#SupportYourLocalSquats – Charles Edward Brooke secondary school

Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL) have initiated a campaign to #SupportYourLocalSquats, specifically those currently occupying the former Charles Edward Brooke secondary school in Lambeth, south London. The building has been empty for over two years, and the owners (St Gabriel’s College) are applying for an Interim Possession Order (IPO, or fast-track eviction) this Tuesday 12 January 2015. To help the squatters out:

1] Please write to the headmaster, asking he come to an arrangement with the squatters instead (Letter template provided in HASL blog and SQUASH response below)

2] Tweet anti-squat, anti-co-op @lambeth_council and @cllr_peck, who helped put the IPO together

HASL – Letter Template

Email: nbutler@saintgabrielscollege.org

CC:haslemail@gmail.com

Dear headmaster,

I am writing to express my support for the people currently occupying the former Charles Edward Brooke secondary school. I am deeply concerned that you are pursuing the use of an Interim Possession Order which means that the occupiers will have very little time to find somewhere else to live, risking street homelessness; the quick eviction time is likely to cause significant distress and hardship to these people in housing need. An IPO criminalises and jails homeless people if they remain beyond the 24 hour deadline.

This is not an appropriate, fair or just way to treat homeless people. It must be stopped.

Please stop the IPO and come to a fair agreement with the occupiers and allow them to remain in the school until the school is being used again. We hope you will engage with the occupiers and make a formal response to Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (part of the London Coalition Against Poverty).

Sincerely,

[Your name]

SQUASH Letter of Support

Dear Headmaster,

I am writing on behalf of the squatting campaign group, Squatters Action for Secure Homes (SQUASH), in support of those currently occupying the former Charles Edward Brooke secondary school in Lambeth. SQUASH tracks the effects laws and landlord actions have on squatters and the homeless, and in consideration of our findings, we strongly urge you to come to an arrangement with the squatters instead of fast-tracking a possession order through court.

SQUASH’s reports show that squatters are being arrested, harassed and pushed into ever more precarious situations since section 144 of the LASPO Act was introduced in 2012. Squatters are the young and homeless, predominantly aged between 21 and 40, comprising both sexes, and many nationalities. The squatter demographic is the same demographic that is bearing the brunt of the housing crisis, and the tragic consequences of forcing young people into street homelessness is highlighted by cases like that of Daniel Gauntlett (35) who froze to death outside an empty bungalow.

We appeal to your sympathy and good sense to allow the squatters to remain in the building until there are immediate plans to restore it as a public facility. Examples like that of English footballers, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, who allowed squatters to remain in their empty Manchester hotel for the winter, show that such arrangements are feasible. If you would like any further advice about how your institution could go about this, please feel free to contact us.

The current occupiers of Charles Edward Brooke secondary school are active members of their community, and provide an effective deterrent to anything happening to the building, whether vandalism or dilapidation. Interim Possession Orders (IPO) are expensive and unnecessary, causing undue hardship and disruption to peoples’ lives. We therefore ask you to do the right thing.

Yours sincerely

Squatters Action for Secure Homes