Yellowknife considering boosting funding for street outreach program

The City of Yellowknife is considering allocating more than $260,000 to its street outreach program next year through a federal grant; this is in addition to the $380,000 the city already provides annually.

"We believe this program is one that is quite effective in the community and has room to grow," Yellowknife's city manager Stephen Van Dine said on Monday at a governance and priorities committee meeting.

Last month, a review agency presented to city council on the street outreach program, saying it lacks sustainable funding and provided several recommendations for the city to consider.

City council discussed these recommendations Monday and proposed ways to address some of them, including better pay for outreach workers, increased van operating hours, and dedicated staff to engage directly with the street-involved population.

Started in 2017, the program offers 12 hours of daily outreach for the homeless population, providing assistance and rides to shelters. Currently, the Yellowknife Women's Society is contracted to run the program.

Better living wage and increased hours proposed

Some of the consultant's recommendations estimate the costs to run the revised program at about $850,000 in its first year, $821,000 in year two, and $950,000 in year three. Those costs would include better pay to address staffing challenges and addressing the lack of available services for Yellowknife's vulnerable population.

Van Dine says the city doesn't have the financial capacity to address all of the recommendations to revise the program.

If approved by city council, he says the additional $260,000 from Reaching Home federal funding, would bring the total funding to $640,000 for the program in 2025. This increase would encourage future organizations contracted to run the service to enhance services and address some of the recommendations, including better pay for workers.

"Living wage was one of the larger pieces that was identified as being eye-catching, I think, from the evaluation," Van Dine said. 

Another proposed change is increasing the number of hours the van operates. Van Dine says preference will be given to contractors who can operate for more hours.

At the meeting, Mayor Rebecca Alty said she supports this.

"If we get two bidders and one says they can do 12 hours and the other says they can do 17 hours, the one that does 17 hours could end up having more points than the one that says 12," Alty said.

Councillor asks N.W.T. to 'fund us properly'

Coun. Rob Warburton urged caution about using this temporary funding to boost services.

"Once people experience a level of service, they're very remiss to go backwards, and the pressure will be immense if we don't replace the funding," Warburton said.

Coun. Ben Hendrikson agreed with Warburton but added that improving service may draw attention — and funding — from the territorial government.

Coun. Garett Cochrane echoed that statement.

"If anybody's listening from MACA [Municipal and Community Affairs], if they could tell HSS [Health and Social Services] to fund us properly, that would be great," he said.

Van Dine also proposed adding two dedicated outreach workers to engage with Yellowknife's street-involved population. 

"To have people on the street walking and being able to engage with [the] vulnerable population directly — we have heard lots of feedback that that demand is still there. And therefore, we are hoping through this process to see whether we can bring that back," Van Dine said.

The proposal includes workers conducting foot patrols in the downtown core seven days a week for five hours daily.

City council will consider the proposed changes again on Dec. 9.