Around the country there are buildings that lie unused, forgotten by bureaucracy, condemned and wasted. The government is considering making living in these buildings a crime. I think that's a bit rubbish of them.
At the moment squatting an empty commercial property is not illegal, it's a civil dispute between the owner and the squatter. The process of evicting squatters is unfairly tied up in tape and could certainly be made easier for the owners. A court order is currently needed to remove them, which is an expensive and lengthly hassle, and i'm uncomfortable with the fact that the owners have have to foot the legal bills of the squatters (although these are bills that the state would have to foot were it to become criminal). However, sometimes these buildings are so neglected it's years before the owner even realises they are being squatted, and when they do, they find it's been looked after, unharmed and shielded from vandals.
Tales of those who quietly repair a property, pay bills, organise workshops and events that bring together the local community, these tales are not so commonly heard. It's the stories of people who wreck buildings, or sneak in whilst someone's on holiday and squat their home, that reach the press and instill fear in the public. Yet most squatters are not doing this.
With an estimated 762,000 empty and abandoned properties in the UK, and homelessness expected to increase as the cuts in housing allowances take effect, it seems like a crime to have long forgotten buildings sitting empty. It's inevitable that desperate people are going to try and make use of them. Is it really just to make occupying such a building a criminal offence?
Go visit a squat, government.
Read more here
Resist the criminalisation of squatting
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