans, and rules around drug and alcohol use. It said it is “working toward understanding and addressing these barriers” with non-governmental organizations.
