In 2012, as we all know, new offence of squatting in a residential building was created by the Government, following a moral panic in the media whipped up by a few right-wing politicians. After a rushed consultation, a last-minute clause was added to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) which meant that it was never properly discussed in the House of Commons. The bill was then pushed through the House of Lords at midnight. Section144 criminalises trespass in a residential building with up to 6 months in prison and/or £5000 fine. Previous campaigns to criminalise squatting in the late 1970s and mid 1990s had failed, unfortunately this time it partially succeeded.

This new law is ridiculous and has already had fatal implications, following the devastating news that Daniel Gaunlett froze to death outside a derelict house having been threatened with arrest if he were to enter.

Eight months after the introduction of this ridiculous new law, it seems worth assessing the impact of it so far, especially when three people in Brighton are about to go on trial for squatting. No-one has yet pled not guilty, a far as we know, so precedents have not yet been set.

The extremely dubious retrospective nature of the law has also not been tested yet, again as far as we know. A woman in Wales took on a test case under human rights legislation regarding the squat where she has lived for 11 years with her four children, but unfortunately that case has been discontinued (paid off by the Ministry of Justice perhaps?)

Before September 1

When the law change was under discussion, Leslie Morphy, chief executive of Crisis, said: “A year’s imprisonment for some of society’s most vulnerable and desperate people is draconian and utterly counterproductive. Independent research is clear that 40% of single homeless people have resorted to squatting.” She proceeded to say “they squat out of necessity, not choice, in atrocious conditions where they are least likely to be disturbed. These are people that need help, not a year behind bars and a £5,000 fine” (the maximum penalty later became six months in jail).

Of course it is true that material need is the main driver for squatting. As the Simon Community (“living and working with homeless people in London since 1963”) comment in their response to the consultation: “The vast majority of homeless people who squat empty buildings – that is buildings which are not being used, are responsible people keen to bring housing stock back into use. Squatters are more aware than most people of the importance of housing and have no reason to make others homeless; in fact squatting for many is a moral and political choice.”

Kesia Reeve and different colleagues have written several papers for Crisis, which identify a link between homelessness and squatting. In The Hidden Truth about Homelessness: Experiences of single homelessness in England, 437 single homeless people were surveyed in 11 towns and cities across the UK; 142 claimed to have previously squatted (39%). In an earlier report, Life in the Margins, 165 homeless people from three locations were surveyed (London, Craven and Sheffield). Of these, 68 people had previously squatted (55 men and 13 women).

However, it must be clearly stated that Reeve is demonstrating that some people who are homeless squat as a means of taking shelter, not that all squatters are homeless people in the sense of squatting through deprivation (although it is also true that all squatters are technically of no fixed abode and therefore legally defined as homeless).

It must be remembered that there are no viable statistics generally. Indeed, there are no statistics about homeless people who squat. As Reeve comments:

Very little is known about squatting as a homeless situation: Despite the relatively high incidence of squatting amongst the homeless population, there is virtually no evidence, awareness, or understanding about the nature and extent of squatting, nor about the situations, profile or experiences of homeless people who squat (Margins)

Despite this clear statement, a callout for an academic conference at the University in Durham happening in March 2013 began by stating: “Squatters, as a population, are disproportionately vulnerable: research has shown that they are often homeless, former prison populations, alcohol dependent and with mental health problems.” Reeve’s statistics had been drastically misunderstood. Fortunately, the academics have now changed their statement to the following:

Squatters, as a population, can be viewed as disproportionately vulnerable relative to the general population.  While comprehensive data about the nature, extent, or motivations of the squatting community is elusive, research suggests that a significant proportion are homeless, and of these, a substantial proportion can be viewed as vulnerable (former prison populations, alcohol dependent and with mental health problems).

Still, it is a bit worrying even academics fall for these stereotypes. And it also a bit worrying that this discourse came to predominate. The issue at root isn’t about making squatters victims (although the devastating example of Daniel Gauntlett shows that this was not idle concern), but rather that tens of thousands of buildings are standing empty even though we are in a housing crisis. More on that below.

