Yellowknife (Jan 26/05) - Non-profit and private sector representatives say housing in the North faces problems distinct from those in the rest of the country.

Canada-wide consultations for a Canadian Housing Framework were held in Yellowknife Saturday.

Lyda Fuller, executive director of the Yellowknife YWCA, asked for more affordable and supportive housing from the federal government during consultations on Saturday. - Lisa Scott/NNSL photo

The need for more affordable housing and Northern-specific programs were among the key points made to a Government of Canada panel.

The high cost of living in Yellowknife and across the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut was repeated by presenters at the Explorer Hotel, who included Arlene Hache with the Centre for Northern Families, Cecily Hewitt with the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities, and David McPherson with the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce.

"In all of our programs we see the impact of the housing market on families," Lyda Fuller, executive director of the YWCA in Yellowknife, told the three-person panel.

More affordable and supportive housing is needed for victims of abuse, those with disabilities and families in the North, she said.

Hache said she hoped changes would arise as a result of the consultations.

"I'm expecting that the group listens and will go back and take what we have said and implement changes that way," she said after her presentation.

Getting federal support to amend restrictive territorial government policy was at the top of Hache's wish list.

"I'm not happy with territorial government policies that exist to erase any good you could possibly do," she said.

As an example, Hache pointed to Yellowknife Housing Authority (YHA) policies that restrict rental leases to three months. She said it puts people out on the street and leaves them with no recourse of action.

"The Housing Authority gets to boot people out without being accountable to the community," she said.

Nine presenters, including those from the Yukon and Nunavut stepped up to the microphone in the sixth of 13 consultations sessions to be held across Canada in January and February.

Trevor Gloyn, general manager of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, said the panel will take the feedback back to Joe Fontana, federal Minister of Labour and Housing, who will be presenting a new Canadian housing framework to cabinet in the coming months.

'What we can do better'

"He's asking people to tell him what's been good about the programs (for housing) so far... and what we can do better," said Gloyn.

After a morning of feedback from presenters, the needs of the North were apparent to Gloyn and the panel.

"The circumstances that exist here require different solutions than they would in the south," he said.

"The different aspects of the North haven't been adequately supported in programs and we need to address that," added Gloyn.

More money is obviously needed to address overcrowding, homelessness and transitional housing, he said.