SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The start of a street outreach service is on pause pending the delivery of a vehicle and the opening of a sobering centre.

Dayle Hernblad, the city's homelessness co-ordinator, said on Wednesday the city's application for a managed alcohol program pilot project was rejected by the federal government because it wasn't considered innovative enough. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo

This is what Grant White, the city's director of community services, told the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness on Wednesday.

The city has selected an operator for the street outreach service, also called a safe ride program, after a competitive process ended in January. He didn't say who was selected.

He said if the van, which is expected to come from the RCMP, arrives next week, the service could start very quickly and take people to shelters instead of the sobering centre.

The service was among 11 recommendations in the Yellowknife Homelessness Road Map Action Plan released in October last year. It called for implementation of the service within six months. The city budgeted $100,000 for the program this year with $100,000 more from the federal government.

The service would be based on similar programs in other cities and would see paid staff drive around in the vehicle assisting people in need and in some cases, transporting them to a shelter, hospital or sobering centre. It could also direct people to other social services.

"It's more than just a shuttle service. It's really about building relationships," said Mayor Mark Heyck last year.

Heyck was the one to raise the idea for the service as a way to address growing calls to the city's ambulance service and RCMP about intoxicated or homeless people.

White was asked whether the city was premature in trying to get the service started.

"The timing when we brought it out, we were led to believe the sobering centre was closer than it was," White said.

The Department of Health and Social Services is "still exploring possible locations for the sobering centre," according to spokesperson Damien Healy.

Minister Glen Abernethy said March 2 a location outside the downtown core had been selected. He wouldn't provide further details until the location was secured. Abernethy had said the GNWT was "aggressively" seeking a sobering centre venue downtown but has having difficulty finding a suitable location.

Healy stated the centre would be open 12 hours

per day, seven days per week.

Coun. Linda Bussey, chairperson of the committee White was addressing, said the group will need to make a decision within the coming months about how to use the money allocated for the service should the sobering centre not open soon.

"I think we need to be on top of it and push but we cannot take the risk to lose half the funding waiting," she said.

The committee also heard why the city's proposal to research and start a managed alcohol pilot project was rejected by the federal government.

The harm reduction program would allow an addict to receive a controlled amount of alcohol with the goal of keeping them from binging or using chemicals.

The city applied to a fund for innovative solutions to homelessness. Dayle Hernblad, the city's homelessness co-ordinator, said she was told by e-mail this week the city was rejected because its plan wasn't considered new and innovative enough.

"I wrote back and said I think you're incorrect because in our community and in the North, it is new and innovative and we haven't really embraced harm reduction and we certainly have never embraced a managed alcohol program," Hernblad said.

It also suffered because the application wasn't clear about enough about who the city would partner with for the project.

Hernblad attributed this to having to submit the application before there was a clear indication from the GNWT it wanted to pursue such a program.

Hernblad said there were 340 applications from across the country for the same pot of funds and that the denial can't be appealed.

"It would've been a great project," Bussey said.

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