Government of Yukon’s Office of the Auditor General's Report Work Plan will enhance support for vulnerable Yukoners

The work plan to address the 2022 report by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) on the state of housing for vulnerable Yukoners is now available to Yukoners. The report focused on emergency shelters, transitional housing, supportive housing and social housing available in the territory between April 1, 2015, and November 30, 2021. The state of the private rental market and home ownership in the territory were not included in the audit.

The OAG Report Work Plan outlines how the Yukon government, in partnership with housing providers across the continuum, can enhance efforts to help vulnerable Yukoners find safe and affordable housing. This includes the built-in flexibility to evolve as the Yukon government’s response to affordable housing and housing with services develops.

The work plan is the result of more than three months of engagement with housing partners. Significant feedback was received through the Yukon government’s Yukon Together for Housing Summit 2022, which showcased innovative housing solutions within the Yukon and Canada and sparked ideas to advance draft actions in response to recommendations from the report. 

The work plan consists of 36 actions including:

• Liaise with Yukon First Nations governments, municipalities, community groups, universities and the federal government to share information and data on housing in the Yukon.
• 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.
• Develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks for housing-related programs. 

Many of the actions are already ongoing. As the Yukon government moves forward with implementing the work plan, there will be more engagement opportunities to refine the policies and programs.