The cogs of destruction - in the form of hulking bulldozers - are in motion at the Little Mountain social housing complex.
But even as demolition at the complex began Friday, activists haven't given up their fight for social housing in the city.
"We spent the night here to send a clear message to BC Housing that we are not giving up and that we'll be here to the bitter end," said Lauren Gill, a Community Advocates for Little Mountain (CALM) member that staged a tent city at the 15-acre housing complex over the weekend.
And while Gill admits the fate of Little Mountain, which was sold to the private Holborn Group in 2008, is just about sealed, she believes the community's actions can help stop another mass displacement of residents in the future.
"I don't think we're going to stop the site for being demolished," she said, "but we've fought hard for Little Mountain and we're going to fight a lot harder for other communities."
On Friday, COPE Coun. Ellen Woodsworth said the province's decision to move forward demolition plans without a schedule for development comes at the wrong time.
"I think the demolition of 224 units of low-income family housing at a time when Vancouver's in a housing crisis since the depression is outrageous," she said. "The province has sold off a big piece of public land to a developer and we're in a situation where there's thousands of people sleeping on the streets and 1,200 people on the B.C. Housing waitlist. It just does not make economic or social sense."
