“I can say I have a home.”

It was with emotion that Nora MacIntosh addressed a crowd gathered Wednesday afternoon for a barbecue at Shipyards Park, speaking of the joy in having to go home to everyday tasks like laundry and cooking meals.

With lived experience in homelessness, MacIntosh said she is grateful for the help she’s received in the community to get back on her feet. She is now beginning to focus on her artwork again.

The event at Shipyards drew many who have experienced homelessness, like MacIntosh, or are without a home now.

It also drew officials from numerous organizations involved in the 24-hour Point In Time (PiT) homeless count conducted April 17-18. The results were released at the barbecue.

The count was conducted by the Yukon Planning Group On Homelessness and the Council of Yukon First Nations, with 47 volunteers helping out.

It found that at least 195 people were homeless during the 24-hour period.

Of those:

• 28 were without shelter (living on the street, in vehicles or tents);

• 33 had emergency shelter at one of the three local facilities; and

• 134 had provisional accommodations in transitional housing, a hotel or were staying at someone else’s house or a public institution like a jail or hospital.

Both MacIntosh and Kerry Nolan spoke of their lived experience and the challenges and supports needed to find housing.

“This – poverty, homelessness – can happen to anybody,” Nolan said.

They also highlighted the importance of efforts like the PiT Count and listening to those who have experienced homelessness tell their stories in addressing the issue.

The Whitehorse count was one of 60 that took place in communities across the country in March and April.

The Whitehorse findings show figures like 97 per cent of those interviewed want permanent housing, and 57 per cent have been homeless for six months or longer.

However, officials made it clear that it is not a full picture of the situation.

Looking at demographics:

• 61 per cent were male and 39 per cent female;

• 82 per cent were Indigenous and 18 per cent were non-Indigenous; and

• 12 per cent were defined as youth between the ages of 15 and 24, 83 per cent were adults aged 25 to 64, and five per cent were seniors aged 65-plus.

However, as Kate Mechan, who co-ordinated the count and is also the manager of the Safe At Home action plan, pointed out to reporters: “It’s only a snapshot.”

Those experiencing hidden homelessness – couch surfing and the like – are not always captured in such counts. That’s because it’s not always obvious, and those experiencing it may be reluctant to take part in interviews.

As Charlotte Hrenchuk, a member of the Yukon Planning Group on Homelessness and co-ordinator of the Yukon Status of Women Council, noted: “We know that women, children and youth are among our local homeless population and they experience the impacts of homelessness differently – including being more hidden.”

Mechan also stressed the figures from this year’s count should not be compared directly with those from the last count, done in 2016.

There are a number of different factors this time around, she said, pointing out that the methodology at the federal level for the count was different.

Locally, Mechan pointed out, there were a number of new partnerships in place with a variety of stakeholders and public bodies that impacted the numbers. Even changes in weather would make a difference, she added.

The figures, Mechan said, give officials a baseline that can inform efforts such as the action plan, as well as work to improve the housing stock, targeting supports to those in need and so on.

As Nolan stated in a press release: “The 2018 PiT Count provides a glimpse into homelessness in Whitehorse.

“Building on the voices of those with lived experience, we are better equipped to be solution-driven through our Safe at Home action plan to end and prevent homelessness.”

Meanwhile, as the Star reported Wednesday, the cost of housing continues to rise sharply in Whitehorse.

The average price for a single-detached house was $479,000 in the second quarter of this year.

Yukon Bureau of Statistics data show the cost for single-detached homes rose by $44,600, or 10.3 per cent, compared to the same period in 2017, when it was $434,400.