Since criminalisation

Even though the Association of Chief Police Officers told the Ministry of Justice that the existing law was “broadly in the right place” AND the Metropolitan Police said that “despite some of the claims in sections of the press, the reality is that there are already more than adequate means for removing squatters.” The law was brought in on the back of a moral panic that squatters (sometimes foreign!) were stealing homes…

However, despite the claims in the mainstream media, even Weatherley (MP for Hove and cheerleader for criminalisation) has stated “Such stories are rare and are not illustrative of the wider problem.” He made this climbdown in the speech he gave to Tory wanker students at the second attempt, having been chased off campus by University of Sussex students first time round.

Arrests

A Freedom of Information request of January 2013 reported 102 arrests across the UK with 13 convictions. Three of these have resulted in custodial sentences. A SQUASH report analyses these figures in greater detail.

Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, a 21 year old man called Alex Haigh was first to be arrested in Pimlico, London, on September 2 and was later sentenced to three months after pleading guilty. To our knowledge, twelve other people have so far been convicted, with the only other prison sentence being for a homeless Polish man, Michael Minorczyk. In that case, police forced their way into a derelict house and woke up to warn him that he would face arrest if he was there 20 minutes later. They came back, he was and he ended up being sentenced prison for 15 weeks.

A Freedom of Information request of January 2013 reported a total 102 arrests across the UK. A SQUASH report analyses these figures in greater detail and also notes the difficulty in tracking figures.

Three squatters were arrested in a building in Brighton on September 3 last year after a a seven hour stand-off and they intend to fight the charges (abstraction, obstruction and squatting), with their case to be heard in April 2013. This website is set up to support them.

Since then many squatters have been evicted under threat of arrest and in Ilford two men have been convicted of squatting a pub, despite the consultation paper stating that “the Government will not seek to criminalise squatting in non-residential buildings, such as disused factories, warehouses or pubs.” In the main, it seems that a standoff has developed where the police are fairly reluctant to charge people, but will use it to evict under threat of arrest, especially when the squatters are seen as easy targets.

This might then explain why 41 out of the 95 people arrested for squatting by the Metropolitan police were Romanian (who perhaps but not necessarily were inexperienced squatters and/or could not speak English very well to assert their rights). The Evening Standard panted excitedly that “some will see the squatting statistics as justification for ending the migration rules — which only allow Romanians and Bulgarians to work here in agricultural jobs or as self-employed.” Not us.

According to Detective Chief Superintendent Sue Williams, over in Ilford, “squatting is linked to Anti-Social Behaviour and can cause a great deal of nuisance and distress to local residents.” But of course she doesn’t give any figures.

But how many people are actually squatting? It is clear that there are no exact figures available. Squatters themselves are not interested in the question, for example the opinion of SNOB(AHA) was that knowing a precise number of squatters, even simply within the Brighton area had no particular use for it as a group.

In its paper ‘Options for dealing with squatting’, the Ministry of Justice stated that “there is no data held by central Government about the number of people who squat or their reasons for doing so” and then proceeded to estimate the number of squatters nationally at 20,000. The reasoning for this figure was difficult to follow – a Freedom of Information request revealed that the estimate had been reached after considering that there had been 216 granted interim possession orders and 531 granted ordinary possession orders were granted against trespassers of all descriptions (not just squatters) in UK courts in 2010. Was the Ministry of Justice’s estimate reached by adding up the total number of granted possession orders, knocking off 247 cases as unrelated to squatting and then multiplying by 4 to get 20,000? Would that really make sense? A further freedom of information request requesting clarification does not appear to have been answered yet.

It is interesting to read the briefings produced by Wendy Wilson for the House of Commons library regarding squatting in 1994, 2009 and 2011. The latest version begins with a quote from Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2010, which declares “Information on the number of properties occupied by squatters is not held centrally.”

