[van-announce] Support Demonstration for Woodward’s Squat

[Mike Krebs]

Support Demonstration for Woodward’s Squat 

Sunday, September 15th 2002
6:30 PM at the old Woodward’s building
101 West Hastings (Hastings and Abbott)

This demonstration has been called to support the Woodward’s squatters in
the battle for more social housing. The building was taken Saturday
afternoon to protest the epidemic of homelessness in Vancouver. The
problem of affordable housing in BC is very serious, and it became much
worse under the BC Liberals with the freezing of all funding for new
social housing projects. Woodward’s was one of the many social housing
projects that the Liberals cancelled, and the struggle for this building
has been going on for almost a decade. 
It is an outrage that people are forced to live on the streets while huge
buildings like Woodward’s sit empty. It is even more of an outrage to see
high-end condos shooting up everywhere downtown, pushing land rents up and
pushing poor people out of the area. Our living situations must not be
left up to the whims of the real estate market: housing is a basic human
right that we are all entitled to, and we must fight for it.
At this point, the police are trying to isolate the squatters, cutting off
access in and out from the building at night. It is likely that without
this measure, the building would quickly fill up with people, as there is
plenty of space inside it and plenty of homeless people in need of
shelter. We need to show our support by coming to the building Sunday
night and ensuring that access to the building is not cut off again.

People can come down to the site to show support, and are encouraged to
join the squatters if possible. Aside from that, the squatters need
material support. The Woodward’s squatters need:
·	Food
·	Blankets
·	Mattresses
If you are able to donate any of these things, please come down to the
building or call 
(604) 812-2263.


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