Today, November 1st and the first snowfall of the season, residents of 1510 King Street were turfed onto the street by the City of Toronto. 1510, known as the POPE SQUAT, was taken over by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty in July and over the past few months has been transformed into a home for over 30 people. Countless hours of labour and donated money has gone into fixing up the property in order to make it livable for the people there.

The city and the province has refused to put a single cent into the Pope Squat, but today managed to find the money to send a dozen fire marshals and hire 100 police to remove the residents from the building. After the building had been emptied, police tossing aside or arresting anyone that stood in their way, they also found the funds to bring in plywood and pay people to board up the place.

All this was done with not even half an hour's notice to the residents of 1510 King Street.

When pressed for answers, the Fire Marshall, Jack Collins, claimed that he had asked the province, who are the owners of the building, if they wanted to bring it up to code, and received no answer. The week leading up to the eviction included inspections of the building and the promise that if efforts were made to bring it up to code people wouldn't be evicted. Once inspections were completed Collins had promised to issue a list of necessary repairs to the residents so it could be brought up to code. He later refused to issue the list on the grounds that OCAP was not the landlord of the building.

After the unannounced eviction took place today, all the city saw fit to do was hand out vouchers to ensure Pope Squat residents got a space in a shelter guaranteed for one night only - vouchers needed because the shelters are too full and cannot accommodate all the people that need them. While Pope Squat residents can bump the line for a night or two, this only means that others will be denied beds. The fact that Sean Gitzgatton, affiliated with the Mayor's office was present made it glaringly obvious that the orders came from the City of Toronto - the city that continues to ignore the housing crisis.

Because there was an inkling that this eviction was imminent, OCAP had planned a public meeting at the Pope Squat Saturday November 2nd at 10AM to gather support. Since the building has been evicted the emergency meeting has been moved to Parkdale Activity and Recreation Center (PARC), located at 1499 Queen Street West, just west of Dowling. We ask that ALL PEOPLE in support of the Pope Squat, and who care about social housing in Toronto, to come to this meeting to discuss future plans and support residents. At 11:30AM there will be a press conference outside the Pope Squat.

The events of today were an absolutely deplorable display by the City and the Province, and OCAP will not stand by while poor people in this city are thrown out on the street. When people have to house themselves in abandoned buildings (or in tents on an empty lot), because the people responsible refuse to build sufficient housing and reply to homelessness with forced eviction, IT'S OBVIOUS THAT THE GLOVES ARE OFF AND WE MUST RESPOND ACCORDINGLY.