Sitting in for Safety: Group takes over Surrey rec centre to fight for better COVID-19 shelter

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – A movement known as the “Hot House Squat” took place at the now-vacant North Surrey rec centre on Wednesday night.

That’s as calls for better housing for the homeless and those with limited housing options during this pandemic are being made to the Provincial government.

A group of about 30 people initially set up shop inside the community centre, and then after some RCMP intervention, were moved outside as the evening rolled along on Wednesday.

NEWS 1130 spoke to Ivan Drury with Red Braid Alliance.

“We know that these shelters and temporary modular housing projects are hothouses for the Coronavirus,” he says. “If one person gets sick in these buildings, there’s no way to socially isolate. That’s a contradiction from the order of the provincial health officer, and there’s nothing being done to help those who are made vulnerable to this virus due to their poverty.”

BREAKING: The 30 people who occupied the Hothouse Squat have been evicted by the RCMP. No charges; we’re gathered in front of the building chanting “squat to survive” and “kill COVID, not us!” pic.twitter.com/sA3CcnlaAB

— Red Braid Alliance for Decolonial Socialism (@stopdisplacemnt) April 2, 2020

The answer, according to Drury, is to take a page out of the city of Toronto’s book to designate privately owned hotels and other buildings – like rec centres – to house those in cramped low-income housing, as well as those trying to get away from domestic violence.

“We’re calling on the government to do that immediately – move people out of shelters and off the street into hotels,” Drury says. “There is nowhere else for low-income un-housed people to be. Nowhere that they can be safe from COVID-19.”