The Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition and the opposition parties have lined up to denounce the government’s move to inject $1.4 million of Northern Housing Trust money — originally earmarked for affordable housing — into green energy incentives for homeowners.

The Whitehorse and Yukon chambers of commerce offered a limited endorsement, but echoed critics questioning how the plan directly addresses the Yukon’s housing shortage and high rents — both obstacles to attracting people and encouraging spending in the territory.

The government said the “good energy residential incentives program” will improve home energy efficiency and reduce both utilities bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Thomas, the co-chair of the anti-poverty coalition, remained unconvinced.

“I’m all for incentives for achieving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases, but it seems to me the government ought to be looking for other funding for that ... and take the original intent of the Northern Housing Trust to heart,” he told the Star Monday.

“I really strongly encourage them to kind of suck it up and start working on the physical housing needs which are still critical in the community.”

Thomas, like the commerce chambers, noted the long wait lists for social housing and seniors’ housing.

“The announcement is really about energy efficiency. It’s not a residential housing thing.”

The incentive plan, building on the government’s Good Energy Rebate programs, offers subsidies to homeowners on nine products that improve thermal enclosures or generate energy from renewable sources.

These include heat-recovery ventilators; EnergyStar windows and doors; and solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal energy generators.

The program is being unrolled under the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, not the housing portfolio.

Minister Scott Kent told the Star today it will “assist people on that part of the housing continuum” — current and soon-to-be homeowners.

“We feel it will benefit not only the homeowners but also have significant implications for the environment and for the economy.

“There were no stipulations as to what this money was for,” he added.

Thomas disagreed: “The housing trust was for housing. It’s for housing; it’s not for their own interpretation.”

Established by the federal Finance department in 2006 to “help meet short-term pressures with regard to the supply of affordable housing in the North,” the $300-million trust is not prescriptive on how specifically the cash should be doled out.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. defines affordable housing in part as 30 per cent or less of a household’s gross income.

“Utilizing the CMHC definition ... we have many families in both Whitehorse and rural Yukon living well beyond their means,” the Whitehorse and Yukon chambers of commerce wrote in a letter to the government in October.

“We definitely want to see the available funds expended soon and in a way that effectively addresses the real need for affordable rental units.”

Rick Karp, the president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, told the Star today that “we support programs to improve energy efficiency ... but do we use the Northern Housing Trust money for that, can we make that connection?

“It will lead ultimately to affordable housing rates over the long term. But we need some greater definition,” he added.

Karp said cheaper rental housing would make the Yukon a more attractive place to work and settle, giving the example of a Newfoundland resident he spoke to who was thinking about moving to Whitehorse.

“And when they were comparing rental rates ... they were saying we’re not going to have any money for down payments on a home because it would all be sucked up in rent.”

The vacancy rate in apartments that rent for $1,000 or less is 2.3 per cent, according to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics — “far below the 7.1 per cent continually referred to by your government,” the commerce chambers’ letter states.

“We find it perplexing that a debate continues as to whether or not there is a shortage of affordable housing in the Yukon.”

NDP Housing critic Kate White approved of supporting green energy upgrades, but not using cash designated for struggling families.

“If it was the government funding it out of pocket, I would say it’s all good. But when we’re talking about this money that was earmarked for affordable housing, there’s far too many people in the Yukon who don’t have a stable roof to live under,” she said in an interview Monday.

“We have multiple people in not a big enough space. We have people who worry about making ends meet, we have people who are living in substandard conditions.

“What about all these people,” she asked.

In the house, White called for the government to fund the green subsidies with government funds rather than the Northern Housing Trust.

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver characterized funding the energy incentives with housing trust money “another poor decision by the Cathers-Pasloski government.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re born and raised here or come from away ... that’s the hardest thing for a family to do, to get solid housing here and sink roots into the community.

“Yukon Housing did sit on this (housing money) through the worst housing crisis since the Klondike Gold Rush,” Silver added. “You can’t tell me that this is their best idea for affordable housing.”

Silver opened the legislative session in October by calling for the resignation of Brad Cathers, the minister responsible for the Yukon Housing Corp., due to ongoing affordable housing issues in the territory.

He noted then the government was still sitting on $11.5 million of the $17.5 million in Northern Housing Trust monies it received from Ottawa in 2006.

The Klondike MLA has also pointed to last June’s last-minute cancellation of a 75-unit affordable housing plan.

Since then, the Yukon government has allocated $3 million from the Northern Housing Trust fund toward a Salvation Army shelter expansion and transitional housing project in Whitehorse — neither of which qualify as affordable housing, according to opposition parties.

As a defence, Premier Darrell Pasloski has pointed out the government’s work with Kaushee’s Place to create Betty’s Haven, a $4.5-million 10-unit, second-stage housing complex for women and children exposed to violence that opened last fall.

Six affordable housing units worth $1.4 million are also slated for construction in Carmacks and Carcross.

The new residential housing program will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

“The Good Energy Rebate program will continue to provide incentives for the purchase of high-efficiency home heating systems and appliances,” the government stated in a release.

“Since 2007, the popular Good Energy Rebate program has successfully delivered over 10,000 rebates to Yukon residents, displacing 29,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, saving 17 million kWh of energy and resulting in a cost savings of $15.3 million.”