It could be "a while” before residents are able to move back into the Stratford Motel after a fire last weekend forced residents out.

Doug Graham, the Minister of Health and Social Services, said in an interview today the fire marshal is completing an assessment of the damage caused by Saturday's blaze.

However, the smoke damage throughout the Fourth Avenue building will make it unlivable for a while yet.

Graham told the house Monday there were 49 residents at the motel. Nine are on social assistance, he said today.

All nine found accommodation after the fire but Graham said they aren't all in the "best situation.”

One man who had a kitchenette at the Stratford is now in a hotel without one, he said.

The minister said the resident had also recently purchased food, likely using up his food allowance, and is now unable to get it.

"There are things like that that we're trying to straighten out right now, but in the emergency, we managed to place everyone,” said Graham.

Pat Living, a spokeswoman for Health and Social Services, said today the department is working with the nine social services clients on an individual basis to find suitable arrangements for them, until the Stratford Motel is reopened.

She said eight of the nine had found their own accomodation on the night of the fire and have since come into the department, and arrangements are being worked out for them. The person who hadn't found accommodation on Saturday was placed in a hotel.

"It's going to be an interesting time until the Stratford reopens because there was no doubt that the Stratford was an important part of the housing situation in Whitehorse,” said Graham.

Jan Stick, the NDP critic for Health and Social Services, said she's concerned about the lack of a plan to deal with this type of emergency.

"We're lucky the hotel didn't burn to the ground, but it could have been an apartment building, it could have been another hotel that people reside in permanently, what's the plan?” she asked in an interview today.

Stick is also concerned that the fire was caused by a boiler that hadn't been serviced by a professional in some time.

"It goes back to what the NDP have been asking for in the house, which is a public inquiry into the carbon monoxide deaths in Porter Creek and the lack of regulation,” she said.

"We need a plan; we need a public inquiry into the regulations around oil burners, and I think the government needs to invest in some affordable housing for these people. Hotels are hotels; they're not homes,” she said.

Concerns were raised in the house about the presence of social workers at the site Saturday evening.

Stick said she didn't see anyone while she was there, but Graham said today they came when they were called by the RCMP.

Living confirmed that an on-call social worker arrived on scene within 30 minutes of the RCMP call, which came sometime around 10 p.m. The fire department was called to the fire at 6:10 p.m.

Graham said that "it hasn't happened before so I guess everyone's not aware, but we do have after-hours workers that are on call and maybe we have to do a better job of making sure everyone's aware of the numbers to call or how to get a hold of these people.”

Graham said the department is working out the issues resulting from the displacement of people at the hotel.

With regard to food allowances for people without kitchens, he said, there are emergency funds available, but that's still being sorted out.