Yellowknife's 'housing first' policy just makes sense, says Alberta mayor

The City of Yellowknife is on the right track with its ‘housing first’ plan, says the mayor of Medicine Hat, Alta., which recently used the same strategy to end homelessness.

This fall, Yellowknife city council approved a new five-year plan that aims to find permanent homes for the homeless, before attempting to deal with other problems like drug and alcohol abuse.

Medicine Hat, Alta., is coming to the end of its own five-year "housing first" plan, and now has permanent housing for everyone who needs it.

But that city's mayor, Ted Clugston, admits he wasn't always in favour of the idea. 

“I was raised that if you want a place to live, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get a job,” Clugston says.

“What I realized is that was short sighted, and it actually works out to be cheaper to house somebody when you factor in, you know, these people get hypothermic, they end up in hospital, that costs a thousand, then they end up in our judicial system, our police…”

Clugston says if someone is living on the street, the city will find them a place to live within ten days.

He says the city has housed roughly 1,000 people over the last five years.

The province has provided much of the funding, and the city has put up the land.