For Immediate Release
Whitehorse, Yukon – People with lived experience, service providers, elected officials, and community partners will gather on Thursday, June 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre to honour the development of A Place to Be: Community Action to End Homelessness and share its vision with the community.
A Place to Be is a plan to reduce homelessness in the Yukon by 50 percent. It is an evidence-based framework grounded in data to provide a clear picture of homelessness in the territory. It outlines the system changes required, the housing needed, and the supports that help people remain housed.
“As of April 2026, homelessness in the Yukon reached its highest recorded level. Our goal is to reduce that number by 50 percent.” said Maddie Porter, Community Action Plan Coordinator. “With community support and the courage to commit to this framework, fewer people will be experiencing homelessness a year from now.”
The recommendations in A Place to Be were developed using local data, perspectives from people with lived experience, service providers, and government partners, a community survey, and site visits at shelters and support providers in Whitehorse, Dawson City, and Watson Lake. It contains 29 recommendations to strengthen the homelessness response system and address the significant gap in the housing continuum related to permanent and supportive housing.
“We’re already proving that A Place to Be is not going to sit on a shelf. We are
empowering people with lived experience as leaders, doing training that will strengthen the skills of workers, and making data public so we can be accountable. All of these are things that are recommended in A Place to Be” said Kerry Nolan, Lived Experience Circle Coordinator.
“We recognize that the Yukon is facing some fiscal challenges. Which is why we
continue to highlight the recommendations in A Place to Be that don’t require additional investment, they just require governments and organizations to work together more intentionally,” said Kate Mechan, Executive Director, Safe at Home Society and Co-Chair of the Community Advisory Board. “We also know that
homelessness puts significant strain on public systems like health care, emergency services, and policing, and that it is more cost-effective to invest in housing and prevention than to manage homelessness through emergency responses.”
The event will include an expert panel featuring the President of the Yukon Medical
Association, members of the business community, people with lived experience, and service providers. There will also be an opportunity for partners and members of the public to sign an endorsement of the plan. We look forward to governments formally signing on in early September as part of a shared commitment to reducing homelessness and using A Place to Be as a common framework for action.
A Place To Be- One Page Summary
A Place to Be- Executive Summary
Media Contact:
Maddie Porter – Community Action Plan Coordinator, Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition
(867) 332-5001
Rhpo.madeline@yapc.ca