However, there seems at least to be general agreement that in the mid1970s, there were around 30,000 squatters in London and 50,000 total in England (Franklin, Platt in Wates and Wolmar, Ward, Voice)

So how many people are actually squatting? This seemingly arbitrary figure of 20,000 has been bandied about a lot, but I suspect it could be a lot higher in reality. The managing director of a “vacant property specialist” firm stated in the Evening Standard in 2012 that “There are about 100,000 cases a year in the UK, and there is significant risk that comes with that,” although of course the more squatters the merrier in terms of his business.

There is really no way to tell, however we do have firm statistics on the number of empty buildings. According to the group Empty Homes as of November 2012 there were 710,140 empty homes, just over 3% of the total stock.

So what is actually going on? Well, in December 2012, Shelter released a report which claimed that one in every 115 households across England is at risk of homelessness. It stated that “in the 12 months to September 2012, 198,470 households were threatened with losing their home – equal to cities the size of Liverpool or Bristol being evicted or repossessed”.

How could this be happening? Well, the writing has been on the wall for a long time. To turn again to the experts, Shelter produced a report in 1991 which argued that unlike most other European countries, where housing policy is based on “reduction of inequalities between different forms of housing, or responding to changing housing needs,” in England housing policy “has been driven primarily by the wish to increase owner occupation and reduce the role of local authorities in providing homes for rent.” (Foster with Burrows).

The Future

A group of 40 lawyers recently wrote to the Guardian, saying that “none of the 33 known arrests so far (leading to 10 convictions and three prison sentences) involve the squatters having displaced people from their homes. The properties concerned were all empty.”

On of the signatories was Andrew Arden QC, a leading expert on housing law, who said “The only difference from the old law is that it wasn’t criminal before, until you were asked to leave. It is a superfluous law that criminalises action taken by the most needy whose housing needs are certainly going to worsen.” This at a time when, as the Independent reports, the latest Government figures show 34,080 families were homeless in 2012, up 12 per cent on the previous year.

As Polly Toynbee warned last year, “The epic scale of the crisis now unfolding is only just dawning on some: most of the public may not see it until late next year” but she argues more recently that “Labour’s answer must be build, build, build.” I don’t agree. Surely the first act should be to use the empties, exactly what the squatters have been shouting from the rooftops since the 1970s as in Ron Bailey’s book The Homeless and the Empty Houses. For all its dumbing down of the issues, the Great British Property Scandal did a good job of arguing precisely that.

Yet the winds of change do seem to be slowly picking up. The Government is considering a plan to make it easier to convert offices into residential. But remember that this is also the Government which criminalised squatting, probably because it saw better than anyone else that we are heading into a housing crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1970s (when a strong politically active squatters movement arose).

Can we mobilise and take action again? Well it’s not going to be easy, but it doesn’t seem impossible. Putting people in prison for occupying empty property won’t help solve the housing crisis. We’ll have to solve it ourselves.
 

References

Bentham, M. ‘Romanians make up 45 per cent of squatters breaking new law’ in Evening Standard.
Brighton Voice.
Crisis Press Release ‘Year’s imprisonment for vulnerable squatters to be forced through next week.’
Dillon, J. ‘Immigrant first man jailed for squatting’ in Lancashire Telegraph.
Foster, S. with Burrows, L. Shelter (1991) Urgent Need for Homes Shelter: London.
Franklin, A. Squatting in England.
Hunter, C. ‘Homeless man Daniel Gauntlett dies frozen on doorstep of empty bungalow in Aylesford’ in Kent Online.
Ministry of Justice ‘Options for Dealing with Squatters.’
Parsons, R. ‘Squatting victim begs ministers to speed up change in law’ in Evening Standard.
Reeve, K. ‘The UK Squatters Movement 1968-1980’ in Hoogenhuijze, L. (ed.) Kritiek 2009 : Jaarboek voor Socialistische Discussie en Analyse Aksant pp.137-159.
— with Batty, E. The Hidden Truth about Homelessness: Experiences of single homelessness in England London: Crisis.
— with Coward, S. (2004) Life on the Margins: The Experiences of Homeless People Living in Squats London: Crisis/Countryside Agency.
SchNEWS
Shelter ‘Eviction risk hotspots revealed.’
Simon Community ‘Response to Consultation.’
SolFed ‘”Squatters 1: Tory party nil” – anti-squatting MP chased from university campus.’
SQUASH The Case Against Section 144.
Toynbee, P. ‘How to turn a housing crisis into a homeless catastrophe’ in Guardian.
— ‘Why 2013 will be a boom year for bailiffs and slum landlords’ in Guardian.
Ward, C. Anarchy in Action Freedom: London.
Wates, N. & Wolmars, C. (1980) Squatting: The Real Story Bay Leaf: London.
Weatherley, M.’Despite recent attack by violent squatters Mike delivers speech to Sussex students.’
Williams, S. ‘Police statement on squatting January 20 2012.’
Wilson, W. (2011) ‘Squatting’ House of Commons Library.
— (2009) ‘Squatting’ House of Commons Library.
— (1994) ‘Policy on Squatting in the Criminal
Justice and Public Order Bill’ House of Commons Library.
Yapp, C. ‘Squatting law challenged by Powys woman’ on BBC News.

