On May 25, 2022, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a report on the state of housing in the Yukon. A performance audit formed the basis of the report and it 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 were not provided with adequate and affordable housing. 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 9 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, we organized the 'Yukon - Together for Housing Summit' in Whitehorse. We received feedback from stakeholders at the summit. This helped us refine our draft actions in response to the 9 recommendations from the Auditor General. On December 15, 2022, we released a final 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.
Current status:
- 16 actions are complete, ongoing or operational; and
- 17 actions are underway.
The work plan is an evergreen document that continues to evolve throughout implementation. Since we released the last public update in December 2023:
- We have combined Actions 40.1 and 40.5 to clarify how data integration, community needs assessments and financial and capital considerations will be utilized. These actions are also reflected in the Creating Home strategy through enhancing operational performance, comprehensive management of Yukon Housing Corporation’s housing portfolio and collectively addressing housing challenges.
- Action 87.4 was revised to enhance clarity and better align with ongoing work required to address the findings from the Auditor General’s 2022 report on Yukon housing.
Currently, the work plan includes 33 actions.
We will be updating this page regularly as we advance the work plan and will provide an annual update each year.
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. | Complete | Complete |
| 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 Establish a process that integrates:
| Underway | Fall 2025 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 40.2 Generate estimates of the value of maintenance and capital items during annual inspections to derive 5-year capital and maintenance deficits. | Underway | Winter 2025 |
| 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. | Complete | Complete |
| 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. | Complete | Complete |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 40.5 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 2025 |
| 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 | Ongoing |
| 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 | Summer 2025 |
| 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 | Ongoing |
| Health and Social Services | 64.3 Implement recommendations from independent review on enhancing Agreement Management processes. | Complete | Complete |
| 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. | Complete | Operational |
| 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 Develop a standard approach to assess community housing needs and conduct assessments on a five-year cyclical basis.
| Underway | Ongoing |
| 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. | Underway | Fall 2025 |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 90.2 Enhance the culture of evidence-based decision-making within YHC by strengthening organizational capacity for data collection, analysis and evaluation. | Underway | Ongoing |
| Yukon Housing Corporation | 90.3 Develop the next 5-year strategic plan that is informed by recommendations and findings of the 2022 OAG report. | Complete | Operational |
| Health and Social Services | 91.1 Develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks for housing-related programs. | Underway | Summer 2025 |
| Health and Social Services | 91.2 Integrate enhanced performance monitoring into funding agreements with third party housing providers. | Underway | Spring 2025 |
| Health and Social Services | 91.3 Develop a timeline for completing evaluations on programs not recently evaluated, starting with the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter. | Complete | Complete |
- Government of Yukon accepts housing recommendations from the Yukon Standing Committee on Public Accounts
- Government of Yukon’s Office of the Auditor General’s Report 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
- Government of Yukon releases second progress update on Auditor General of Canada’s 2022 housing recommendations