Last Updated: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 | 4:45 PM
CBC News
A group of advocates for the homeless has taken over another abandoned building in Vancouver, this time just a block from city hall.
About 20 protesters occupied the boarded-up, two-storey building at Cambie Street and West Broadway on Tuesday afternoon and say they plan to stay.
The Anti-Poverty Committee had planned to occupy the council chambers at Vancouver City Hall.
A group of about 100 gathered on the north lawn at city hall early Tuesday afternoon, saying they were set to march in on a city council meeting to voice their displeasure with the current homeless situation.
Instead, they marched in the opposite direction, down the hill away from city hall to the building at 2530 Cambie St., which is a high-profile location at a very busy intersection.
The publicly owned property, and the building next to it, are slated to become the site of the Broadway station for the Canada Line rapid transit service between downtown Vancouver and the airport.
Trying to make a point
Spokesman Tim Kerr of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association said the new squat site will be reserved for aboriginal women, as the group is trying to draw attention to the plight of people who need housing help most.
Kerr, who helped organize last week’s occupation of the derelict North Star Hotel in Gastown, said he’s trying to make the point that the city has numerous vacant buildings and 1,300 people homeless on the streets with winter approaching.
Police ended last week’s squat at the request of the owner of the North Star, arresting six protesters.
Mayor Sam Sullivan has responded to the latest squat by issuing a news release saying he will hold a news conference on Wednesday morning to deal with the homeless crisis.
The mayor says he will outline a five-point motion that will be presented to council later this week that will provide immediate action. It will include a call for emergency funding to keep some of the city’s single-room-occupancy hotels open over the winter.
