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Squatting in the UK

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Jellybean
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27 Dec 2011, 1:49 pm

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And before anyone jumps in and argues about squatters 'stealing' properties from people on the council housing waiting list - in many cases squatters occupy flats in buildings that are scheduled for demolition,but which still have some remaining legitimate tenants who are waiting to be rehoused. In such circumstances, isn't it a crime that those flats are left empty while people are homeless? It can take a couple of years to rehouse all the tenants in a block of flats, and it used to be quite common for local councils to allow a 'short life' housing co-op to take over the empty flats until all the council tenants had moved out and the block was going to be demolished. And that makes sense. But now it's increasingly common for councils to send in their workmen to rip out kitchens and bathrooms to make those flats uninhabitable. Which doesn't make sense.


That is exactly my feelings on the council estate in Elephant and castle (Heygate). Why can't they allow homeless to temporarily live in the empty flats because at the moment there are still several residents refusing to leave. While they are refusing to leave (they have the right), the other flats are just standing there empty. I actually got quite upset when I visited the Heygate estate because we walked past lots of homeless people before we got to the nearly empty block of flats. The flats have been earmarked for demolition anyway so why would it matter if someone had somewhere warm on a temporary basis?

I don't agree with squatting because of the amount of people who cause distress to home owners, but I do agree that the lack of affordable/council housing is ridiculous. They really need to get their priorities correct. In Manchester and Liverpool there are hundreds of streets of housing just sitting empty. Developers have offered to do them up but the council just buys them out and knocks them down to put massive multi-million pound developments up instead. Makes me mad :x


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DreamSofa
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27 Dec 2011, 2:44 pm

Quote:
Why can't they allow homeless to temporarily live in the empty flats because at the moment there are still several residents refusing to leave.


I would guess that, among other reasons, there are health and safety issues. If someone were to squat in the flats with the council's permission and were injured in some way, it would be lawsuit city.

Then, I think, there would also be the issue of getting the squatters to leave, leading to an endless cycle of people remaining in the flats so that they cannot be demolished and having more squatters move in because the flats cannot be demolished because people are living there....