by Marty Brown
Northern News Services

NNSL (Feb 14/97) - Arlene Hache wants to raise the roof.

According to the executive director at the Yellowknife Women's Centre, there's just not enough emergency housing for women and kids at the centre -- or any where else in town, for that matter.

The women's centre is funded for two beds, which in reality means two pull-out couches.

During the month of January as many as 11 people stayed there.

"We get paid $35 a day per bed to house and feed a person," Hache said. "We were stretched pretty thin."

Battered women can stay at the Alison McAteer House and the Salvation Army has five beds for emergency housing, but sometimes that just doesn't work.

"We try to serve whole families, including men," said Hache. "We strive for family unity and as long as men are accompanied by females and aren't batterers, we feed them -- up to 100 people a day."

But that's where the centre runs into problems. Often just the sight of a male person can unnerve women in crisis. A separate floor could segregate women in crisis.

Many women have two or three kids, so Hache would ideally like five more beds.

The January emergency resulted when a women and her two children went down south to deal with family business and ended up staying for over three months. Income Support decided she'd left town and it gave her apartment away.

Another women failed her course at Arctic College and consequently lost her housing. She had her wallet stolen so had no money to change her plane ticket home. She and her kids ended up at the centre until that got straightened out.

Then the RCMP dropped off a family with all their belongings, Hache said.

"The term I hear is that people should plan better. But these people can't because they've had no control in their lives for year."

Hache is hoping to get funding in the spring. A proper shelter is needed, she said.