Activists want action now that Woodward's squat is over

Now that the Woodward's squat is over, housing activists in Vancouver expect the province to start talking.

"They said they wouldn't negotiate with us until we left Woodward's," said Brody Williams, spokesman for the Woodward's Social Housing Coalition. "So now that we are gone time to negotiate."

The 90-day squat ended on Saturday when about 100 homeless people and social activists rolled up their sleeping bags and took down their tents from the sidewalk outside the vacant department store.

Williams said the activists will try to get the Liberal government to live up to the promise made by the former NDP government to turn the historic building into social housing.

The protest started with a one-day demonstration outside the building on Sept. 13. The next day, a group of activists decided to take over the building left vacant when Woodward's went bankrupt.

Police later evicted the squatters, who simply moved to the sidewalks around the building. At its height, the squat involved 280 people.

• FROM DEC. 14, 2002: Deal ends Vancouver's homeless protest

Several court orders and a municipal election later, a deal to end the squat was reached late last week.

A nearby hotel has made 54 rooms available. Shelter beds have also been freed up for the squatters.

The arrangement will last up to four months.

But activists say if the province doesn't start working on the need for low-rent housing, the protest won't be over.