Yellowknife (Dec 03/04) - Some Yellowknifers aren't doing what it will take to solve the city's homeless problem, says Karen Hoeft, chairperson of the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition.

It's a case of more houses needed, but no one willing to have them in their neighbourhoods.

"We have a growing economy," she said. "We need more homes. Otherwise we will have homelessness."

She pointed to recent attempts to block new housing developments in Yellowknife.

A Niven Lake development project has been halted until changes are made to the plan. Construction likely won't begin there until the spring.

Residents near Stanton Territorial Hospital also tried to stop an apartment building going up in that area.

In 2003, residents succeeded in stopping a transition house from opening on School Draw Avenue. Hoeft said the building is empty and for sale.

"We had a house donated and the neighbourhood stopped it," she said. "If somebody buys it, they could have big parties there. The neighbours shouldn't expect to have a say in who lives there."

Yellowknife needs several kinds of housing in order to get people off the streets, Hoeft said. Emergency shelters, transition housing, supportive housing and affordable housing are all required.

The Salvation Army regularly shelters 44 men -- sometimes more. That's more than doubled since 1999, when 15 men a night was the average.

The Yellowknife Women's Centre gets funding for 16 women, but director Arlene Hache said there are often as many as 30 women sleeping on couches and mats on the floor.

"It went through the roof three years ago," she said, "I think we're seeing a small increase again this year."

Families and women with children take shelter at the YWCA.

"When the shelters get full, the drunk tank gets full, the psych ward gets full, the streets get full and then we have a downtown problem," said Hoeft.

Transition housing is for people who are trying to get off the streets, but need some time to build up personal resources.

A person who needs to get a job to save money to be able to afford to rent at market value might need up to three years in transition housing.

The Homelessness Coalition has built two transition houses, one in Dettah and one in Ndilo. There is currently no transition housing in Yellowknife.

No transition housing

"If we were able to do that, our emergency shelter wouldn't be so full," said Hache.

Supportive housing is for people who aren't able to live independently, whether from mental illness or disability. That's where Yellowknife's record really falls apart, Hoeft says.

"We have people in emergency shelters because they can't get supportive housing into neighbourhoods," said Hoeft. "My question to Yellowknife is: Where do we put it, then?"

The Homelessness Coalition spent $400,000 on an eight-unit supportive apartment building in the downtown area in 2002.

That building is maintained by the North Slave Housing Corporation.