The Whitehorse Emergency Shelter will undergo a number of significant changes geared to addressing the issue of homelessness in Yukon and the safety concerns of community members.

“When the Government of Yukon began operating the facility as a low-barrier shelter, the full scope of this problem became even more apparent as more and more clients began accessing the facility not just for the shelter, but also to meet a range of other health and social needs,” Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost told a press conference this morning.

“I want (community members) to know that we hear them and we acknowledge those frustrations. The problem here is not the shelter … these are symptoms of real problems in our society.”

Frost suggested that the solution to issues surrounding the shelter is complex and must address the root issues of homelessness.

Frost announced several new initiatives for the shelter aiming to improve safety, long-term housing, health services, programming, client involvement and information- sharing.

Each of the initiatives is either currently underway or in development for implementation plans in the near future.

A panel of six experts working in the shelter ecosystem, including the RCMP, EMS and Department of Health and Social Services representatives, were made available to media to discuss the implementation of the initiatives.

To address safety concerns surrounding the Fourth Avenue shelter, the Department of Justice plans to station a community liaison officer at the facility, which opened in late 2017. The officer will focus on “supporting the facility and community-based policing.”

Whitehorse’s RCMP detachment commander, Keith Mackinnon, clarified that the community liaison officer will be a separate entity from the Kwanlin Dün First Nation community patrol.

Mackinnon said a recent study found his detachment received approximately 46 calls to the shelter per week.

Since the low-barrier approach was adopted, and the shelter became more of a “hang-out”, there has been an increase in violent incidents.

Mackinnon said he is in support of a community liaison officer who will build relationships and become a point of contact between RCMP and shelter guests.

“It doesn’t become so much of a police approach, per se, in terms of traditional arrest,” he said. “It’s more; how can you help these people?”

A community safety plan is also under development, with collaboration from RCMP, First Nations governments, non-government organizations as well as business and community members.

Frost said there is consideration of implementing a good neighbour agreement.

Within the shelter, staff are developing a Peer Outreach Program with facility guests who will conduct safety and wellness checks and provide outreach to vulnerable community members.

To aid shelter guests who are consistently homeless, the facility’s 20 transitional units will be repurposed as permanent housing.

Christine Tapp, the director of social services with oversight at the shelter, said there are fewer than 10 residents currently residing in the transitional units. Some of the transitional residents have successfully been moved into permanent housing, she said.

The vacant units allow the department to “revision” the space’s purpose.

“What we’ve seen over the past several months is: one of the most pressing needs is permanent housing, supportive housing for individuals who are chronically homeless with very complex health and support needs,” Tapp said.

“In a community where we have so few housing resources, making sure we’re using the small amount of resources that we have well, to house the most vulnerable people first, and then outwards from there.”

To provide on-site health services, two emergency medical services (EMS) paramedics were newly stationed at the shelter last week. A paramedic will now be available at the facility 10 hours a day, seven days a week.

Gerard Dinn, Yukon Medical Services’ clinical operations manager, said the move to on-site medical services will ease the burden currently shouldered by emergency responders.

Dinn said approximately 700 calls to the shelter have been logged by EMS since May, or three to five every day.

The two EMS workers now stationed at the shelter have gone through paramedic specialist training, which involves education in treating patients with substance abuse issues.

Community Services Minister John Streicker said the stationed EMS workers will, similar to the liaison officer, be able to build relationships with shelter guests, resulting in the prevention of escalating chronic conditions and better service provision.

“We are seeing a positive difference, and this is just the beginning,” Streicker said.

Two mental health workers will be hired at the facility, including a psychiatric nurse and a counsellor.

A social worker and outreach worker will also be hired to support guests and connect them to resources.

Due to the high number of drop-in clients at the shelter, Health and Social Services is considering adding two more workers on top of the planned hires to address demand.

To expand programming, other staff members have been reassigned to focus on activities with a First Nations focus.

Last summer, a guest advisory committee was introduced at the shelter. They give advice and recommendations to staff regarding services, and played a role in the development of these new initiatives, according to Tapp.

The shelter is also launching a monthly newsletter, Tapp said, that will highlight activities and programming at the shelter. It will also provide community members with some information about operations.

The changes to the shelter will be implemented collaboratively within the Health and Social Services, Justice and Community Services departments.

Safe At Home, a Whitehorse-based organization focused on ending homelessness, provided part of the framework for the initiatives.

Kate Mechan, the Safe At Home implementation manager, commended shelter staff and community members for working together to find solutions.

“We are in the midst of a systems change, and a systems change is really hard, it’s really hard work,” Mechan said. “It requires bold decisions, it requires transparency and it requires we have relationships that are built on trust.”

Mechan said Safe At Home is working on the monthly newsletter and a catch-all website for homelessness in Yukon.

At the end of March 2020, a progress report will be released on the status of 80 actions. Each action item has a person assigned to it, she said, guaranteeing movement forward.

She said the mission of Safe At Home is to encourage greater co-ordination across all systems and to develop better data resources to aid informed decision-making.

The real goal, Mechan said, extends beyond the shelter.

“Shelters are not what end homelessness; permanent supported housing ends homelessness,” Mechan said, adding the programming for the shelter is not the “be-all-end-all” solution for the territory.

“We all know it’s not entirely smooth sailing. I think the announcements today … will move us in the right direction.”

During the summer, several nearby business owners and members of the public went to city council and complained about the disruptions caused by those lurking outside the shelter until all hours of the night.

The problems have included shouting, fighting, trespassing on nearby properties, the smashing of bottles and alarming passersby, including visitors to the territory.