New house, new name
Betty House becomes Lynn's Place in honour of long-time women's advocate in Yellowknife
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 1, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Betty House has a new name and is ready for tenants.
The first transitional home specifically for women was officially renamed Lynn Brooks' Safe Place for Women, or Lynn's Place, during a celebration to commemorate its grand opening this past Friday.
Lyda Fuller, executive director of the Yellowknife YWCA, receives the key to the city from Mayor Mark Heyck during Betty House's grand opening ceremony last Friday. During the ceremony, Fuller announced Betty House will be now known as the Lynn Brooks Safe Place for Women named after the longtime advocate for the status of women in Yellowknife. - Randi Beers/NNSL photo |
The celebration was attended by more than 100 people. After receiving the key to the city from Mayor Mark Heyck, Lyda Fuller, executive director of YWCA Yellowknife, told the crowd she was pleased to announce the building would be named in honour of Brooks.
"Lynn's life embodies our hope for this building, that women will be able to turn their troubled past into lives of strength and independence," she said.
Fuller also announced the program room inside Lynn's Place will be named for Ruth Spence, the first-ever executive director of YWCA Yellowknife.
As the crowd filed in for a tour after the ceremony, Brooks took a moment to describe how she felt when the call came telling her the home would be named after her.
"I was blown away, my knees were knocking," she said, adding she had no idea she'd even been nominated and didn't know who nominated her.
The longtime advocate for the status of women said she is encouraged by the arrival of a new transitional home for women in Yellowknife.
"I think this is a great step," she said. "It's not enough, it never is enough, but hopefully this house will give people the support they need."
A two-bedroom unit at Lynn's Place will cost $1,580, including utilities.
This number comes in below the 2013 median rental rate of $1,675 for a two-bedroom apartment in Yellowknife, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Fuller said she wishes she could have set rent lower, acknowledging it could be difficult for a single mother with children to pay more than $1,500 per month.
"It's the same problem we've had with homeless families for the past 18 years," she said.
"It's easier for women or couples who are on income assistance because they will pay the asking rent as long as you're on the waiting list for public housing, but for people who are working poor, it is a challenge."
Fuller said that's why Lynn's Place will offer some assistance such as flexible payment plans, budgeting help and connections to churches and charities such as Food Rescue to make sure tenants have access to food.
"It's going to be an interesting year. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but it's part of what [non-governmental organizations] do.
We take risks and we
figure out how to manage those risks and so I will be figuring out how to do that," she said.
Once a woman moves in to Lynn's Place, she is welcome to stay as long as she wants, according to Fuller. But she added her team is anticipating women won't want to stay for longer than three years.
"We know women will not choose to not be in a relationship for a huge amount of time and men are not allowed in the building, so we think women will self-select," she explained.
Fuller said she's looking forward to sitting down with her team today to begin selecting the building's first tenants, who will be invited to move in early this month.
