Opposition MLAs say a government motion to establish a homeless shelter in Whitehorse – debated Wednesday in the legislature a week after a similar Liberal motion was gutted then dumped by the ruling Yukon Party government – was ill-conceived.

"We're a little taken aback by the lack of detail ... it's very vague,” Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell said of YP-Klondike MLA Steve Nordick's motion urging the government "to develop a homeless shelter in downtown Whitehorse.”

"The government side strongly chastised us for not having sufficient details (on the Liberal motion),” Mitchell went on. "Then they came back a week later with a much less specific, more generic motion.”

Debate on Mitchell's Oct. 21 motion – that the government support a downtown NGO's plan to establish a shelter for the "hard to house” – was fouled by partisan barbs from minister responsible for the Yukon Housing Corp., Jim Kenyon.

Kenyon painted the NGO's idea as embryonic – without financing, an operations budget or even a design – before slamming Mitchell for suggesting the government interfere with an arm's-length Crown corporation.

But on Wednesday, Mitchell took his opportunity to return fire, this time taking aim at Nordick.

"In his opening remarks, the member said that unemployment can be difficult for many people to deal with ... does the member for Klondike think that unemployment is not difficult for some people to deal with?” asked Mitchell. "Is there anybody who finds unemployment to be a walk in the park, unless it's a walk in the park to look for a place to sleep?”

As in other government motions debated during the fall sitting, Nordick used his opportunity to address the House to recall a laundry list of housing projects the government has completed or is currently financing.

The YP-Klondike MLA also said one solution would not address the scope of the challenge to provide shelter for those living on the margins of society.

"A homeless shelter in the downtown area may meet the needs of a few but not the many,” said Nordick. "We need to consider housing for individuals with mental health issues ... we need to build housing for individuals with cognitive disabilities.”

Like Mitchell, lone NDP member Steve Cardiff took issue with Nordick's bare-bones motion and read excerpts from several newspaper articles published over several years documenting the government's failure to address homelessness.

At the end of September, Cardiff slammed Health and Social Services Minister Glenn Hart for moving a temporary emergency youth shelter, without consultation, next door to an existing shelter that remains unused at night because the government has balked on providing funding.

For more than three years, the Youth of Today Society has tried to start a permanent shelter for teens and young adults, but cannot get necessary operations and maintenance financing.

To date, the society's proposed Angel's Nest shelter, a 10-bed facility on Jeckell Street in downtown Whitehorse, can only offer outreach programming during daytime hours.

"If the government can't (provide for the basic needs of our children and youth), why should I expect them to make other important concerns about homelessness in this territory a priority?” said Cardiff.

"I have absolutely no confidence in this government to do anything productive on this issue.”