In a press release Monday May 4th, Yellowknife Women’s Centre transitional housing suites’ official opening and the Yellowknife Day and Sobering Centre’s return to regular programming were announced.
The government of NWT partnered up with the Yellowknife Women’s Centre in an effort to provide support for those experiencing homelessness and addiction throughout the COVID-19 response in the Northwest Territories.
Starting today (May 4th) the suites located in the former Arnica Inn building will start accepting vulnerable individuals using local shelters.
- This includes people over the age of 60, those with underlying health conditions like asthma or diabetes, or other vulnerabilities.
- The Arnica Inn has a capacity of 43 units, 25 of which are available for this project, with options to adjust according to demand.
- Each room will come with a chair, a bed, a table, a television, a telephone and food will be provided.
- Safe, steady, and controlled access to alcohol will be provided to those who need it to provide greater stability, and ensure clients are able to isolate.
Also starting today the Yellowknife Day and Sobering Centre will re-establish operations as a drop-in day centre and sobering centre offering services 7 days a week.
- Services will be adjusted with reduced capacity to accommodate physical distancing.
- The expanded day program at the Salvation Army will continue to operate to ensure adequate capacity for day shelter services in Yellowknife.
- The center can accommodate 20 individuals at a time in the day centre and 18 people in the sobering centre portion.
- Hours of operation will be 7:00am – 7:00pm for the day shelter 10:00am – 8:00am for the sobering centre
There is also access to counselling support, referrals to medical support, partnerships with other NGOs to access services and access to cultural activities.
