Two reports released Wednesday are a vital step toward a viable and publicly acceptable housing strategy for the territory, say their creators.

Information gathering should not replace action, said Rick Goodfellow, an anti-poverty advocate and member of the advisory committee behind the reports, but it has to be done in order to get effective results.

"These kinds of studies on a local level are very, very important," Goodfellow said when asked why the government was presenting another report when the need for affordable and supportive housing in the Yukon is already abundantly clear.

"From the (non-governmental) sector, from working at the national level, we say the same thing over and over again: ‘Enough with the reporting, let's get something done.'”

But it is not the advocates and front-line workers who need to be convinced, he said.

"The elephant in the room is that individual, that handful of individuals who pay their taxes that scream and yell that we're just a bunch of bloody bleeding heart liberals and ‘What are they doing with our tax dollars?'

"That's who the ministers (and) the bureaucrats hear from on a pretty consistent basis.”

In order to get governments to listen to those advocating for more and better social services such as housing, they need hard data, Goodfellow said.

"So to that individual that's going to scream and yell about his tax dollars, someone can say, ‘We've got evidence here that says we have to spend this money, we can't keep ignoring it.'”

He took it one step further then, saying: "We need to make this an election issue.”

Liz Hanson, the newly minted MLA and leader of the Yukon NDP, echoed that sentiment in a press release put out shortly after the reports were released.

"These issues aren't going away,” she said of the sustained call for more affordable and supportive housing in the territory. "They will define Yukon politics in 2011,” she promised.

The Yukon Party government must call an election by mid-October 2011, and the committee behind these reports hopes to see a social-inclusion strategy announced by the summer.

While Hanson accused the government of slipping the report "under the door” by releasing it during the Christmas rush, the members of the committee were much more positive.

Both Goodfellow and Ross Findlater, another anti-poverty advocate on the committee, said they are encouraged by the government's commitment to the process so far.

They also said their work has been kept out of the political fray, and they hope to continue that way.

"You'll notice that we had the minister sign his foreword (to the housing study),” Findlater said. "We wanted it to be clear those are his words, and the report is the work of the committee.”

The release itself was a remarkably apolitical affair for a government which has been touting it accomplishments with vigour lately.

Health and Social Services Minister Glenn Hart was nowhere to be seen, and members of the committee spoke candidly about the fact they didn't mind which party is in power after the next election, as long as the reigning government continues with the implementation of the strategy (or its creation if the election is called early).

However, the minister's absence also meant he didn't have to face questions such as "When?” and "How much?”

The next step for the social inclusion committee is to organize public meetings where Yukoners can respond to the reports and give their input on what kind of housing they want to see in the territory.

"Our goal is to provide as much opportunity for anyone who has something to say to say it, and give them a chance to review the document if they haven't already seen it,” said Michael McCann, director of the office of social inclusion and poverty reduction.

A social inclusion strategy will be released by June or July, Findlater said, and will hopefully contain commitments from all departments to address gaps in housing, education, and other public services.