High school students from Vancouver’s Churchill Secondary are planning a rally to show their support for a plan to locate temporary modular housing in the neighbourhood.
Churchill is one of three schools within a block of a controversial modular housing facility for the city’s homeless that’s been proposed for West 59th Avenue at Heather Street.
Residents in the area have been picketing the site, many saying they don’t oppose housing for the homeless but disagreed with the location due to the schools nearby.
WATCH: Stanley Park is the best place for homeless, says Marpole protester
But one group of students at Churchill is speaking out to say it isn’t afraid of homeless people in the neighbourhood.
Cypress Knudson, a grade 12 student and member of Marpole Students for Modular Housing, hopes the planned rally will help the project’s opponents understand why they don’t want to push the homeless from the neighbourhood.
READ MORE: Some Vancouver parents upset with temporary housing plans in Marpole
“I do understand that people can be set in their ways and they aren’t open to that kind of change. But I think this is one of those changes that is important for the benefit of our society as a whole and for our community being a better place in general,” she said.
The city is proposing three two-storey buildings on the site, providing 78 units of transitional housing for the homeless.
However, since its announcement, the project has faced stiff opposition, with many protesters warning of an increase in drugs and crime in the area, and carrying signs with slogans like, “Keep our children safe” and “Kid’s safety first.”
One protester told Global News she thought the best place for the homeless was in Stanley Park.
But Knudson said students are hoping they can start a dialogue with that group.
“The whole point of the rally is just trying to get everyone together and just see the positives of having modular housing here,” she said.
“I think the majority of the fear is not the fault of the individual, but the fault of society as a whole.”
The students will hold their rally on Dec. 5 at 8 a.m., at the corner of West 57th Avenue and Heather Street.
The new units are slated to be in place by late January.
Comments