In the early hours of January 16th 2013 we found a suitable canvas to express our rage and solidarity with the recent wave of attacks on anarchist/autonomous spaces in Greece.

On the pristine white wall of the Halifax bank on London Road (central Brighton) we painted “Solidarity with squats in greece” in large green letters, accompanied by A.C.A.B, a large squatter symbol and circled A in black paint. This is only a small expression of our desire to strike back in what are difficult and oppressive times for all of us. Unfortunately we do not have any pictures of our art.

Solidarity with squatters and anarchists worldwide.

Some anarchists.

Weatherley repetedly shunned debate with any squatters before he criminalised us. This is the only time he has talked in public about squatting, people tried to let their voices be heard through the government consultation on squatting, which came out as 90% opposed to banning squatting, this is why a broad range of people chased him off campus today, there were students, squatters, and supporters present.

SNoB have lots of links to film, mainstream media and other reports.

“I had really bad depression so I couldn’t hold a job. I ended up sleeping rough on the streets. My mental health was deteriorating… I had suicidal thoughts,” he recalls.

Todd – an adopted Anglicisation of his Lithuanian name – ended up in Brighton, a town on England’s south coast with a reputation for tolerance, a vibrant arts scene and a homelessness problem. It was there that he began to rebuild his life, finding a vital support network among those squatting in the town’s ample stock of empty and neglected buildings and sometimes opening them up as impromptu galleries and cultural spaces.

British squatters face eviction after law change

“I call myself houseless, not homeless. We are a community and we help each other out,” he explains. “There is a lot of support and there is always somebody to talk to. Living like this, you’re always in control of your own life. You don’t have the money to support yourself food-wise, maybe, but you can go and get it from skips. It’s still the same food.”

But tens of thousands like Todd who seek shelter in unoccupied properties now risk arrest and imprisonment under a government-backed campaign to outlaw squatting.

Under a law in place since the beginning of September, squatting in empty residential properties in England and Wales is already a criminal offence, with those convicted facing months in prison and steep fines. The ministry of justice estimates that up to 2,000 people could be prosecuted each year.

Supporters of the law, including David Cameron, the British prime minister, argue that banning squatting is necessary to protect homeowners and landlords, to prevent associated anti-social and criminal behaviour, and to give the police and courts greater powers to evict, arrest and prosecute those engaged in it.

‘Targets the vulnerable’

Recently, Mike Weatherley, the main architect of that legislation, met Chris Grayling, the justice minister, to discuss its extension to commercial properties as well.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Weatherley, whose Hove constituency is adjacent to Brighton, said that the law needed to be tougher because squatters were taking advantage of a “loophole” allowing the occupation of properties that were part-commercial and part-residential, such as pubs.

“The police like it, the public like it, it’s a good law, and those who says it’s not are just anarchists,” said Weatherley. “These properties belong to somebody and the law for too long has been ineffectual.”

