Downtown business owners hope report recommendations ease tensions around Whitehorse shelter

"Beautification," community liaisons, organized activities and decentralization.

Those are some of the solutions a new report offers to ease tensions between emergency shelter clients and neighbouring businesses in downtown Whitehorse — and some of the local business owners say they're hopeful for a solution.

"To try to keep the places clean, I think that would make a big difference," said Ben Eisele who manages All-West Glass across the street from the shelter.

"What a lot of people are hoping for is that there's less noise and debris outside, and people can feel safe to walk around." 

The Whitehorse Emergency Shelter houses 20 permanent residents and an average of 37 people who need temporary beds each night.

Located on Alexander Street, next to shops and residential buildings, it's been a consistent source for complaints about noise, litter, substance use and other public disturbances since it first opened in 2017.

"For the last, about two years, it's been quite painful," Eisele told CBC News. "We have constant debris, we have clients solicited for money, we have drunk people coming into our business that we have to remove, sometimes with police ... It's been a horrible experience."

Other businesses have had similar experiences. 

Duffy's Pets is right next door to the shelter. Owner Hans Otelli said clients outside the building disturb his business.

"For us, it's been really rough, because we had so many people commenting that they don't want to come here anymore with their kids," he said in an interview.

A new independent review of the shelter, released last Thursday, is suggesting ways to improve neighbourhood relations.

The Path Forward report was produced by House of Wolf and Associates, Inc., and commissioned by the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) on behalf of the Yukon government. CYFN manages the shelter and not-for-profit Connective, formerly known as the John Howard Society, runs daily operations.

House of Wolf interviewed front-line staff, neighbours and dozens of clients. Its report found that safety, substance use and a lack of supports were all concerns.

It acknowledges a history of public disturbances outside the shelter, from fighting to drug use, and says neighbours interviewed for the report repeatedly said they'd been made uncomfortable or felt unsafe living and working near the shelter.