Related Research Articles
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history, broken down by country below.
Homes Not Jails is an American organization that is affiliated with the San Francisco Tenants Union. It describes itself as an all-volunteer organization committed to housing homeless people through direct action. The group was formed in 1992. Homes Not Jails does public actions as well as legislative advocacy and squatting. Homes Not Jails groups do "housing takeovers", acts of civil disobedience in which vacant buildings are publicly occupied, to demonstrate the availability of vacant property and to advocate that it be used for housing. The group has done many such occupations. Homes Not Jails has also done and assisted with hundreds of "covert" squats in which vacant buildings are broken into so that people in need of housing can move in.
St Agnes Place was a squatted street in Kennington, south London, which resisted eviction orders for more than 30 years. When a number of derelict houses were scheduled for demolition to extend Kennington Park in 1969, squatters occupied the properties and a High Court injunction prevented the demolition. The street was run by a housing cooperative until 2005, when Lambeth London Borough Council obtained an eviction order. Demolition was completed in 2007.
Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can be found in squatted, rented, mortgaged and fully owned buildings. These self-managed social centres differ from community centres in that they are self-organised under anti-authoritarian principles and volunteer-run, without any assistance from the state. The largest number have occurred in London from the 1980s onwards, although projects exist in most cities across the UK, linked in a network. Squatted social centres tend to be quickly evicted and therefore some projects deliberately choose a short-term existence, such as A-Spire in Leeds or the Okasional Café in Manchester. Longer term social centres include the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, the Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, which are co-operatively owned.
London Street Commune was a hippy movement formed during the 1960s. It aimed to highlight concerns about rising levels of homelessness and to house the hundreds of hippies sleeping in parks and derelict buildings in central London.
The DA! collective is an art collective that squats in London, England, co-founded by Simon and Bogna McAndrew, Stephanie Smith, Samuel Conrad, Julika Vaci, Aishlinn Dowling, Sam Padfield and Murat Bulut Aysan. After squatting in three buildings, they received national attention when they squatted a townhouse in Mayfair, Westminster, Greater London in October 2008. The property, at 18 Upper Grosvenor Street, is a 30-room grade II-listed 1730s mansion worth an estimated £6.25 million owned by the billionaire Duke of Westminster, Britain's wealthiest private landlord.
In England and Wales, squatting – taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own – is a criminal or civil offence, depending on circumstances. People squat for a variety of reasons which include needing a home, protest, poverty, and recreation. Many squats are residential; some are also opened as social centres. Land may be occupied by New Age travellers or treesitters.
In the United States, squatting occurs when a person enters land that does not belong to them without lawful permission and proceeds to act in the manner of an owner. Historically, squatting occurred during the settlement of the Midwest when colonial European settlers established land rights and during the California Gold Rush. There was squatting during the Great Depression in Hoovervilles and also during World War II. Shanty towns returned to the US after the Great Recession (2007–2009) and in the 2010s, there were increasing numbers of people occupying foreclosed homes using fraudulent documents. In some cases, a squatter may be able to obtain ownership of property through adverse possession.
Bloomsbury Social Centre was an impromptu squat and social centre in Bloomsbury, London, which was squatted as a self-managed social centre by students in affiliation with Occupy London, and the global Occupy movement. It was formed on 23 November 2011, and evicted on 22 December, lasting a total of 30 days. It occupied 53 Gordon Square, a historic six-storey Georgian Grade II-listed building, the former home of the Percival David Collection, renovated by famous British architect, Charles Holden, the principal architect of nearby Senate House. 53 Gordon Square is now part of the Doctoral School.
Bonnington Square is a square in Vauxhall, south London, which was built in the 1870s. It became famous in the 1980s when all the houses in it, vacant and awaiting demolition, were squatted.
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) is a statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted by the coalition government of 2010-2015, creating reforms to the justice system. The bill for the act was introduced in the House of Commons on 21 June 2011, and received Royal Assent on 1 May 2012.
Squat Milada is a First Republic villa located in the Libeň district of Prague. Milada was intended to be demolished in the 1980s and deleted from the cadastre. Therefore it was a house which officially did not exist and it became one of the Czech Republic's best known squats, occupied from 1997 until 2009. It was then reoccupied for a day in 2012. Acting as a self-managed social centre and infoshop hosting concerts and events, Milada was also home to a number of people. Despite various plans for the site, as of 2021, the building was standing derelict.
ADM was a squat in the Port of Amsterdam, to the west of the city next to the North Sea Canal. The squat lasted from 1997 until its eviction in early 2019. Around 130 people lived on the terrain of 45 hectares in buildings, on boats and in vehicles.
Squatters' Action for Secure Homes (SQUASH) is an activist group formed first in the 1990s in the United Kingdom to represent the interests of squatters and to fight the proposed criminalisation of squatting. It then reformed in 2011, when there were again parliamentary discussions about making squatting illegal. After squatting was (partially) criminalised in 2012, the group continues to monitor arrests and convictions.
Squatting in Australia usually refers to a person who is not the owner, taking possession of land or an empty house. In 19th century Australian history, a squatter was a settler who occupied a large tract of Aboriginal land in order to graze livestock. At first this was done illegally, later under licence from the Crown.
Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.
Squatting in the Netherlands is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.
Squatting in Spain refers to the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. In Francoist Spain migrant workers lived in slums on the periphery of cities. During the Spanish transition to democracy, residential squatting occurred in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza. From the 1980s onwards a new generation of squatters set up self-managed social centres which hosted events and campaigns. The 1995 Criminal Code among other things criminalised squatting, but failed to stop it. Social centres exist across the country and in Barcelona and Madrid in particular. In the Basque Country they are known as gaztetxes.
Squatting in Malaysia is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. Squatting began after World War II and is governed by various laws. Recently, the government has announced its intention to house squatters in affordable housing.
Squatting in Scotland is criminalised by the Trespass Act 1865. Following the Highland Clearances, land raids occurred across rural Scotland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example in Vatersay and Knoydart. More recently there have been land occupations as both road protests and as part of the Occupy movement. Baile Hoose was occupied during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
References
- ↑ "Van Antikraak Tot Tijdelijke Verhuur". Camelot Beheer BV. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ↑ Sinclair, Julie (28 March 2004). "London: On guard and in pocket". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ↑ Norwood, Graham (10 January 2010). "Property guardian schemes offer quirky homes at low rents. But not for long". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
- ↑ Creasey, Simon (October 2002). "Licensed live-in minders protect against squatters". Property Week. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
- ↑ "UK Director or various Camelot Guardian companies, Joost VAN GESTEL - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
- ↑ "CAMELOT REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
- ↑ "Property guardian company prosecuted over former care home where more than 30 guardians lived with one kitchen". inews.co.uk. 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
- ↑ "About property guardianship". Property Guardian Providers Association. PGPA. 2019-11-26. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07.
- ↑ Finchett-Maddock, Lucy (9 July 2010). "Who's guarding property guardians?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
- ↑ The Squatters Handbook 13th edition. ASS. 2009. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-9507769-6-5.
- ↑ "PGPA list of members". Property Guardian Providers Association. 2019-11-26. Archived from the original on 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2015-09-08.
- ↑ Peaker, Giles (2018-09-20). "Property guardians and 'non-domestic rates'". Nearly Legal: Housing Law News and Comment. Archived from the original on 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
- ↑ "Dutch 'Anti-squat' concept entered into new French legislation". Camelot Property Management. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
- ↑ Taylor, Diane (27 September 2016). "London protesters occupy former HQ of property management firm". Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
