The City of Yellowknife plans to spend $400,000 in federal cash over the next two years in programming to prevent or reduce homelessness among military veterans.
Bid documents published by the city suggest the program will “address the specific, complex needs of veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness by providing tailored, stable housing and ‘wrap-around’ support services.”
Federal statistics released last October suggested there were an estimated 1,800 veterans nationwide who experience homelessness over the course of a year. A figure specific to Yellowknife was not available.
More generally, the last approximate count in Yellowknife – in 2024 – identified 327 people experiencing homelessness in the city, an increase on a similar 2021 assessment.
The newly formed Yellowknife Street Support Network says it ran some programming for homeless veterans earlier this year using a prior distribution of federal funding via the city.
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Brenda Kowana, a founder and co-chair of the group, said it received $85,000 in March and was told the money had to be spent by the end of the month.
Over three weeks, the Yellowknife Street Support Network organized on-the-land programs serving traditional food, provided $19,000 in housing subsidies and offered $12,500 in food support, she said.
Kowana said the network was able to find 20 self-identified veterans over the programming period.
A challenge the network faced was confirming veteran status for many of the unhoused individuals.
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“The homeless were saying, ‘I am a veteran, I don’t have my status, I lost everything,’” Kowana said.
The network was able to send information to Veterans Affairs Canada to confirm veteran status for eight individuals during the programming period, Kowana said, while time constraints prevented the identification of the other 12 self-identified veterans.
The funding for the two-year period ahead comes from the federal Veteran Homelessness Program.
Having two years will allow an organization to confirm the veteran status of many individuals and find more people in need of help, Kowana said.
“I believe there are more [homeless veterans] than what we found. We only had three weeks where we were rushing and running around,” she said.
If it is awarded the additional funding, Kowana said the network would seek to run programming year-round until March 2028.
