Whitehorse emergency shelter can't meet all needs, reports state

The Whitehorse emergency shelter is meeting the basic needs of many people who are homeless, according to a new report commissioned by the territorial government, but the report also says more should be done to help longer-term shelter clients find and maintain housing. 

The Yukon government hired an independent consultant last summer to make an evaluation of the shelter at 405 Alexander Street and determine whether it was meeting needs. The 50-page report from Vink Consulting was released on Thursday, alongside another, separate report which makes recommendations for improvements.

Presenting the reports at a news conference on Thursday, Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee said the shelter can sometimes appear as a "lightning rod for the complex and serious and challenging issues" facing Yukon communities.

"We know there is more work to do," McPhee said.

"We cannot enhance or improve what we don't know about."

The territorial government operated the shelter from 2019 until last fall, when Connective (formerly the John Howard Society) and the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) took over operations. The territorial government continues to fund the facility.

The Whitehorse Emergency Shelter Evaluation report is based on an analysis of data, and interviews done with shelter clients, staff, and other community stakeholders before the transition of operations.

The report found that the shelter is meeting basic needs — meals, clothing, harm reduction supplies — for many clients, and that the benefits it provides outweigh its costs.

However, the report also found that the Yukon government and its partners would do better to invest more in a range of other housing options for shelter clients.  

"The shelter is not as cost effective an alternative solutions of providing longer-term shelter guests with housing, along with supports where needed to maintain housing," it reads.

The report states that 45 people spent 90 or more nights at the shelter between October 2021 and September 2022.

"These individuals consumed a disproportionately large share of the bed nights at the shelter. If these individuals received housing as an alternative to shelter, the shelter would have only had an average occupancy of under seven people per night, rather than 40 people."

The report also acknowledges that it's hard to measure and do a cost analysis of some social outcomes, such as a person's sense of safety and wellness.

While the vast majority of shelter clients are Indigenous, the report also found there was a limited amount of "culturally appropriate approaches to service."

CYFN Grand Chief Peter Johnston said that's going to take a lot more work, but he's confident that Connective and the First Nations can help steer things in the right direction and make some "pivotal" changes to better meet the needs of shelter clients. He pointed to a new cultural support worker at the shelter as an example. 

Speaking at the Thursday news conference, Johnston also said he had just toured the shelter a day earlier alongside some other chiefs. He said that visit was an "eye-opener" for many of them.

"To see where some of our people get caught in a reality of, you know, lack of housing, substance abuse, lack of education, a number of different complex issues ... I think we now get to see where we need to ... advocate for more resources," Johnston said.

Complexity of issues 'only brushed upon'

The second report released on Thursday, A Path Forward, was produced by independent consultant House of Wolf & Associates and aims to "lay the groundwork for a multi-stakeholder strategy to move forward."

The report is based on dozens of semi-structured and in-depth interviews done last summer with shelter clients and staff. Consultants also interviewed local business owners and neighbourhood residents, City of Whitehorse staff, CYFN representatives and RCMP. 

The 69-page report makes several recommendations, while acknowledging "the complexity of the issues surrounding 405 Alexander Street are only brushed on within this report."

One key recommendation is that CYFN and Connective clarify the central purpose of the shelter and its programs, and find ways to effectively communicate that to clients and the public.

That might "decrease the perception — real or imagined — that the facility is a gathering place for substance use," the report reads.

Mark Miller, CEO of Connective, said at Thursday's news conference that his organization is "exploring models of community engagement" with the territorial government and CYFN, so people can better understand the shelter's role.

He also said Connective is looking to rename the facility, "to better reflect its position as much more than just an emergency shelter service."

Another recommendation in the report is to decentralize some services provided by the shelter, to different hubs through Whitehorse.

"Unstructured large-group congregation was raised as a threat for all four cohort groups; from decreasing success of atttempts at recovery, to increasing potential for violence, crime, and disorder," the report reads.

De-centralizing services could make those large gatherings of people more unlikely, it states.

Earlier this year, some local businesses near the shelter complained that a "party scene" outside the facility had become an ongoing issue for them.