Canada and Yukon governments allocate $8.32M for affordable housing expansion

Sept. 6, 2023 – The Governments of Canada and the Yukon are providing $8.32 million to build at least nine new affordable homes in the city and enable renovations and upgrades to a women’s transition home called Kaushee’s Place near downtown Whitehorse.

The federal government is providing $5 million through the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) to the Yukon Housing Corporation, on behalf of the City of Whitehorse to create at least nine new affordable homes in Whitehorse. The city is one of the 41 recipients of the third round of the Rapid Housing Initiative’s city stream.

This is made possible by the Government of Canada’s additional investment of $1.5 billion through RHI, bringing the program’s total to $4 billion.

This investment is expected to create at least 4,500 more affordable housing units for Canadians in severe housing need across the country, with 25 percent of investments going toward women-focused housing projects.

The additional funding for the third round of RHI will be divided into two streams: $1 billion through the Projects Stream and $500 million towards the Cities Stream.

The federal government and the Government of Yukon are also investing $3.32 million for upgrades to Kaushee’s Place. Renovations are underway and include an exterior retrofit to increase the building’s energy efficiency, and the installation of a distributed water source heat pump system and solar hot water system. This is the first time this type of heating and cooling system has been installed in the North. The upgrades are expected to be completed by June 2024.