The Safe at Home Society continues to try to round up enough funding for necessary renovations to the former High Country Inn for the 67 supportive housing units they aim to provide in downtown Whitehorse.

An estimate the society received last August said renovations would cost about $30 million.

Safe at Home’s Kate Mechan, however, says that number was inaccurate due to the inability to get proper quotes for the work during the height of the Whitehorse building season.

As of now, Mechan says Safe at Home has $6 million fully committed, with an additional $14 million in tentative contributions.

“We are working really hard to fill the gap,” Mechan told the Star late last month.

The fully committed money is coming from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) and the Yukon government. Mechan did not want to disclose where the tentative funding would come from.

The building was bought by Safe at Home in January 2022 for just over $10 million, using funds from CMHC through the Rapid Housing Initiative and the Co-Investment Initiative.

The $5 million of rapid housing funds were initially given to the City of Whitehorse, which then decided to provide the money to Safe at Home for the project.

Another recent request for funding by Safe at Home was partially turned down by city council.

They had asked the council for about $1.7 million in grants and tax breaks, but were only given reduced development charges valued at $120,000 and a cash grant of $20,000.

“I’d be inclined to say that this is already a big package for us to be able to give to our community,” Coun. Kirk Cameron said during the March 27 council meeting as he brought forward a motion to offer the lesser amount for the project.

The renovations are needed to address building code violations and install kitchenettes in the suites. Most of the work will take place indoors, so it will be able to be done in the winter.

Mechan hopes to get the funding secured so work can begin this fall.

As of now, Safe at Home has 20 of the units occupied by 23 total people under a temporary occupancy permit. This permit was recently extended by the City of Whitehorse until the coming November.

The permit allows them to fill 26 units, but they are taking their time to ensure they are not overwhelming staff.

When Safe at Home first purchased the building, Mechan said the building was not properly assessed for building code violations, particularly as its use was being changed from commercial to residential.

“We did some additional code analysis and learnt that there are some significant deficiencies in the building,” she said. “That’s why we are in the position we are in.”

Currently the project is still in the design stage, so Mechan says they will be able to get an accurate picture of the real costs of renovations once designs are finished. She expects this to be done by August.

“We owe it to the funders and the general public and the people that we serve to have an exact number, not to be guessing,” she said.

Once they began looking into the code violations and the renovations needed, Mechan and the society realized the silver lining was that they would be able to increase the number of units from the 55 originally planned up to 67.

They will also have to worry about what additional problems they could find once they begin renovating the apartments. The hotel originally had 82 rooms, but will have fewer with the kitchenettes they plan to put in.

“When we start opening walls, there are things we are going to have to deal with,” Mechan said.

For now, Mechan is trying to slowly fill up the 26 spots they have a permit for, while making sure they’re able to provide the right supports for the people housed at the site.

This extra support can be anything from helping residents manage their keys, to aiding them in navigating social services and court systems to helping find them more permanent housing.

At this point, the goal is to figure out how to safely and effectively run this operation before the building really fills up after the renovations are complete.

Engaging with these supports is not a pre-condition for tenancy, she said, but the society hopes the tenants will take part.

The units are also supposed to house 75 per cent self-identified Indigenous people and 50 per cent women.

Homelessness forum planned for Wednesday ... see story in news section.