YK’s Street Outreach to become a three-year contract

Yellowknife’s Street Outreach program, which provides safe rides to vulnerable people, will move from one-year to three-year operating contracts.

At the moment, the program is operated by Home Base Yellowknife and branded as Line Drive Outreach.

For just under a decade, outreach vehicles contracted by the city have provided “compassionate assistance to individuals who are under the influence and appear to be homeless, ensuring they receive a safe ride to a supportive location and assistance on the street,” in the words of the Line Drive Outreach website.

The same service also operates a downtown foot patrol.

The City of Yellowknife received $900,000 from the federal government in October to expand the program.

During 2025 budget deliberations on Tuesday, council passed a motion by five votes to three for Street Outreach to move from one-year to three-year contracts with operators, which supporters say will give any chosen operator more certainty.

“This funding has been approved by multiple councils over many years. I believe it serves everyone’s interest to award a contract for three years,” said councillor Tom McLennan, introducing a motion to move to three-year contracts.

“This lets the service provider build experience, leverage knowledge gained and provide more certainty to potential staff.”

The danger, some councillors said, is that the city uses federal funding to sustain the Street Outreach program and – even with the recent $900,000 announcement – that funding is not guaranteed far into the future.

“Three years may be beyond the level of risk tolerance for some, given that we don’t have that certainty with respect to federal funding,” said city manager Stephen Van Dine.

With a signed three-year contract, even if federal funding ran out, the city would be obliged to find the money from somewhere else.

“The fact that all of it is made up of federal grants puts us into a bit of a hole,” said councillor Garett Cochrane.

“I think this contract needs to be multi-year,” McLennan countered. “If that means the city has to pay more in the future if federal funds run out, then I’m OK with that.”

The motion, which does not have an immediate effect on the 2026 budget, passed with McLennan, Rob Foote, Ryan Fequet, Cat McGurk and Rob Warburton in favour.

Cochrane, Stacie Arden Smith and Mayor Ben Hendriksen were opposed.

The change will not affect the existing contract, but the next successful bidder will receive a three-year arrangement.