The Yukon NDP held its second annual private meeting of housing stakeholders Wednesday to discuss issues facing the territory and possible solutions.

Liz Hanson, the leader of the official Opposition, said a diverse group of stakeholders attended the meeting.

They included representatives of several First Nations governments, businesses, the mortgage industry, and housing advocates.

While Hanson said the Ministers of Housing, Community Services and Health and Social Services were invited, none attended. Scott Kent, Elaine Taylor and Doug Graham hold those portfolios respectively.

Last year's meeting focused primarily on homelessness in Whitehorse and the territory. This year, the lack of affordable housing and rental units was also on the agenda.

Low vacancy rates and the high cost of entry-level housing has made housing an "unattainable goal” for many people, Hanson said.

Most people at the meeting agreed a solution must combine "community-based decision-making and political will,” she said.

But it's the political will Hanson said most participants agreed seems to be missing.

"People were saying, ‘we've put forward ideas, we've responded to requests for proposals from the government and it just goes into this muddy murk,'” Hanson

said.

This transitioned into conversations that waiting for government to take a leadership role is no longer an option; that community coalitions should rather take over.

"But obviously in the end, we're going to need the Government of Yukon to step up to the plate,” said the NDP leader.

"They're going to have to respond positively to any initiatives that people come forward with.

"There are lots of ideas, and so it's not for want of ideas, if the Government of Yukon wanted to tap into the community, they would have lots of good input from a wide array of expertise that exists in this community.”

Rick Karp, the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce and a candidate for mayor, agrees with Hanson. It appeared to most of those in attendance that the government could be doing a lot more to resolve the housing crisis.

Karp said one of the key housing issues from the chamber's perspective is the need for affordable rental units.

"We need hundreds of affordable rental units,” he said.

"As I said yesterday, I agree with Liz (about needing a community based approach), but we need some action and we need to involve, as I said yesterday, the private sector.

"We also need to have at the table the city and the Yukon government.”

Karp said he "tends to agree” with the consensus at Wednesday's meeting that the government's action on the housing situation has been limited.

"When we see what happened with Lot 262, up by the (Yukon) College, there was a big opportunity there to make a big dent now in the affordable rental situation and it just didn't happen, so that's become an issue and a problem,” said Karp.

(Earlier this year, the government invited private sector interest in creating affordable housing on Lot 262, near the Mountainview Drive-Range Road intersection, but didn't draw any firm offers.)

The mining sector will need to employ hundreds, if not thousands, of people, said Karp, "and we need to have this housing situation resolved.”

He said a key issue is the lack of mobility in the housing market.

"Bringing single-family units or condos on the market is fine, but that's not where the problem is. The problem is in affordable rental units.”

Young working families need affordable rents so they can save for a down payment to buy a home, Karp said.

"They don't have the down payment to put in to buy a house, but they could afford a mortgage and they're paying a lot in rent, and we've got to allow these people to save up money to have a deposit to get in to the housing.

"That's where we get the mobility in the housing market back again, and that's where the crisis is now, in affordable rental units, affordable rental units, and we've got to use the private sector, and Liz is absolutely correct in saying it's got to be a community approach to this,” Karp said.

"Even if 30 per cent of what the mining industry is predicting comes true, 30 per cent, Whitehorse is going to continue to grow year after year, and we have to facilitate this growth.

"People just coming into town have to be able to get into apartments, get their feet on the ground, see where they want to live, save up some money and move into a house and begin to move up the ladder.”

The public and media were not invited to Wednesday's meeting because it was designed to be a "small, frank conversation,” said Hanson.

They didn't want participants to feel "that if they said something they were going to be politically compromised; some people might have been depending on their backgrounds.”

See Friday's Star for cabinet ministers' perspective on housing issues.

By Ainslie Cruickshank

Star Reporter