Former Whitehorse hotel to house 20 people until end of June

Twenty people in need of housing will move into a former hotel in downtown Whitehorse in mid-February.

The city's Safe At Home Society owns the High Country Inn. It's in the process of turning the hotel into supportive housing for more than 60 people.

In the meantime, the society has received a permit from the City of Whitehorse that will allow the hotel to be used as temporary housing until the end of June.

The occupants of the 20 units will come from Safe At Home's by-name list, a running tally of people in the city experiencing homelessness.

Executive director Kate Mechan said the people who move in to the High Country will have "low to moderate" support needs. Two staffers will be on site at all time, she said.

"They are more or less like little hotel suites," she said. "They're furnished. They come with a microwave and a mini-fridge. So people have the ability to be fully independent." 

Space for more than 60 people planned

Mechan said Safe At Home got money from the Yukon government to get 20 of the rooms ready for people to live in. Safe At Home has already received at least $16 million for the project, including $10 million to buy the hotel from its former owners, Northern Vision Development.

"We had boiler inspections, fire safety inspections and we had to get a little bit of electrical work done to make sure that people's heating works properly, things like that," Mechan said. "And then we did a deep clean because the building had been empty for a year."

It's still not clear when the rest of the units will be ready. The plan calls for the 60 units to be dedicated to Indigenous people, women and youth.

Until the pandemic, the High Country Inn was a major hotel in the city. During the pandemic, it saw use as a self-isolation facility for people returning to the territory. 

Northern Vision plans to build a new hotel on Main Street, a few blocks away.