The YWCA NWT is still recovering after a fire decimated Rockhill Apartments containing its transitional housing facility and offices on October 2.

Last week, Yellowknifer reported on the claims of former Rockhill residents who said they hadn't received adequate help from the YWCA after the fire.

Alayna Ward, director of community relations for the YWCA, said those claims should have been verified, and the coverage of the issue has affected staff.

SA国际影视传媒淭hese are people that have been through major trauma, including the staff, so yeah obviously it has affected them particularly when itSA国际影视传媒檚 untrue and unverified for the most part,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward, of the media coverage.

The stories that should be told are those of families who have triumphed in the face of adversity, she said. But Ward said she was unable to specify which parts of the media coverage were untrue without breaching client confidentiality.

SA国际影视传媒淭hereSA国际影视传媒檚 not any information I can give you specifically about clients, so I canSA国际影视传媒檛 give you information about clients and what has or has not been provided,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
Ward did say that former Rockhill residents received giftcards, meat boxes and groceries, and nearly $100,000 in furniture was purchased for families.

Focus on families

In the aftermath of the fire, much of the focus has been on children and families with children.

SA国际影视传媒淪ome people have like three, four, five children, so their lives were completely uprooted,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward. A single parent with multiple children has different needs than a single person, for obvious reasons, she said.

SA国际影视传媒淏ecause there are children involved. When you are trying to clothe and feed three children they have higher needs than a single person just by virtue of the numbers,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward.

Now that tenants are housed across the city rather than in one central location, it is more challenging to communicate with everyone, she said.

But the former Rockhill tenants lost more than just their belongings in the fire.

SA国际影视传媒淧eople not only lost their homes, they lost their sense of community. And they lost that support that was provided when they could just pad down the hallway in their socks and speak to the housing staff, now they canSA国际影视传媒檛,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward.

The community outpouring of support after the fire was fantastic, Ward said and she answered calls and emails for 16 hours the day of and after the fire. Community and corporate donations resulted in over $238,000 raised to support those affected by the fire.

SA国际影视传媒淏ut if you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, $238,000 for almost a hundred people, if you think about that realistically, how much is that really supposed to cover when it has to stretch throughout the winter?SA国际影视传媒� said Ward.

SA国际影视传媒淪o I mean a hundred thousand dollars in furniture and then some grocery giftcards, and some charges that are related to getting people resettled into their homes. Which I will say, the YWCA pretty much had the sole responsibility of doing.SA国际影视传媒�

The Rockhill building did not have sprinklers, because when it was built, they were not required, but it did have functioning fire alarms, said Ward.
SA国际影视传媒淚t had what it needed to have to pass safety inspection,SA国际影视传媒� she said. The facility was provided to the YWCA by the GNWT and leased to them for the nominal fee of one dollar a year. But because the YWCA did not own the building, any insurance money will go to the GNWT. The only thing covered by insurance were objects in the YWCASA国际影视传媒檚 offices, like computers.

SA国际影视传媒淪o essentially it was donated and the revenues that were generated there from the rent ran the housing program,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward. That revenue also helped cover utilities and pay housing staff. Last year the YWCA generated $1,048,258 from home and apartment rentals which represent 23 per cent of its revenue, the organizationSA国际影视传媒檚 2016-17 Annual Report states.

In that same year, housing programs accounted for 35 per cent of the YWCASA国际影视传媒檚 costs for a total of $1,489,246.

Now that former Rockhill tenants have moved into market housing, the YWCA no longer has access to that funding to cover its expenses. The YWCA has a total of 112 staff, 29 of whom are full time, including the seven full time housing staff. The remaining majority of staff are part-time or casual, like their after-school program leaders. The YWCA is now using its reserves to pay their staff, operate the housing program and pay rent for tenants now in market housing, which is about $600 higher than what they paid at Rockhill

SA国际影视传媒淭he YWCA pays the landlord on the first of every month, and then works with clients so that they can pay that rent back in whatever amounts that they can via different payment mechanisms,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward.

Their reserve funds will allow them to survive until March 31, said YWCA's executive director Lyda Fuller, in an email.

SA国际影视传媒淲e estimate a half year of lost revenue for Rockhill (October 2018 to March 2019) could approach $350,000,SA国际影视传媒� stated Fuller, adding that many costs are also eliminated without the building.

The Y will have the numbers on how much of its reserves have been used up sometime this week, after the first full month of the tenants being in market housing, said Ward.

SA国际影视传媒淚t is expected that there will be a significant gap,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淪o the Y pays out say, $100,000 a month to the landlord and then recoups those costs in whatever capacity, from the clients. So there will be a gap there, and that gap will continue.SA国际影视传媒�

The next steps

Since the YWCA is a charity, and doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 have unlimited funds, the reserves will inevitably run dry at some point, said Ward. So the next steps for the YWCA will need to include a major influx of funding.

SA国际影视传媒淭hat needs to come from a government level,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward. They will also need another large building to replace Rockhill in order for the housing program to operate as it did before the fire.

SA国际影视传媒淎nd then the rents will support the housing program like it did before,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

The conversation to secure a new building is ongoing. The president and executive director of the YWCA has met with the federal housing minister in Ottawa, and have been in discussions with MP Michael McLeod about possible solutions.

SA国际影视传媒淲hile weSA国际影视传媒檙e hopeful, nothing has been cast in stone yet, or any solutions found yet. But that needs to come from the government level,SA国际影视传媒� said Ward.