There are some major resource gaps felt by people experiencing homelessness in the North that may not be captured in the latest Point-in-Time according to one community advocate. It has to do with interruptions in shelter and housing supports, a situation that continues to be unique to the North and which has existed for “many, many” years.
Tony Bruschett, executive director of the Salvation Army in Yellowknife, told True North FM he hopes public reports like the PiT will help pave the way for change, especially with elections around the corner.
The 2024 Point-in-Time (PIT) report released last week showed homeless is indeed on the rise by at least 5 per cent since 2021 in the city of Yellowknife.
The PiT is considered a ‘snapshot’ of the number of people experiencing homeless at one point in time and place.
Bruschett said he’s not surprised.
“We knew the number would be higher than the last one in 2021,” said Bruschett.
The number is “probably even higher than that” he pointed out.
The difficulties of “trying to track everybody down in such a short period of time. It’s the biggest issue,” said Bruschett.
Bruschett said that there are “probably several reasons” for the increase in homelessnes, beyond the rising cost of living.
One of those reasons has to do with N.W.T.’s 2023 wildfires which devastated many communities across the region.
“We do know that after the evacuation in 2023, we inherited a fair number of new homeless people. They came up, they came back up from down south and some of them have stayed. So those numbers increased,” said Bruschett.
Bruschett said that the city is also a magnet for people who are experiencing economic difficulties in more remote areas of the territory.
Each year the numbers of homeless people seems to visibly increase, especially in the spring when the weather has warmed, “people are starting to camp outside the tents again.”
Bruschett said that another cause of the increase has to do with mental health and addictions.
He said that organizations and advocates like the Salvation Army are constantly looking for ways not to just get people sheltered but to get people into transitional housing and more permanent shelter.
Bruschett said the key is not simply housing, but giving people what they need, which also means nourishing food and a reliable support system.
The organization does a lot more than just provide shelter, the organization also provides nourishing meals, thanks in part to the many food donations they receive. With the rising costs of food, Bruschett said that donations are very much appreciated by the many people who use their food servies.
Bruschett said that the Salvation Army serves about 70, 000 meals a year from their location in Yellowknife.
“Trying to pay for all those meals is just out of the world, it costs. So when we get help and we get people who donate food, we certainly have our kitchens cook that and we try to make sure that we serve a very hearty meal every night for the folks downtown,” he said.
“For the meal and heading back out into a tent or something. We want to make sure that their bellies are quite full with lots of carbs and lots of healthy food,” Bruschett added.
Supports along with housing are key said Bruschett.
“It has to start with more supportive housing units, more transitional housing, that type of thing.”
Bruschett explained that its difficult, especially in the far North to find funding to do that.
There is a gap in the kinds of resources available in the North in comparison to other parts of the country. The city has yet to build a shelter that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, something that is very much needed said Brucschett.
“We open at 6 30 in the evening, so we serve everybody a nice hot meal and they can stay until seven in the morning and then they have to leave. So if we had a 24-hour shelter, like some of the ones that run across the country, instead of basically kicking people out on the street at seven in the morning, they can get up and they can hang around the common areas,” said Brucschett.
Having that space to keep warm would also mean access to housing workers and mental health supports.
This is one major wish that Brucschett says might change soon.
“We seem to be getting some kind of a commitment from the federal leaders who are running for elections.”
Greater access to needed shelter and support for the underhoused and homeless is a change that many across the city hope the next elected leader will bring.
But many who are experiencing homelessness right now feel the system needs more than that.
“So for a lot of them they feel like the system is not helping them,” lamented Brucschett who points out that at the same time “there’s a lot of people working very hard to try and help.”
“(Many) feel like they’re lost in a system that let’s be honest, the system itself is broken in some, in many ways,” said Brucschett.
