G8 PROTESTERS are occupying a neglected piece of downtown real estate to draw attention to the city's woeful shortage of affordable housing.
"It's a crime that this house is empty while 15,000 families wait seven years to get social housing," said Dan Sawyer from the second-floor balcony of 246 Gilmour St.
"We've had enough. We're taking over this house."
Eight protesters broke into the three-storey house, which has sat vacant for seven years, yesterday afternoon and unfurled a banner from the balcony that read: "Sick of Waiting? Occupy!"
The "Seven Year Squat," as they're calling it, was carefully orchestrated with compelling brochures printed to justify the occupation.
The squatters are demanding a "use-it-or-lose-it" bylaw to convert vacant buildings into social housing after one year. They're also calling for governments to improve tenant protection, conversion of CFB Rockcliffe dwellings into permanent social housing and the construction of 2,000 social housing units a year in Ontario.
RESTRAINT FROM POLICE
Their occupation yesterday was greeted with cheers from anti-globalization activists and restraint from police, who vowed to let the squatters stay -- for a while -- as long as they didn't destroy the home.
"As long as you keep it cool, no problem," Ottawa Police Sgt. Rock Lavigne told squatters standing on the front lawn.
Shortly after, three members of the Major Events Liaison Team (MELT) dressed in non-threatening T-shirts casually talked things over with the squatters, who seemed dumbfounded by the police's non-confrontational approach.
"Is it going to be cops coming in with Tasers?" one youth asked.
"No, we're trying to avoid that," replied Sr. Const. Lynne Turnbull.
And so the squatters and MELT officers exchanged phone numbers and scheduled a "public open house" for 12 noon today.
"We're just between the front lines and the activists and if there's something we can do to calm things, then excellent," Turnbull told the Sun.
While squatters served soup and pita bread on the front lawn, owner Richard Davis worried about damage to the house his mother used to live in.
"Just what do they want me to be sympathetic about?" he said after watching someone spray-paint "squat" underneath an upstairs window.
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