Yellowknife emergency housing could be delayed after building insurer pulls out

The Yellowknife Women's Society is creating emergency housing and a managed alcohol program for people living in homeless shelters or other overcrowded situations who need to self-isolate during the COVID-19 crisis, but an unexpected issue with the building's insurer could lead to weeks of delays.

On Friday, the society announced it had signed a purchase agreement with the Arnica Inn to use the property for transitional housing, with funding promised from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation(CMHC) and the N.W.T. government.

On Monday morning, the society's executive director, Bree Denning, told CBC thatbeginning later this week, around 25 people in need of emergency housing will be moving into the inn.

However, around 2 p.m. Monday,Denning said she was told that Intact Insurance, who was insuring the property, had "reneged" on its coverage and gave the society 30 days to find a new insurance company. Denning said Intact didn't provide a reasonbut the society is currently working on getting a new insurer for the building.

She said it could be weeks before they're able to house any participants.

"Our housing is for people who are in shelters or other overcrowded situations who need to socially distance themselves because they have risk factors," Denning said.

"We're reaching out to shelters and individuals who we know have advanced age, lung function issues, are immunocompromised ... who are staying at shelters or staying in overcrowded conditions who need to be able to keep away because their risk of severe illness is very high."

The program is being funded by the territorial government, though Denning is unsure what the total cost will be.

Providing alcohol, cigarettes

While people in the program will be allowed to leave the property, Denning saidthey'll be provided with food, alcohol and cigarettes so they don't have to. Supplying substances also means people won't be forced to turn to things like rubbing alcohol, household cleaner, or used cigarette butts to feed their addictions, Denning said.

It's startling to see how quickly it can be put in place when it serves public health interest. I'm questioning why this couldn't have been done before.- Yellowknife Women's Society executive director, Bree Denning

"We need to find out who's going to be staying with us and we'll purchase based on that. What we're trying to do is ... tailor what we purchase and what we provide to that person's preferences," Denning said.

"If someone is a sherry drinker and all we're providing is vodka, they might not be interested in it. We also don't want to make a hard alcohol drinker out of a beer drinker. We want to make sure we're moving people toward less harmful substances instead of the other way around."

Denning saidsupport staff and security will also be on-site.

The territorial government has been looking at the viability of a managed alcohol program in the territory for almost two decades. The N.W.T. Housing Corporation is working to create a temporary housing and managed alcohol program of its own for people experiencing homelessness who have COVID-19 symptoms or are awaiting test results, Denning said. No one from the territorial government would comment on the program but saidan announcement will be made later this week.

"It's startling to see how quickly it can be put in place when it serves public health interest. I'm questioning why this couldn't have been done before," Denning said.

"What I would hate to see is we get these managed alcohol programs in place and people start to benefit from them and taper down and make changes in their lives. Then when [COVID-19] is no longer the issue of the day, we pull all those supports away."

Arnica Inn renovationon hold

Denning saidafter the threat of COVID-19 has subsided, the society will begin renovationsto convert 42 units at the inn into transitional housing for people in need.

While the project now has the green light, it hit a roadblock last month. The society applied for funding from the CMHC's co-investment program last year. Under that program, the crown corporation would have paid for about 75 per cent of the project if the territorial government kicked in the other 25 per cent.

The society had asked for $4 million from the CMHC, conditional upon a $660,000 contribution from the N.W.T. Housing Corporation. Regular MLAs lauded the arrangement as "a great deal."

Much to the surprise of the women's society, its application was rejected on Feb. 14 after the CMHC said the territorial government refused to support the program, something the N.W.T. Housing Corporation denies.

Denning said, after many meetings, the territorial government agreed to provide the funding and asked the CMHC to reopen it's funding application. The owners of the Arnica Inn, the TC Group of Companies, has allowed the society to buy the property with a deferred payment option while it works out the funding agreement with the CMHC, Denning said.

Before renovations can begin the society has to do upgrades on the building, but the surveyors and experts required to do those upgrades live outsidethe territory. The N.W.T. border is currently closed to non-residents with few exceptions,so Denning saidit could be a while before that happens.

No one from the territorial government was immediately available for comment.