But opponents say that the ban targets the vulnerable at a time when cuts to public services and benefits, high unemployment and a shortage of social housing mean that, for some, sleeping in a squat may be the last option before sleeping on the streets.

Squatting campaigners say there are also hundreds of thousands of properties being left empty and falling into dereliction even as rising rents and high property prices have left growing numbers struggling to find affordable accommodation.

“All it’s doing is criminalising homeless people in the middle of a housing crisis,” said Joseph Blake of the Squatters’ Action for Secure Homes (SQUASH) pressure group. He cited the case of a 21-year-old man, Alex Haigh, who in September became the first person to be jailed under the new law.

“The people who are being affected are those using squatting as the final means to get a roof over their head. Alex Haigh has gone to prison for sheltering in a building that had been empty for a year-and-a-half. We think squatting needs to be there as a last resort, especially in tough times.”

Homelessness in many areas of the UK has risen sharply in recent years, with the latest government figures showing more than 50,000 families and individuals in need of emergency accommodation in 2012, a 25 percent rise since 2009.

Charities and campaigners argue that the actual number of “hidden homeless”, including rough sleepers and those sleeping on sofas, is much higher. Up to 50,000 people are estimated to be living in squats, including about half now illegally in residential properties, and research by the charity Crisis showed that almost 40 percent of homeless people have resorted to squatting at some point, often in bleak and squalid conditions.

Talia Menezes of the Eviction Resistance squatting support network said the law change had already forced many squatters to make difficult choices between staying put illegally in residential properties or seeking alternative accommodation, sometimes finding refuge in already overcrowded commercial squats.

“There is one squat that had capacity for 15 people and recently it was holding 45 people and this includes families and people whose English was not so great,” she said. “But there’s been a really lovely thing where a lot of squats have opened their doors and gone, well ok, whoever needs some space. People have been trying to stop people from ending up on the street.”

Eviction Resistance, which offers advice and support to those threatened with eviction, was founded by Menezes and her partner Keith Robin, a veteran political activist who died last month at the age of 56 as a consequence of a long-term brain tumour.

“I talked to him about getting a council flat because squatting is not an easy life, but he completely refused,” she said. “He felt he was either going to be taking housing off a family or squatting – that was his dilemma.”

Prior to his death, Robin described to Al Jazeera how the London-based network worked to delay evictions by summoning crowds to peacefully block bailiffs and police from gaining entry to squats.

“We’ve found that if you are obstructive but quite amiable then police and bailiffs will cut you quite a lot of slack,” he said. “You can put off an eviction, sometimes for months, sometimes only for a couple of weeks. But that’s all we’re doing. We’re trying to enable people to have somewhere to live for a little bit longer.”

Robin said that some activists also planned to target residential properties in an effort to prove the new law unworkable.

“We’re going to start occupying them as a political act. And we’re going to call the police and say bring it on. There are quite a lot of people who are up for that. If you push someone up against a wall and you don’t give them any way out then the only thing they can do is resist.”

Just surviving

Squatting has a long and colourful tradition in the UK and has often been associated with political activism and countercultural protest. But media coverage of the subject tends to focus on lurid stories of dreadlocked “crusties” and anarchists moving into multi-million pound Mayfair mansions, or of homeowners returning from holiday to find their properties trashed by eastern European gangs.

One such recent headline in the sensationalist Daily Mail newspaper read: “Immigration officer comes home to find family of Romanian gypsies squatting in her house, wearing her clothes and drinking her wine (after telling neighbours she’d died)”.

But Casper, a Brighton-based squatter, said there were many instances of squatters playing positive roles in the communities where they lived. He said he had been involved in art galleries, social centres, a food distribution hub and an autonomous homeless shelter which had all been run by squatters.

Other notable examples include a closed public library at Friern Barnet in north London which was re-opened by squatters and re-stocked with donated books, and the Grow Heathrow project which established a thriving organic garden with local support on land earmarked for airport expansion.

