An arson that gutted a vacant building at Little Mountain Housing Tuesday wouldn't have happened had the province allowed people to stay in their homes, said a social housing supporter.
Community Advocates for Little Mountain member Kia Salomons, who has rallied to save Vancouver's oldest social housing site from demolition - which began last Friday - said in light of the fire B.C. Housing must now step up and protect the remaining four tenants.
"Security is there to keep an eye on the fence but not to guard the tenants," she said.
The fire was deliberately set. A firefighter, a few months from retirement, injured his hip and leg when knocking down the blaze.
For Salomons, the fire is just one more incident in a string of tragic events.
"This whole chain: Destroying a community in the neighbourhood, destroying affordable housing, destroying the possibility of additional affordable housing, the injury, and the waste of resources are phenomenal," she said.
The four families on site are living in a single building on the south side of development.
