Encampment in Yellowknife sets up in new location after people living there told to leave

People who were living in a vacant lot in downtown Yellowknife have moved to a new location.

In the private parking lot next to a public housing complex on 51st Street, about a dozen tents and tarps are set up on the pavement for people who are struggling with housing.

"I'd like the public to know that we're not, you know, we're not degenerates … they make it look like we're all degenerates and drunks and alcoholics but I mean, we are people too," Craig Strachan told CBC on Monday afternoon.

Strachan spoke with CBC when people were packing up from the former location on a vacant lot at the corner of 52nd Avenue and 49th Street – after they were asked to leave.

People living on the lot were originally asked to be gone by Sunday night, less than a week after setting up. By Monday afternoon everything was removed.

The previous location is a vacant lot, owned by local realtor Adrian Bell, that is listed on the market for $989,000.

Bell told CBC it was a "difficult situation for all involved."

The new location is on the edge of the downtown core in a parking lot that reads "private property."

The building next to the parking lot is slated for public housing with $7.9 million in funding from the federal government given to the municipal and territorial government last year for the project. 

When speaking to CBC, Strachan said he felt "secure" in the new location as people living in the encampment were trying to work with different levels of government to find a new spot.

"The biggest thing, you know, we got winter coming up and we need proper housing. There is a shortage of housing right now in the N.W.T. and there's a lot more people on the streets than you actually realize," Strachan said. 

A spokesperson with the city confirmed officials with the capital were "aware that work is underway to transition the encampment to a more suitable location."

"The city is committed to working with partners, including the government of the Northwest Territories, to find ways to best support people experiencing homelessness within our capacity and scope as a municipality," Kerry Thistle, director of economic development and strategy with the city wrote in an email. 

CBC reached out to the territorial government for comment. 

Not a new problem 

It is not the first time the parking lot has been used to assist people facing homelessness. 

In 2021, the Northwest Territories government set up canopy tents, picnic tables and portable toilets in the parking lot after the temporary day shelter closed. 

The day shelter has since reopened but shelters operators in the capital have been raising the alarm with overcrowding and violence – calling it a "crisis."

Homelessness activists started calling for tent encampments earlier this summer. Volunteers built tent platforms for people facing homelessness but one of the two was destroyed in a fire last month.

Strachan said the struggle to find housing is a serious issue.

"I've been struggling with housing for about a year and a half now. I've been doing a lot of couch surfing back and forth from friends' houses, and I mean, being the person that was on the other side of the fence before I was completely ignorant to the homeless society," he said.

"I didn't realize it was this bad and nobody knows until you're on that side of the fence."