Anti-poverty squat a 'last resort'

Vancouver homeless activists have taken over an abandoned hotel in the city's Downtown Eastside as part oftheir campaign for more social housing.

The Anti-Poverty Committee, which organized the squat, staged a rally of about 100 people outside the former North Star hotel on Sunday afternoon but allowed only eight into occupy the buildingin a bid to avoid a confrontation with police.

Half a dozen police officerswatched from across the street, but did not make any moves to stop the occupation.

"We are not going into the building until we contact the owner or until there is perhaps a health and safety issue,"Vancouver police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning said.

The action cameafter Vancouver city council's decision last week to defer a vote on a proposed moratorium on the conversion of single-room residential hotels.

Anti-Poverty Committee spokesman David Cunningham said the occupation is the only way to get the attention of politicians.

"Everybody has exhausted the legal obligation that one needs to undergo to demand social housing. Push has come to shove. We need to occupy these buildings because we feel that's the last resort that poor people have."

Cunningham said his group wants city council to convert the building to social housing, and find "decent housing" for the homeless until the hotel conversion is completed.

The Anti-Poverty Committee also organized the Woodwards squat in the Downtown Eastside in 2002. That protest lasted three months.