Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in Yellowknife our emergency shelters for homeless people are full to overflowing. Single men, women and families have nowhere to go. They end up in the streets or in overcrowded shelters.
For example, Mr. Speaker, the Salvation Army receives funding to operate 20 beds for single men, but on any given night there are more than 40 individuals staying in the shelter. These numbers continue to increase.
The Yellowknife Northern Family Resource Centre, which was formerly the Women's Centre, generally accommodates more than twice the number of single women they are funded for. Mr. Speaker, these women are sleeping on couches and mattresses on the floor.
The YWCA operates emergency housing for families and they have a waiting list as long as my arm.
Mr. Speaker, the situation is getting worse and worse. The community agencies involved in helping homeless people are doing their very best. In fact, they are doing way more than should be expected.
In an attempt to keep families together and, quite frankly, to keep people from dying on the streets, they are spending way more than they are given by this government. Last month, the Salvation Army paid to put two homeless families up in a hotel. The government workers had suggested that the mother go to the Women's Centre, the man stay at the Salvation Army shelter and that the kids be put in foster care.
