On May 25, 2022, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a report on the state of housing in the Yukon. The report's performance audit focused on:
- the role of Yukon Housing Corporation (YHC) in providing social housing; and
- the role of the Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) in providing:
- emergency shelters;
- transitional housing; and
- supportive housing.
The report stated that Yukoners most in need lacked enough housing options. The gaps observed included:
- incomplete identification of housing needs;
- a long and growing waitlist for housing;
- problems in managing housing stock; and
- ineffective coordination and cooperation between HSS, YHC and housing partners.
The Auditor General provided nine recommendations to address housing needs in the territory. As a first step, YHC and HSS signed an agreement. This agreement aims to:
- define roles and responsibilities;
- increase collaboration; and
- improve coordination of work.
On October 4, 2022, the Government of Yukon organized the Yukon - Together for Housing Summit in Whitehorse. We received feedback from stakeholders at the summit which we used to improve our draft actions. These draft actions were in response to the nine recommendations from the Auditor General. On December 15, 2022, we released a final work plan with 36 actions. Read the work plan.
Recommendation 31
The Yukon Housing Corporation should conduct a review of rent assessment for those on social assistance, housing eligibility requirements, and its prioritization system to ensure that there is access for those in most need of housing and benefits.
Recommendation 40
The Yukon Housing Corporation should update its needs analysis across its housing portfolio to identify gaps compared to existing supply and funding levels and take specific actions. This should include realigning the housing stock to meet identified needs, calculating a five-year deficit for capital and maintenance, and aligning its capital asset and maintenance plans to address gaps and carry out these actions over a planned time frame.
Recommendation 48
The Yukon Housing Corporation should ensure that it has appropriate systems and practices in place to identify, document, and complete major and emergency repairs in a timely manner and increase accessibility and energy efficiency of their housing stock.
Recommendation 62
The Department of Health and Social Services should, in consultation with housing partners, undertake regular and comprehensive needs analysis, including a review of the use of hotels as temporary accommodation, and take appropriate action to meet client needs.
Recommendation 64
The Department of Health and Social Services should ensure that agreements with third-party providers are comprehensive and are monitored for key deliverables.
Recommendation 79
The Yukon Housing Corporation and the Department of Health and Social Services should ensure that there is governance and oversight in place by effectively working together and with other housing partners to demonstrate meaningful progress, resolve problems, and achieve results.
Recommendation 87
The Yukon Housing Corporation and the Department of Health and Social Services should work together and with housing partners to identify gaps and improve information systems to provide relevant, accurate, and timely information to support decision making and to report on the planning, delivery, and results related to housing in Yukon.
Recommendation 90
The Yukon Housing Corporation should establish appropriate performance indicators - including short-term and long-term targets and outcome measures at the program level - as well as develop and implement a program evaluation framework to assess the achievement of desired results.
Recommendation 91
The Department of Health and Social Services should establish appropriate performance indicators - including short-term and long-term targets and outcome measures at the funding agreement and program level—as well as conduct regular program and housing provider evaluations to assess and report on achievement of desired results.
- 10 actions are complete;
- 23 actions are underway; and
- 1 action has not yet started.
The work plan is a living document. It will evolve as we carry out actions. Read the work plan.
Since we launched the work plan in December 2022:
- We removed Action 31.3 because five-year evaluations of the social housing program are no longer required by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
- We combined actions 90.1 and 90.2 to create a new action. This new action focuses on measuring and evaluating program performance, including social housing.
We will be updating this page regularly as we advance the work plan and will provide an annual update every December.