“We’re not talking about someone who is spending a night in a doorway. We are talking about somebody who is taking somebody else’s property.”

– Mike Weatherley

“When the government is cutting all these services that people drastically need and they’re saying that people should step in to fill the cracks, well, that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Casper.

Mike Weatherley, though, rejects the notion of the virtuous squatter, as well as any correlation between squatting and homelessness.

“Vulnerable people should be looked after by the local authorities and that is the end of it. There is no link between homelessness and squatting, no matter how they try to link the two together to get some sympathy for their cause,” he said.

“Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about someone who is spending a night in a doorway. We are talking about somebody who is taking somebody else’s property. These are anti-capitalist people and they shouldn’t be able to get away with it.”

But Catherine Brogan, another SQUASH campaigner, said that most squatters were simply doing what they had to to survive.

“Living in empty buildings and eating from bins and going through rubbish is not just something that happens in the global south. That’s something that’s happening in the UK. I don’t think it’s about people being anti-capitalist. It’s about people finding a way to live.”

Of course they didn’t ask any squatters for their views. So it’s time for someone stoop to reply to his vile fictions… The imagined conversation is below…

Mike
“A squatter in Brighton once complained to me that his father was late in sending him his monthly allowance of tobacco from Dubai”

Not Mike
Really Mike? Got any actual evidence for that assertion? Someone told me you were a complete twanger the other day. And do you know what, I believed her, based on the hard evidence that you talk rubbish.

Mike
This really hit home that the squatting debate is not about helping the homeless. It’s certainly not about making use of empty buildings. The argument boils down to whether or not society is willing to put up with the demands of one extremely narrow self-serving group who currently don’t pay for their housing arrangements.

Not Mike
Well, Mike. Figures recently released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority show that in the year 2011/2012, you claimed £21,609.92 expenses for accommodation alone, presumably for that all-important second home in London. One extremely narrow self-serving group, namely Members of Parliament, do get their rent paid for them, but most people don’t have that enviable luxury. You are however right to suggest that society probably should not put up with this situation.

Despite what you think, homelessness charities do say that criminalisation is a very bad idea and fear the number of people sleeping rough will rise. Plus did you really say: “It’s not about making use of empty buildings” – there are more than 900,000 empty homes in the UK in a time of austerity and you make a comment like that? Off with their heads!

Mike
Why won’t they pay their fair share? Simple. A loophole exists, that was put in place to protect vulnerable tenants from Rachmanesque landlords. In reality, it prevents normal homeowners without costly court orders from throwing out individuals who have broken in.

Not Mike
The ‘loophole’ you refer to would be the law. The law protects people in possession of property from being attacked by thugs. When people occupy derelict or unused houses and use them for housing or indeed for activities, Section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act protects their possession, as well it should (and still does). And that’s why the rock bands you hold so dear such as Iron Maiden were able to start of their careers in squatted rehearsal spaces. And why a project like Grow Heathrow can take a trashed ex-market garden and start growing vegetables there again, with the full support of the local community, a community which incidentally is now threatened with a third runway again as the anticipated Conservative party policy U-turn approaches.

Mike
I say ‘exists’ but I meant ‘existed’. From 1st September, squatting in residential buildings has been a criminal offence. This means that people who go abroad and find others in the homes when they return, or people who are trying to sell an empty property, or others who are in the process of inheriting a property from a loved one, can sleep safely.

Not Mike
You clearly haven’t understood the law as it previously stood, Mike. As 160 lawyers argued, the rights of home-owners who went out for the proverbial pint of milk were already covered (get one of your minions, perhaps that lovely Robert Nemeth, to look up the term ‘Displaced Residential Occupier’). You said that the lawyers were “sadly out of touch” but actually, they are experts, unlike you. And some of these same experts have now ventured the opinion that the new offence of squatting in a residential building is both unnecessary and unworkable in practice. People in the process of inheriting a property are also protected under the term Protected Intending Occupier, which means that if there is a contract in existence the squatters can be evicted.

