Homeless activists and supporters have taken over the publicly-owned and vacant North Surrey Recreation Centre in Surrey, declaring it the “Hothouse Squat.”

Squatters argue that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the squat is the safest place available to them to live.

The Hothouse Squatters argue that if the City of Surrey or RCMP evict them from the North Surrey Rec Centre, it would violate their Section 7 Charter Right to “security of the person” by putting them in danger of infection and death from COVID-19. They have named the squat “Hothouse” to draw attention to the dangerous conditions in the shelters, SROs, and modular housing that poor people are warehoused in.

Hothouse Squat founder and modular housing resident Eva Bardonnex said, “Homeless shelters and modular housing buildings are not spaces we can self-isolate from the virus. If one of us gets it, we’ll all get it. Shelters and mods are hothouses for the spread of COVID-19.”