Table 1: Status of work plan actions
| Lead | Action as stated in the Action Plan | Status | Estimated completion date |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services |
31.1 The Yukon Housing Corporation (YHC)/Health and Social Services (HSS) ADM Steering Committee on Housing to review YHC’s rent assessment and eligibility, including those on social assistance. |
Underway | Spring 2024 |
|
Yukon Housing Corporation |
31.2 Amend the prioritization system and eligibility requirements in the Community Housing Operational Policies. |
Complete | Operational |
| Yukon Housing Corporation |
40.1 Update the Integrated Housing Strategy (IHS), informed by community needs assessments. |
Underway | Fall 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation |
40.2 Generate estimates of the value of maintenance and capital items during annual inspections to derive five-year capital and maintenance deficits. |
Underway | Spring 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation |
40.3 Continue meeting with representatives from the Housing Assessment Resource Tool (HART) project to integrate Yukon housing needs data into a broad understanding of housing need in the territory. |
Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation |
40.4 Conduct an in-depth analysis of eligibility and subsequent waitlist to better understand demand/need for YHC’s rent-geared-to income program. |
Underway | Winter 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 40.5 The Integrated Housing Plan and accompanying reports will inform Capital Asset Management Plan to better align stock with identified needs. | Not started | Fall 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation |
40.6 Continue to work with federal partners on existing and new funding programs and initiatives to align housing resources with Yukon housing needs as informed by community needs assessments and the Integrated Housing Strategy. |
Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 48.1 In our effort to increase accessibility and energy efficiency, create a responsive maintenance system and a reliable software system for documenting maintenance, including major and emergency repairs. | Underway | Fall 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 48. 2 Continue to conduct energy efficiency and accessibility upgrades to YHC’s existing housing in accordance with Our Clean Futures. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Health and Social Services | 62.1 Develop a Social Supports Branch Quarterly Housing Report to support analyses and decision-making pertaining to housing needs. | Complete | Quarterly updates |
| Health and Social Services | 62.2 Collaborate with housing partners to integrate data from the Coordinated Access By Name List and other housing related services to establish a common understanding of current housing needs. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Health and Social Services | 62.3 Complete a needs analysis for housing with services – particularly supportive housing – using population level data and integrating real-time program data as possible. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Health and Social Services | 62.4 Explore the possibility of expanding the PiT count to gather additional data for more in-depth analyses. | Underway | Winter 2025 |
| Health and Social Services | 62.5 Finalize a framework for forecasting Housing with Services needs. | Underway | Winter 2025 |
| Health and Social Services | 64.1 Complete an independent review of the department’s Agreement Management processes. | Complete | Complete |
| Health and Social Services | 64.2 Update third-party agreements to ensure they are comprehensive and monitored. | Complete | Operational |
| Health and Social Services | 64.3 Implement recommendations from independent review on enhancing Agreement Management processes. | Underway | Spring 2025 |
|
Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services |
79.1 Establish multi-year MOU between Ministers. | Complete | Operational |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 79.2 Conduct review of partnership framework to ensure alignment with the MOU and to support recommendations for future partnership agreements. | Underway | Winter 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 79.3 YHC and HSS to initiate the necessary work to address 5.15 of Putting People First. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 79.4 Review Terms of Reference of the Joint YHC and HSS ADM Steering Committees. | Complete | Operational |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 79.5 YHC/HSS ADM Steering Committee on Housing to agree on short- and long-term priorities and associated timelines. | Complete | Operational |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 87.1 YHC and HSS establish an interdepartmental Housing Working Group to work with other YG departments to better understand, and respond to, the housing system from land development to Community Housing. | Complete | Operational |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services |
87.2 Liaise with Yukon First Nations (YFNs) self-governments, Yukon municipalities, community groups, universities, and the Federal government to share information and data on housing in the Yukon:
|
Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 87.3 Support full implementation of Coordinated Access with tools such as the By Name List, so that the full spectrum of supportive housing and Community Housing needs are captured, and housing access is coordinated. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services |
87.4 Conduct community assessments of all Yukon communities with an established reporting cycle and publish an annual summary, including recommendations to inform decision making and resource allocation
|
Underway | Fall 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation and Health and Social Services | 87.5 Publish the Housing Action Plan (HAP) three-year action plan report for 2019-2022. | Complete | Complete |
|
Yukon Housing Corporation |
90.1 Develop performance measurement and evaluation frameworks for YHC programs falling under Community Housing. | Underway | Summer 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 90.2 Develop capacity related to data gathering, indicators and evaluation through internal and external sources to further enhance the culture of evidence based decision making within the YHC. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 90.3 Develop the next five-year strategic plan that is informed by recommendations and findings of the 2022 OAG report. | Complete | Launch Winter 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 91.1 Develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks for housing-related programs. | Underway | Fall 2024 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 91.2 Integrate enhanced performance monitoring into funding agreements with third party housing providers. | Underway | Spring 2025 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation |
91.3 Develop a timeline for completing evaluations on programs not recently evaluated, starting with the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter. |
Underway | Fall 2024 |
- Government of Yukon accepts housing recommendations from the Yukon Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
- Government of Yukon’s Office of the Auditor General’s Reort Work Plan will enhance support for vulnerable Yukoners.
- Statement on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada performance audit on the state of housing for vulnerable Yukoners.
- Housing Action Plan progress report for 2019 to 2022 released.