Whitehorse's housing crisis highlighted in report

Many people are being left out in the cold in Whitehorse, due to a severe housing shortage and homeless shelters being pushed beyond their capacity, according to a new report by the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition.

The coalition found that more people are turning to the Salvation Army emergency shelter for housing, given that Whitehorse has a vacancy rate of less than one per cent and the Yukon Housing Corp. has a waitlist with 142 people on it.

The Salvation Army shelter, as well as the Kaushee's Place transitional home for women and children, are regularly full or near capacity, according to the report.

"If they have room, they will take people. If they're full to the rafters and you aren't being beaten up right at that present moment in time, then there's no place for you," Charlotte Hrenchuk, one of the report's authors, told reporters on Monday.

'Better than freezing to death'

Hrenchuk, who is executive director of the Yukon Status of Women Council, said women are even being forced to sleep with men just to survive.

"Survival sex is huge here women getting themselves drunk and doing things they wouldn't like to do to get into detox," she said.

"The greater community could look at [it] and say oh that's really awful; this is really dehumanizing' yeah, but it is a good coping strategy. It's better than freezing to death."

Meanwhile, Patricia Bacon of Blood Ties Four Directions said people are sleeping at its daytime drop-in centre because they could not find anywhere else to rest.

"They're exhausted because they couldn't sleep the night before, either because they couldn't get a bed at the Salvation Army or they were sleeping in chairs or that sort of thing or they were out on the street and it's been cold," Bacon said.

More affordable housing needed

"They're not housed, they're not getting enough sleep, then their social interaction skills are decreased," Bacon added. "They are getting into more fights, they're having problems with their case workers, and that sort of thing."

The coalition's report, A Home For Everyone, includes an action plan that calls for more affordable housing, rental accommodations, transitional housing and emergency shelters.

"Think in terms of a quilt, the patches that make up the quilt," said coalition chairman Bill Thomas.

"There is no any one patch that will fulfill the needs of a complete quilt. All those patches need to be worked on very sincerely, very comprehensibly, very consistently."

Coalition members say they hope the community will play an active role in helping to solve Whitehorse's housing crisis.