Living for today : 10,000 Squatters In London

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday October 26, 2005 21:25 by anarchist

UK to avoid cripplingly high rents in urban centres

Diane Taylor
Wednesday October 26, 2005
The Guardian


Françoise is a well-groomed young French woman who works part-time in fashion PR in London, pays her taxes and shares a cottage with friends in north London. She pays no rent though, because she is one of thousands of people across the UK who is squatting. "Many people who squat are working in low-paid jobs and simply cannot afford to pay rent, particularly in London," she says. "We want to do something creative with our lives, not just working behind a bar or on a building site. If you don't have to pay rent on top of all your other living expenses it can mean the difference between having time to live and merely surviving."

People from all over the world are now squatting in empty 'des res' properties in the She wants to see a more pragmatic arrangement between owners of empty properties and squatters, so squatters can move in and take care of buildings until the owners need them. "The laws around empty properties don't have much humanity," she says. "If people have a home and some food to eat, they can make progress in life. Without these basics it is very hard to move forward. I used to pay rent, but in London it's so expensive. There are many beautiful buildings around and they should be recycled."

Part of nature

She says she has learnt to get by on less since she started squatting a few months ago. "Hot water and electricity are my basic minimum requirements in a squat, but I don't mind if there are rats. After all, they're part of nature."

Françoise, 30, is typical of the new generation of squatters in London and other urban centres across the UK. In the 1970s and 1980s, squatters were usually English and often squatted as part of an "alternative" lifestyle involving environmental protests, a vegan diet and a sharp critique of capitalism. These squatters are still part of the scene, but squatting has diversified enormously in the last five years as a result of globalisation and new patterns of migration. And many squat not to make a statement against what they regard as the failures of an affluent society to house everybody, but because they are impoverished.

Migrant workers from Poland putting in 12-hour days on building sites, or Slovenian waitresses earning a pittance, simply cannot afford rents in cities such as London, where even the dingiest single room can cost £100 a week or more.

According to the Empty Homes Agency, which campaigns to bring empty properties back into use to meet housing need, there are 689,675 empty homes in England, so squatters have plenty of choice when they seek out free accommodation. But squatting is a precarious way of life; most stays last between a few weeks and a few months. Even the most determined squatters are usually evicted in the end, but some have become legal experts and represent themselves in court.

Evicting squatters used to be a civil matter, but the 1994 Criminal Justice Act gave police the powers to evict squatters. However, the spectre of police vans drawing up outside squats at dawn to drag out sleeping squatters has not materialised.

Steve Kennedy, squatter and trainee lawyer, says: "Officers have told me and others that they have better things to do." He agrees that the squatting scene has evolved since the early 1990s. "People who weren't squatting out of necessity then have moved on and there has been a large influx of people from places like, Spain, Italy and eastern Europe," he says. "People squat because they have nowhere else to live and because local authorities have so little social housing provision."

Marcello, 43, an Italian who has been dubbed "the squatters' estate agent", helps match homeless squatters with empty properties all over London. He says: "I have 1,200 numbers stored in my phone of people involved in squatting. They call me when they need a place to live and let me know when they find empty properties." He tries to find accommodation for people in the area of London they want to live in, and money never changes hands. "Helping people without expecting anything in return is a good feeling," he says.

Although many squatters are single and in their 20s or 30s, Marcello is sometimes contacted by families. "I found a place for a mum and two kids the other day," he says. "The council was supposed to provide her with bed and breakfast accommodation, but there was a five-day gap when they were left with nothing.

"It makes sense for an owner to let us live in an empty property for a while. We look after the buildings and prevent them from being vandalised and used by drug addicts. It means the owner doesn't have to pay for security on their building, and if something leaks we fix it."

Increasingly international

His current squat is a modern council flat in south London, complete with washing machine, fitted kitchen and comfortable rooms. He says squatting is increasingly international and that at least 10,000 people are squatting across London. "Italians, Spanish and Brazilians get along together because we're all Latins," he says. "We love sitting at the table talking and eating for hours, and we're all fanatical cleaners."

Hackney and Mayfair top his list of London areas with the most potential for squatting. "Sometimes we go into empty homes in Mayfair just for a party," he says.

Jonathan Ellis, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency, says that while he understands why people feel the need to squat, he hopes that new legislation will lead to far fewer empty homes. Part IV of the 2004 Housing Act is due to come into force and will allow local authorities to issue empty dwellings management orders to bring the properties back into use. "A home is a fundamental human right and having empty properties in a neighbourhood is bad news," he says.

Marcello welcomes the new law and hopes more will be done to provide homes for people who need them, but doesn't expect the supply of housing for squatters to dry up any time soon. "I plan to carry on squatting for the next 20 years and then I'll retire to a house on the beach and grow zucchini, tomatoes and potatoes."





Useful links
http://www.circlecommunity.org
Advisory service for squatters
http://www.squatter.org.uk