A village of tents and mattresses now wraps around the old Woodward's department store in downtown Vancouver. Protesters insist they have nowhere else to go since being evicted from the building a week ago.

"The hotels and things that are around ... the cockroaches are bigger than the mice and you've got to fight for bed space with the rats. That's not a place to live," said squatter Kerry Pakarinen.

The camp of squatters is a black eye for a city which prides itself on having the best track record for social housing in the country -- a reputation that is lost on the people evicted from their former home.

"The majority of people here, when we try to get into these facilities, there's a waiting list from here to Toronto," said Pakarinen.

The protesters blame the provincial government. But, at the opening of a housing co-op across town, Liberal MLA Rob Nijjar said the government supports social housing.

"That's why we've increased funding to social housing by 2.3 per cent for a total of $142.4 million which is the largest amount allocated for social housing by a B.C. government in the history of this province," said Nijjar.

Vancouver's acting mayor said help from the province allows the city to provide 20,000 subsidized units.

"It is an example of a partnership between the provincial government and the city government to provide co-op housing," said Jennifer Clarke.

But, the Tenants Rights Action Coalition maintains the Liberals are taking credit for the efforts of the former NDP government.

"So it's true they're spending more but it's for housing that was committed by the previous government," said Vanessa Geary.

Geary says the Liberals have introduced several measures which have exacerbated problems for Vancouver's poor and homeless.

"Things like cutting income assistance rates ... things like imposing a three week waiting list to get on income assistance ... things like cutting legal aid so tenants don't have legal representation in arbitration hearings ... all of that combines to create a problem that's even worse than it was a few months ago," said Geary.

It's a reality many of the protesters know first hand -- and they hope their camp on the main street in Vancouver's drug-infested downtown eastside will be the catalyst for change.