HAY RIVER - An expired land lease is wreaking havoc for an organization helping Hay River's needy.

The community's Soup Kitchen's new home - an $89,000 used trailer - has been sitting at a Hay River business since the summer, but can't be moved and opened until the lease issue is worked out.

The problem arose when it was discovered a lease from the Town of Hay River had expired in 2005 and no one had noticed.

In July, a $60,000 donation to the soup kitchen started a series of events that led to the discovery.

After the donation by the Royal Canadian Legion was announced, The Soup Kitchen applied to the town for a permit to install an upgraded trailer on the Woodland Drive lot it shares with the Hay River Community Youth Centre.

"Everything imploded, exploded or whatever," said Laura Rose, the president of The Soup Kitchen.

"It's very frustrating," Rose said. After it was realized that the lease had expired, she said, the charity figured it would just apply for a lease for the land, where it has been for 14 years.

"But it wasn't as simple as that because we never had a lease there before," Rose said. "It got complicated."

Rose said the charity was subleasing from the Hay River Ministerial Association, which actually leases the land and oversees the youth centre. Following a meeting with the ministerial association, both parties agreed each would apply for a lease.

"So we did that and the town had a problem with that," Rose said, - as the land is zoned commercial. She also noted a faction of the outgoing council wanted to sell the lot for commercial purposes.

"We'd have to move both the youth centre and us," she said.

Rose said The Soup Kitchen is in limbo until a new council is sworn in on Nov. 2.

"The new council is going to have to decide if they'd give us a short-term lease until the town can decide long-term where they'd prefer to see us sitting," she said. Rose believes a short-term lease of three to five years is the best solution.

Rose said one idea is the Soup Kitchen and other non-profit groups could move to the current hospital building, if and when a new hospital is built. That would not occur until sometime around 2016.

Rose said The Soup Kitchen's current location is good, partly because it is close to the town's schools.

Until the lease situation is settled, the Hay River Royal Canadian Legion is holding onto the $60,000 donation it committed to the charity. Rose said that is the right thing to do.

Incoming Hay River Mayor Kelly Schofield said the land lease for The Soup Kitchen and the youth centre is one of the biggest immediate issues facing the new council.

"I would like to try to heal that wound," Schofield said, adding he wants to hear ideas on how to deal with the issue.