All Housing First clients at risk of being tossed back onto the streets

With its entire Housing First program facing the loss of its existing units, the Yellowknife Women’s Society (YKWS) is calling on landlords, housing providers, community partners, and the Government of the Northwest Territories to keep 26 residents from being tossed onto the streets.

The YKWS stated in a Tuesday afternoon release that two separate housing changes are putting residents at risk:

• the sale of six downtown apartment buildings, affecting 12 Housing First units, and
• a separate eviction from Northview affecting 11 additional Housing First units.

Together, these changes end 23 housing units and place 26 residents at risk of losing their homes.

Women’s Society Executive Director Becky Broderick noted more than 100 people are currently on the waitlist for Housing First support, “demonstrating the significant and ongoing need for supportive, low-barrier housing in Yellowknife.”

She continued: “For people who have worked hard to move forward from homelessness, losing their housing is about much more than moving to a new address. Without replacement housing, residents may be forced back into the shelter system, putting their stability and the progress they have made at risk.”

Losing a place to call home also can also disrupt access to healthcare, employment, education, treatment, community connections, and the supports that help people remain housed.

“These are people who work hard every day to remain housed and stay out of the shelter system,” stated Broderick. “Moving from being unhoused to being housed is not an easy transition. Too often, when someone gets housed, we pat ourselves on the back as though the work is finished. In reality, that is when the real work begins.

Transitioning from homelessness into stable housing requires an enormous amount of change management, frustration tolerance, and the ability to establish and maintain boundaries.

The Yellowknife Housing First Program began in September of 2016, and reached its initial goal of supporting twenty participants in December 2017.

Housing First residents have faced systemic barriers, discrimination, or a lack of available housing options in Yellowknife. We are asking our community to help us find a solution.

YKWS is asking landlords, property managers, housing providers, property owners, and developers to contact us if they have:

• A rental unit or apartment available now or becoming available soon.
• Multiple units close together.
• A triplex, six-plex, or similar multi-unit property.
• An apartment building or other whole-building housing option.
• Multiple smaller buildings in close proximity that could support a coordinated Housing First model.

The organization’s preferred long-term solution is a whole-building model where we can provide 24-hour staff on site, guest management, rapid response to crises, and ongoing intensive case management.

“YKWS will work tirelessly toward this model, stated Broderic. “In the meantime, we will continue to support Housing First residents wherever housing is available.”

Residents were asked by YKWS  what losing their housing would mean for them:

• “I am full of anxiety. I wake up at 5 am every morning worried. We were evicted from our last place and it has happened again. Housing First helped us so much.”
• “Wow… where am I going to live now? Winter is coming and I don’t want to go back to living in a tent. I’m really worried about what is going to happen to me.”
• “I just started college and I was finally moving forward with my life. Now I’m scared I’m going to lose my housing, drop out of school and lose all the progress I’ve made. I have no family support here and nowhere else to stay.”
• “I’m an Elder. What am I supposed to do now? I can’t go back to the shelter or end up on the streets again. I need my home. Without Housing First, I have nowhere else to go.”
• “It feels like we are being thrown out onto the streets with nowhere to go and no other options. What are we supposed to do? Without Housing First I have no home. I could be homeless again in the winter, and that really scares me.”