Yukon’s statistics branch has prepared two detailed studies on homelessness in the territory, but the government won’t release them for fear of embarrassment, says the NDP’s Steve Cardiff.
“I believe they say the government is not doing enough to provide adequate, affordable and safe housing and that’s why it’s been sitting on these reports,” Cardiff told the legislature October 20.
Greg Finnegan, head of the statistics branch, declined to comment. Instead, he referred the matter to the Department of Health and Social Services.
The studies will be released in two to eight weeks, said spokesperson Patricia Living.
“There’s just some final work being done,” she said. “We’re working very hard to meet that time frame.”
“We’re not trying to hide anything. We’re just trying to get them done.”
Exactly what is the department doing with the bureau of statistics’ data? Living won’t say.
One report is said to be on the inadequacy of Yukon’s housing stock, while the other is on the relationship between housing and poverty.
According to Cardiff, both reports were ready by the spring. Living says that isn’t so.