Homelessness is not a symptom of being unemployed in Yellowknife . As Dawn Ostrem finds in part 3 of her series, some professional workers sought from the south and beckoned by employment and money-making opportunities in Yellowknife say they face potential homelessness everyday.

Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 30/01) - "I am a paycheque from being on the street," admitted Matthew Reed, who arrived in Yellowknife from Ottawa a few months ago.

With a job already secure as a technician with Fire Prevention Services Ltd., Reed did his homework before embarking on his journey North -- scouring the Northern News Services Web site's classifieds for accommodations.

Outlook not good The latest statistics released by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation paint a bleak picture for newcomers to Yellowknife. The statistics were released on Nov. 26. "The continued improvement in Yellowknife's economy has resulted in a steady decline in the availability of rental apartments and sharp increases in rent," the report stated. "The vacancy rate in privately-owned apartments dropped to one per cent (this) October compared with 2.4 per cent in October 2000." Declines in vacancy were most substantial for the cheapest, smallest apartments -- bachelor suites that go for about $700 to $800 per month. As of October there were none available in the city. Most tenants saw their rent increase about $75 per month from last year.

"It took me a good two weeks," he said. "I phoned a couple of people and they were already full."

Now, he lives in a trailer he shares with two other men. Luckily, he enjoys the company because he said there is no way he could afford a place on his own.

Shocked by high rents

"That just blew my mind," he said about the $600 in rent he pays for an empty room.

Yellowknifers who have lived in the city for a long time are accustomed to high prices for food, fuel and rent.

But southerners, like Reed, and other single professionals, making between $30,000 and $40,000 a year, say they are still living a paycheque away from the street and shelters.

Many are young and adventurous and burdened by heavy student loans.

Others are highly experienced professionals, making high salaries, but still cannot find housing.

Barbara Saunders was lucky when she came to Yellowknife in January 2001. She knew people here.

After two months of searching, the executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT, who makes over $50,000 per year, finally found her own place to live instead of crashing with a relative.

"I have heard stories of people living in hotels and then leaving because they cannot find a place," she said. "I could not find what I wanted and had to settle."

After her two-month struggle, Saunders said she is paying high rent for what she calls her downtown "paper apartment," because it is so noisy.

"There is so much talk of an economic boom but it is not going to happen if people cannot find a place to live," she said. "If I were to hire somebody I couldn't find them a place to live."

Economic backlash

Several businesses and employers have been forced to take on housing as part of recruiting.

Raven Tours hired 80 people to work for them this winter season. Human Resources manager Su Windle said planning for their arrival was daunting in June.

"We knew it was going to be an issue and contacted landlords around the city three to four months in advance," she said.

The needs of those employees were met through staff housing and finding residents to house them for the season.

Yellowknife Education District No. 1 is already facing a teacher shortage and the housing situation is compounding the recruitment problem.

"It is usually a deterring factor for people that phone in to inquire," said senior officer of personnel Stacey Scarf. "This year it was a lot harder to get places."

The public school district owns an apartment complex called Nordic Arms, partly to make sure teachers have a place to live.

"If there are vacancies, we offer them," Scarf explained. "It has been a concern, more so the prices than anything else, but the higher salary sort of cushions the blow."

The housing shortage has created a situation in Yellowknife in which even full-time workers are homeless unless they are paid well above minimum wage.

A waitress, who did not want her name published, found herself crashing at friends' until she worked out a deal with her employer.

"My mother and I kind of got into a spat and she said out you go and out I went," said the 18-year-old. "I was lucky, it was only about six or seven days."

Her employer gave her a room to stay in to keep her from eventually living on the street. "There is only so far you can go down before you come back up again," she said optimistically. "I was lucky, I had a lot of people helping me along the way."