The federal government is a day late and a dollar short when it comes to making some of its Whitehorse properties available for housing.

That’s the belief of city councillor Ted Laking, who has been championing the cause since 2023.

On April 24, Laking said Wednesday, “two federal ministers came to Whitehorse for a photo-op to reannounce an initiative originally committed to in 2018 to develop vacant and underused federal lands for housing.”

The ministers were Soraya Martinez Ferrada, the minister of Tourism and minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, and Marc Miller, the minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

“Six years after this commitment was made, not only have no lands been divested in Whitehorse, but the federal government is still unable to provide a timeline or any details or a plan to divest these lands,” Laking noted.

“It’s disappointing that we still do not have any concrete plan from the government.

“Since the government promised this six years ago, housing affordability has gotten worse and the availability of houses has not keep up with growth, but there is still no plans for the Yukon to benefit from these lands.

“A photo-op reannouncing every-thing we already know with no new details or timelines is far too little too late.”

During a city council meeting on Sept. 18, 2023, Laking raised the lack of progress on disposing of these lands for housing development.

During the discussion, he noted that the federal government has not made any land available in the Yukon through this program – and that a sizeable portion of federal land on Range Road could support more than 500 homes.

On Oct. 10, 2023, Laking’s motion calling on the federal government to make available federal lands for housing development was approved unanimously.

The motion also requested that the federal government provide a plan and timeline for the divestment of these lands to be shared prior to the end of 2023.

No plan or timeline has been provided since the passage of the motion – with none being provided by Ferrada nor Miller during their visit to Whitehorse.

“At the municipal level, we have been pushing initiatives to enhance our zoning and increase densification, but we need the federal government to start treating this land issue urgently,” said Laking.