SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Mayor Mark Heyck says a promised homelessness, mental health and addictions task force will likely get underway in the coming weeks.

Heyck expects the task force, one of his election promises, to come up with a report and set of recommendations within four to five months on how to address the issues.

The task force will bring together various government departments, levels of government, business representatives and other groups involved in the issues trying to find a way to get them to work together to address the social issues instead of approaching it separately.

"There are a number of really good people doing good work in Yellowknife over the years," Heyck said Monday. "But at times it seems that they have lacked a focused mandate on what to do."

Contributing to that has been groups formed without a hard deadline to meet, he said.

"The tendency is for people to drift away from those efforts," he said.

The mayor said he's spent the past few weeks reaching out informally to various people who might be involved in the task force. He said he has several more meetings to go over several more weeks.

After that, he hopes to have the task force up and running within "a matter of weeks."

The mayor said it is "integral" that the business community is part of the task force.

Deneen Everett, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, said she hasn't heard from the mayor yet about the details of the task force but that she would be interested.

"This is something I'd have to have a conversation with my board of directors about but in the past we have been very supportive of these types of initiatives," she said.

"My initial thoughts are that when he comes out with some action items, we'd love to be a part of it."

The scale of the homelessness issue varies depending on which count or report is cited.

Between November 2009 and March 2014, 365 people accessed the Dene Ko Day Shelter alone.

A Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition report card showed that in 2008, 936 people experienced homelessness at some point during the year.

A 2011 study of homelessness in the city by Nick Falvo used that figure to calculate that the number of people using shelters as a proportion of the city's population is about five per cent. That's higher than the 1.1 per cent in Toronto or 0.5 per cent in Halifax.

A point-in-time count carried out last year, which came under criticism for its methodology, had 150 surveys completed. A York University professor from Toronto helping the city with the count suggested it meant the city has a worse homelessness problem than most Canadian cities.

The final report from that count, which had been expected to released last fall, has yet to be presented to council.

The data from the count is to be used as part of the city's housing first strategy.

Housing first emphasizes placing people in housing and then addressing underlying issues, such as addictions. Support provided to those living in housing first units generally lasts a year.

Though the city adopted a plan in September 2014, and the NWT Housing Corp. has committed $150,000 to the project, details remain sparse.

There's still no set number of housing units or a decision on whether those units will be all in one place or spread through buildings around the city, the mayor said.

Heyck said preparation work is still underway on the plan.

"That is moving forward," he said.

At the beginning of February, the mayor said the city expects to hear from two experts on housing first, who will hold workshops and present to a municipal services committee meeting.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.