YELLOWKNIFE - A federal homelessness representative congratulated the city Wednesday on the work it has done to collect data on homelessness.

"Yellowknife has been a leader in data collection," said Jane Weldon, director general of the federal Homelessness Partnering Secretariat.

Jane Weldon, director general of the Homelessness Partnering Secretariat, spoke at the homelessness forum March 5. - Alix McNaught/NNSL photo

"It was the first community in Canada with enough data online so we can do statistical analysis and economic regressions, all stuff that helps us."

According to Weldon, the rest of the country is now trying to catch up to Yellowknife in this respect.

She also added that "it's an issue no one level of government is going to be able to handle on its own."

She said homelessness falls under territorial and provincial jurisdiction, and that although the federal government is attempting to assist, the problem is growing.

"It's a bit offensive in a country as wealthy as ours to see people with nowhere to sleep," she said.

Weldon was attending the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition's public forum at the legislative assembly March 5.

The discussion, which was the coalition's first ever forum, focused on existing challenges and opportunities for addressing homelessness in the community.

Organized by co-chairs Lyda Fuller and Sandra Turner of the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition, the forum drew federal and territorial representatives, front-line service providers and members of the public.

"We want to raise community awareness," said Turner.

Funding provided through the Homelessness Partnering Strategy requires that communities put together and submit a comprehensive plan.

According to Weldon, the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition's plan was extremely comprehensive.

"Because we access federal homelessness money, we need a community plan to get funding," said Fuller.

"The city agreed to act as the legal entity (to receive the money). We updated the plan in November, which allowed the money to be released."

The money comes from the Federal Partnering Strategy.

"Territorial funding is used as matching money," said Fuller.

The forum's moderator, Mike Bradshaw, said although getting data on numbers of homeless people is difficult, the data exposes the extent of the problem.

"The number of homeless in Yellowknife is equal to five per cent of the census population," he said.

"Part of the issue is that Yellowknife becomes a lightning rod for the whole territory."

City Coun. Shelagh Montgomery said Yellowknife needs more affordable housing.

"One thing I've been pushing for is to have a city plan for affordable housing because it's not just people without homes," she said.

"We have an income gap in Yellowknife, because of the market we're in. I think there's a lot the city could to do address this."

Fuller said, "There's a lot of public attention to the visible part of homelessness but it's much deeper than that.

The issues are complex, so we really need the input of the whole community; everyone has a piece of the answer."