Homelessness action plan aims to expand services and prioritize long-term planning

Creating a sobering centre and expanding shelter hoursin Yellowknife are a few of the top priorities ofa new action planto reduce homelessness.

The Yellowknife Homelessness Road Map Action Plan released Friday includes 11 recommendations under three priorities: improved co-ordination and collaboration, new or enhanced services, and long term planning.

They come from aworking group that includedmembers from the City of Yellowknife,RCMP, territorial government,YellowknivesDeneFirst Nation, and local shelters, and ideas collected from a homelessness forum in April.CarolineCochrane, theminister responsible for addressing homelessness, hosted the forum.

The plan recommends creating a Street Outreach Services program that would include creation of adetoxfacility or sobering centre. The idea is to reduce the use of ambulance, police, and emergency room services by having paid staff provide transportation for homeless people to shelters, hospital, or a sobering centre. The cost of the program is estimated at $300,000 annually and could be implemented within six months.

Anotherrecommendation expanding capacity at Yellowknife's emergency shelters is alreadyin the works. The territorial government committed $600,000 in 2016/2017 budget to renovating shelter spaces at the Salvation Army and Yellowknife Women's Society.There is also a recommendation to expand shelter hours to close gaps in service and limit the stress on people who are forced to relocate multiple times a day.

Continued support for Housing First

Under theHousingFirst model, the plan sets a goal of housing 18-20 people by December 2018 and securing new funding for 2019. The City of Yellowknife has spent the past three years working on implementing the model of housing the homeless without set requirements such assobriety.

Other recommendationsinclude a harm reduction pilot program of supplying a rationed amount of alcohol to people suffering from severe addictions. The aim is to reduce the consumption of non-beverage alcohol, and stabilize participants to a point where they are better positioned to seek help, and are less of a strain on police and emergency services.

Also on the agenda is establishingan inter-agency committee to co-ordinate the activities of front-line agencies, and developing a broad 10-year plan to address homelessness in Yellowknife.