City council has voted to pass on $5 million in housing money from the federal government to support the purchase and renovation of the former High Country Inn by the Safe at Home Society.

The $5 million is being made available through the federal Rapid Housing Program being administered by the Canada Mortgage Housing Corp. (CMHC) to support affordable housing initiatives.

Council voted at its meeting Monday to have Mayor Laura Cabott sign a letter requesting that the CMHC transfer the money to the Yukon Housing Corp. (YHC), which is overseeing the housing proposal.

Yukon Housing will be named as title owner of the hotel property to ensure nothing would happen to the project if the Safe at Home Society ceases to exist or runs into operational issues, says the administrative report prepared for council.

Members of city council were unanimous Monday in support of the financial transfer and the overall project, though they did have a couple of questions for Kate Mechan, the society’s executive director.

Administration determined the transfer of funds could be done with a letter of approval from the mayor.

Mike Gau, the city’s director of development services, told members of council that if they went through the regular council process to approve the funding shift, it would take a month.

“It would be lengthy, to say the least,” he said.

Following council’s approval Monday, a joint press release announcing the arrangement was issued by the city and the federal and Yukon governments.

“The city is one of the government partners that helped create, and continues to support, the Safe at Home action plan,” Cabott said in a statement Tuesday.

“The plan recognizes that the responsibility and accountability for homelessness is not that of one government, but should be community-led, and supported community-wide by multiple governments and partners.”

Through the Rapid Housing Initiative, the CMHC allocated $1.5 billion to address housing needs of vulnerable Canadians.

The first intake for the funding was completed last year. The Yukon received $12.9 million to support the creation of 50 new homes in communities across the territory.

The second intake, directed at funding for cities, was announced last July. Whitehorse was deemed to be one of the 30 cities eligible for funding, and $5 million was reserved for Whitehorse.

The non-profit society has brokered a deal to purchase the High Country Inn and complete renovations at a total cost of $15 million. The CMHC had reviewed the project proposal and found it to be eligible for Rapid Housing funding.

The intent of the project is to convert the rooms into 55 supportive housing units.

The administrative report notes 75 per cent of the units will be for Indigenous tenants, with a minimum of 50 per cent reserved for vulnerable women.

Gau told council in addition to the $5 million grant from the city, the project will also be eligible for a $127,000 break on what the city would normally assess for development cost charges.

Mechan said in an interview today the society is still waiting for final approval from other funding streams that will be funnelled through the Yukon government.

Mechan said she expects the work to renovate the hotel will take several months.

“I would hope we hit the ground running by the end of January, early February and continue the work until the summer,” she said.

“Should the stars align in that regard, our hope is to have tenants move in between September and December of next year.”

Asked Monday about how secure the facility would be, Mechan said tenants will have to enter through the main doors, and there will be a minimum of two staff members on shift around the clock.

“Like many jurisdictions across Canada, the Yukon is experiencing a high demand for housing,” said Ranj Pillai, the minister responsible for the YHC.

“It is important that our governments have a united approach that aims to support innovative partnerships and solutions that grow housing stock and address the affordability gap.

“We are happy to partner with the Government of Canada and the City of Whitehorse to support the development of a full housing continuum across the Yukon.”

“Without urgent action by the Government of Canada, the pandemic could lead to a dramatic increase in homelessness,” added Yukon MP Brendan Hanley.