With less than a month to go until the Vancouver municipal election, protesters were drumming home a message to the two men vying for the mayor's job.

Hundreds of people gathered on the steps of Vancouver's city Saturday to mark the end of Homelessness Action Week. Since Wednesday, protestors have been sleeping outside city hall to bring attention to the lack of affordable housing.

Homelessness is the easiest problem to solve," says Mel Lehan of the city-wide housing coalition. "Build homes, create supports and...voila! The problem is solved."

Housing advocates say more and more people are being forced to live on the street.

Free meal handouts, like the one on Saturday in Oppenheimer park are overflowing with people looking for a free bite to eat.

John Wright lives around the corner from the park.

"There are bugs everywhere in the area," says Wright. "There are bed bugs, cockroaches, and things don't seem to be getting cleaned up. It seems to get a bit worse than better."

Maria Carolina Alcantara moved here from Venezuela. She's still shocked at the level of poverty here.

"Why are they living like this?" the volunteer asks. "How come we had money for the Olympics and the election campaign? It's not right."

In Victoria, the lack of affordable housing has resulted in tent cities popping up all over the city.

This week, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled to allow homeless people to set up camp in public parks.

But it was only supposed to be at night -- not during the day --which sparked several arrests.

Mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson doesn't want this to happen in Vancouver, and says the Victoria ruling shows just how urgent the situation is.

"There are more buildings there that need to be brought up to proper conditions and other buildings in the city that can help facilitate housing to give warm and dry place for people to sleep at night," says Robertson.

Robertson's opponent Peter Ladner says patching up old buildings isn't easy, partly because you have to kick everyone out to do it.

The city doesn't have those resources and we shouldn't be expected to do that," says Ladner.

"We should be working with the province to do that."

But protesters are tired of excuse. They want affordable housing and will keep marching at city hall until they get it.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Leah Hendry