Monthly Archives: February 2012

Squatting law will only criminalise the homeless. Let’s demolish clause 136

When the Ministry of Justice consulted about squatting, 2,126 responses came from “members of the public concerned about the impact of criminalisation” and only 25 were from “members of the public concerned about the harm squatting can cause”. The people, as ever, are kinder than their government.

The timing could not be more vicious. The chronic shortage of social housing, the cuts and the economic depression create a perfect storm of a housing crisis. Homelessness is up 15% nationally in the last year, and rough sleeping in London is up 8%. Shapps has promised funding to resolve homelessness but this money is a drop in an ocean of chaos; it will be wiped out by cuts elsewhere…

Lords knock coalition squat plan

Last Wednesday the proposed law to criminalise squatting in residential properties was debated in the House of Lords.

This was, in fact, the first time the clause has been properly debated in Parliament since it was proposed.

Adding up the cost of privatisation…

Perhaps the council can’t see that squatters are uniquely positioned to be the missing link in the equation they can’t solve. Fixing up houses is second nature to long-term squatters, and many are used to living in conditions that would be unsuitable for families. The blight of long term empty homes can be a thing of the past if people that are prepared to refurbish homes for themselves are allowed to move in and get on with it. What makes the council blind to such a common sense solution?

If the government has their way this pro-active, hands-on approach to putting life back into empty homes will very soon become a crime. Maybe they can’t add up either…

Squatters move to stop council sell-off

Lewisham People Before Profit has occupied 5 houses which Lewisham Council wants to sell-off.

In a bid to stop five family houses being sold off at auction today activists entered and peacefully took control of the houses earmarked for “disposal” by Lewisham Council.

Squatting, South American style…

This video from the New York Times shows the true face of squatting: people who have been let down – and, like the buildings they occupy, left to rot – by their government.

People taking matters into their own hands, people finding their own solutions.

It’s all in the timing…

Squatter season is officially open. Over the past fortnight, you may have noticed a ramping up of anti-squatting stories in newspaper reports and opinion columns.

This is no coincidence, in fact the timing is almost comical…

Nice one, Gorms…

Last week, the artist Anthony Gormley gave an impassioned defence of squatting, as reported in an article by Alex Needham for the Guardian. In it, Gormley tells us that he’s against the criminalisation of squatting because of what he thinks is the real crime: the housing crisis…

Another response to the Daily Mail

This is from the Advisory Service for Squatters clearing up some of the lies and nonsense most lately peddled in the Daily (Hate) Mail’s attack on the homeless.