The simple fact is that squatters don’t take other people’s homes. Yes, there are a few notorious examples blown out of all proportion by the mainstream media, but even these cases are a bit more complex if one takes the time to look into them.

Mike
Any invasion can now be dealt with by the police. It also means that the police will no longer be able to get away with ignoring related offences such as breaking and entering, theft of utilities and criminal damage.

Not Mike
I’m sure the police do love being told what to do by some jumped-up idiot but let’s remember that squatters occupy buildings to use them. If all these offences are being committed then surely squatters would be charged with them, but they are not. Sometimes they are arrested for them, it’s true, but the charges are always dropped. Because they are groundless. The new law won’t change that at all. And I doubt whether people will actually get prosecuted under this new law either. Surprisingly perhaps, that’s even what some landlords think.

Mike
What has fascinated me throughout this whole campaign is the difference between the genuine homeless, who might sleep rough and be addicted to alcohol or drugs, and the often privileged individuals who choose to squat. It is incredibly saddening that squatters have tried to use this as a cover during their violent and expensive fight against this change to the law.

Not Mike
LOL. You seem to have forgotten that this was a difference which you dreamt up. You betray an utter lack of knowledge on this issues which is really shameful for someone in public office. Such incompetence makes it hard to think you will be re-elected despite your obvious skills for brown-nosing and bandwagon-jumping. In a BBC interview, you said that unnamed homelessness charities supported criminalisation, a spurious assertion which unfortunately went unchallenged until intrepid Schnews reporters questioned you further. Unable to cite any of the major groups, such as Crisis, Shelter or St Mungos, since they all had a clear anti-criminalisation stance, you mentioned a local charity, Off the Fence. However, the head of Off the Fence could only comment that “Mike Weatherley has never talked to me or the Trustees about squatting. One million empty houses in UK is criminal. Anyone saying that Off the Fence’s position is to criminalise squatting would be wrong”. He went on to say: “In regards to squatting, the only criminal element is properties that are left empty, while people are freezing to death on the streets of this City”.

You also said “show me a squat which has been made better by the squatters,” a laughable assertion which has already been comprehensively demolished.

Mike
Locally, we have seen council properties trashed by squatters which has added tens of thousands of pounds and months of delays to the refurbishment programme. This means that those who genuinely need help are currently not getting it. In Brighton & Hove, we have seen small businesses go under because they can’t afford to evict squatters.

Not Mike
Getting a little bit bored of your unreferenced assertions, Mike. Council properties trashed by squatters… care to name any?? I could give you a list of council properties which gave been left empty for years and are currently rotting away dilapidated.

To take a couple of examples, what about the villa on Ditchling Road, or Brookmead on Albion Street? These were both closed under a Tory Council before you try to blame the Greens. Moving away from Council-owned properties, what about the Hippodrome (empty since 2007), Anston House (empty since the 1980s) and so many other crumbling wrecks…

Mike
On that particular point, I shall not be shying away from the intimidation and threats that I have received from squatters. Alongside a drive to get commercial buildings back into use, I am now campaigning for a change in law that stops squatters from ransacking commercial buildings. Homeowners may now be safe but traders are still vulnerable to the squatting menace.

Not Mike
Aw Mike, don’t kid yourself that we give a shit about you. You are a scumbag, a pitiful excuse for a human being who cried when asked by the Daily Mail why his wife was a Brazilian prostitute. There’s no anger here, just pity.

I mean you worked as an accountant for Stock Aitken and Waterman .. you’ve had a really shit life … you idolise David Cameron … just keep holding onto that balloon ….

