It was overcast with flurries and -16 C, but in spite of the weather, a small crowd gathered at the corner of Main Street and Third Avenue to promote better housing in the Yukon.

Members of the group wrung their hands and danced from side to side to stave off the cold. It was a visceral reminder that warmth, protection from the elements, and a sense of safety are essential to surviving in the North.

The crowd was called to that spot by the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition (YAPC). It was there that in October, the organization, which advocates for the reduction of poverty and homelessness, installed a “Kindness Meter” – a colourful parking meter that collects coins for donation to local charities.

On Tuesday, in recognition of National Housing Day in Canada, the coalition set up a camera and was asking passersby to record their thoughts on housing, for a short video that will go up on the YAPC’s website.

The stunt’s purpose, said YAPC co-ordinator Kristina Craig, was to give people who live here an opportunity to have their voices heard.

The group also intends to send the video to Ottawa for consideration as the federal government prepares its national housing strategy, which is slated for release in 2017.

“There is a recognition (by the government of Canada) that we need a better housing system,” Craig said to the camera.

“Housing is such a fundamental piece of being healthy .... My hope is that we can take that momentum and just bring it right home.”

In a 24-hour period spanning April 13-14 of this year, the Council of Yukon First Nations and the Yukon Planning Group on Homelessness conducted the first point-in-time count of precariously housed people in Whitehorse.

It was revealed that 256 people in the city were “homeless or at risk of homelessness” in those 24 hours.

But Esther Armstrong, a housing navigator at the Victoria Faulkner Women’s Centre, noted that attaching a number to the precariously housed can be problematic.

For example, the “hidden homeless” – people who crash with friends, or who live in unstable, unsustainable situations – are difficult to count.

“Hidden homeless is hidden, so how do you ever really know how many people?” she asked, after recording her clip for the YAPC video Tuesday morning.

“And when you look at (people in) precarious housing,” she added, “one thing has to go wrong and they’ve lost their home as well.”

She described the hidden homeless in Whitehorse as “people staying wherever they can, doing whatever they need to do, to get a roof over their head for the night.”

Women especially, said Armstrong, will avoid shelters out of concerns for their safety.

They’ll turn to “couch surfing, trading sex for shelter – anything,” she said.

While Kaushee’s Place and Betty’s Haven offer safe spaces to women in abusive situations, Armstrong said options are lacking for women who are not fleeing violence.

To coincide with National Housing Day, Jean-Yves Duclos, the federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, released a compilation and analysis of opinions from more than 7,000 Canadians who identified areas of need, and made proposals for how to eliminate homelessness, and make housing in general more affordable.

The report, titled What We Heard, will inform the federal government’s national housing strategy.

According to the report, on any given night in Canada, nearly 35,000 people don’t have a bed of their own own to sleep in, and every year, more than 150,000 people use emergency shelters.

Indigenous people living off reserve are disproportionately affected by inadequate housing. One in five live in overcrowded or unsafe accommodations, according to What We Heard.

House prices overall in Canada are rising at a concerning rate. In the last 15 years, “house prices in most of Canada grew almost three times faster than incomes,” said the report. In Toronto and Vancouver, these prices grew four times faster.

The anti-poverty coalition supports a “housing first” approach to addressing homelessness, and the social problems exacerbated by poverty.

The idea is that when people have permanent, independent housing first, they are better equipped to improve their lives.

Once people are adequately housed, they can take full advantage of other supports and services, like education, mental health and addictions counseling and job training.

Charlotte Hrenchuk, co-ordinator at the Yukon Status of Women Council and YAPC co-chair, explained it this way: “It comes from a rights-based standpoint, that housing is a human right, that everyone has the right to safe, decent shelter.

“If you’re homeless and you’re constantly wondering where you’re going to sleep at night, especially in weather like this, then you don’t have time or the luxury, really, to think about other issues in your life,” she said.

During the recent election campaign, the Yukon Liberal Party promised to take a housing first approach to improving the lives and outcomes for Yukoners affected by poverty, addictions and mental health issues.

The details of a policy, however, have yet to be ironed out, said John Streicker, the MLA-designate for Mount Lorne-Southern Lakes, who was at the corner of Third and Main on Tuesday. It would involve “supporting housing,” he said.

Streicker said there are supportive living spaces in the city right now, but there aren’t enough beds.

Still, he said, “I don’t think it’s a great choice if we just put everybody who’s hardest to house in one place, I don’t want to make a ghetto.”

The Liberal government will solicit ideas from local community groups, he said.

Of course, Whitehorse isn’t the only municipality in the Yukon with a housing issue.

Last month, for example, Chief Jack Caesar of the Ross River Dena Council sent a letter to the territory’s political leaders calling for action on housing in his community, which he said is in a state of crisis.

Nearly half the homes in Ross River are unsafe to live in and emergency shelter is needed for 48 to 60 families before winter, he said in his letter.

Bill Thomas, another YAPC co-chair, said some of the housing on offer in the territory is damaged beyond repair and should be demolished.

“Many houses in the Yukon don’t merit any renovation; they have to be torn down. We don’t talk about that enough,” he said.

“I don’t want to sound like the terminator, but that has to be done and we just have to get the funding together to do these things.”

For close to an hour, members of YAPC stood beneath the Rotary International clock and asked people walking by if they would take a moment to record a few words about housing in the Yukon.

At one point, two men, who appeared underdressed for the weather, were stopped. One said “we are homeless,” and asked if they would be compensated to speak on tape (they wouldn’t be).

Another said, maybe, if this was happening inside, he’d be inclined to take part.

Then they went on their way, into the grey and snowy day.

At 5:30 this afternoon, YAPC will begin celebrating its 20th anniversary with a community potluck at CYO Hall at 406 Steele St. All are welcome.