Free

11 October
Caroline of Brunswick

39 Ditchling Road,
Brighton, BN1 4SB

19:00 – 21:00

Free, doors open at 6:30pm.

http://www.bpb.org.uk/2012/whats_on/activism-and-alternative-media-talk/

This Brighton Photo Bienniale exhibition focuses on Brighton’s squat culture from the early 1990s to the present, forging strong connections between the politics of space and the history of the locale. BPB12 curators have drawn together a body of photographs showing political squats – empty buildings occupied to make political points – taken by Brighton’s squatters during the past twenty-five years. The photographs suggest different ways of thinking about space to those which generally dominate capitalist culture. The images will be widely distributed throughout the festival in a free publication and displayed in the same locations they were originally made, throwing the changing face of the city into relief.

http://www.bpb.org.uk/2012/whats_on/another-space-political-squatting-brighton/

Here’s a few links if people want more information:

First legal challenge
http://en.squat.net/2012/09/01/uk-legal-challenge-to-new-squatting-law/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/31/challenge-to-law-criminalising-squatting

Circular message from Ministry of Justice concerning “Offence of Squatting in a Residential Building”
http://brighton.squat.net/uploads/2012/09/squatting-circular.pdf

Eviction Resistance
http://evictionresistance.blogspot.co.uk/

Birmingham strikes back
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/08/499393.html

Information from Advisory Service for Squatters
http://www.squashcampaign.org/2012/08/updated-advice-from-the-advisory-service-for-squatters/

Squatters march in Brighton
https://network23.org/snob/2012/08/07/mass-squatting-action-brighton-oct-13th/

This is .. surprising since there was a silence for a while.

This is … exciting because now there’s going to be some action.

This is … sad because people are probably going to lose their homes and derelict buildings reclaimed for housing are now going to be returned to emptiness.

What’s stupid about this is that it will obviously not stop squatting (we can look to other countries such as Spain and the Netherlands for easy proof of that), it will just give those who claim to rule us and their lackeys the police another fucking excuse to crack down on people who are committing the “crime” of using empty space.

We anticipate some interesting test cases in the near future and show total solidarity with everyone who may lose their home under the effects of this repugnant law.

Remember the new law ONLY APPLIES TO RESIDENTIAL….

Here’s what ASS say:

The new law on squatting (s144 LASPO 2012) will be coming into force on the 1st September 2012.

Not everyone who is squatting, or considered by others to be squatting, will be affected by the new law, but people will need to be prepared to explain, quite forcefully at times, why they are not affected.

The wording of S144 starts:

(1)A person commits an offence if—

(a) the person is in a residential building as a trespasser having entered it as a trespasser,

(b) the person knows or ought to know that he or she is a trespasser, and

(c) the person is living in the building or intends to live there for any period.

(2)The offence is not committed by a person holding over after the end of a lease or licence (even if the person leaves and re-enters the building).

So Squatting is still legal in non-residential properties. A building is defined as ‘residential’ if it is “designed or adapted, before the time of entry, for use as a place to live”.

You are also not committing an offence if you have, or have had a tenancy or licence to live in the property, if you are not living or intending to live in the property, or if you don’t have any way to know you are a trespasser (in which case you probably wouldn’t be reading this).

Tenancies and licences do not have to be in writing, but if people have reason to think they may be accused of breaking the law it would be best to collect as much paperwork as possible. Tenancies and licences can also have been granted by a tenant of the owner, or by an agent, possibly without the owner’s knowledge (but they can check and return).

Any police officer would need to have reasonable suspicion that you (or anyone) have committed a crime, to force entry and to carry out an arrest, so it can be in your interests to explain otherwise. Explaining through a closed door or upstairs window is always preferable to letting them in.

Section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 still applies against those trying to force entry without lawful authority. The problem is that the new law gives further lawful authority to the police to enter if they suspect the offence is being committed.

Useful contacts:

Birmingham

Birmingham Eviction Resistance Network

Brighton

Squatters Network of Brighton (and Hove Actually)

Bristol

Bristol Housing Action Movement

Cardiff

Red and Black Umbrella

London

Eviction Resistance – 07591 415860

Advisory Service for Squatters – 020 3216 0099

Squatters Action for Secure Homes

Manchester

Manchester Housing Action

The vegshop, which was illegally evicted a few months ago and trashed by both the bailiffs and the “security” people (who smashed all the windows and left it looking bleak), has been given a spot of colour!

It used to look like this back in the days when it was open: