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Europe squat stuff...

Thinking about squatting in Prague? Check out the latest turn of events in the eviction of Milada, the city's last remaining squat.

Reminiscing about the good ol' days of squatting in London? Then read urban75's 'obit' on the 121 Centre, a squatted community anarchist centre in Brixton that served campaign and community groups for 18 years.

In 2007, artistic collective Macaq squatted a neglected empty apartment in Paris to highlight the lack of student housing in the city. Read about their efforts here.

Photos from inside the Barcelona squat in Amsterdam.

Wanna start your own direct action? The Human Shrub can show you how.

Living projects?

Living projects? Slack space? Are these better words than "squatting" or worse?

Leave it to the middle-class broadsheets, though, to celebrate (albeit, once again, art) squats, this time with the Observer reporting on Berlin squats -- in their travel section! As the author of the article writes,

"One of the quirks I've noticed since moving to Berlin is the squats dotted about the city. In London, where I'm from, you don't see squats much. You might read about them in the paper - a bunch of rich kids who've squatted on Billionaires' Row, or an old man who has squatted for 50 years undetected - but that's about it."

One interesting point she picks up on is "VoKü", short for Volksküche, meaning "people's kitchen", which is when squats open their doors to the community and offer food at affordable prices. How this affects her views towards squatting can be read here.

Beware: yo-pro tone throughout.

Chopped Potato : Paper trail

Here is that "notice to quit" letter (with our flat number and name of the housing officer blurred out):

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News of unusual squats...

Have you ever squatted an airport? That's what squatters have been doing since June 20th at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. A vacant airport since October 31 2008, the 400 hectares of land (equiv. to 525 football fields) is in the midst of redevelopment limbo, thanks to huge local opposition to plans for luxury apartments. Check out Demotix's site for more details.

In light of the recent "MP expenses" outrage here in the UK, a group of squatters have taken over the empty West London property of a pair of MPs, dubbed Mr and Mrs Expenses, in protest at their expense claims. Read here and glee.

Squatters winning eviction battles? So goes the case for the Oubliette Collective who, since May 2009, have been squatting a former school and hostel in south London that have stood empty since August 2007. Read here and glee again.

A unisex squat sauna which is open to all? With a steam room, vegetarian food also on offer and a chillout garden? Yes, really.

Is this story helping the public image of squatting? Back in 2006, Polish decorators hired to do up a flat owned by a banker reportedly downed tools upon arrival, moved in to the flat whilst she was away, and then claimed squatters rights! Read here and ponder.

And ponder this while you're at it!

Chopped Potato : What is this quit?

Not exactly court papers, but today we (and every other squatter here) received a "notice to quit" letter from the local "authority"/owner.

Addressed to the previous tenants of our flat, the housing officer of the letter states: I know there are trespassers in there -- so vacate the premises soonest please -- and hand over your keys too. Not written as gently as that, but pretty much the gist of it. With a threat attached of course, "Failure to do so"...

And also a date: Monday 27th July. Where our "period of tenancy", according to the owner, is due to expire. Whatever that means. The Advisory Service for Squatters agrees that this letter is nothing but nonsense, don't worry about it they say. So we won't.

But in all honesty -- all of nine months for the local "authority" to figure out there are squatters in this block of flats? Uh huh. Either this time lag is an indication of the complexity of their bureaucracy in getting such matters sorted out or just cause for plain bad eyesight.

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New squat news, this time from non-squatters and their "hysteria" towards us.

"Council forced to give squatters a list of all its empty properties". That pretty much says it all.

And another. "Owner speaks of squatter hell".

"Riot police break into London squats" reports on the unfortunate consequences of the testosterone-pumped police presence at the G20 demo on April 1st.

If you're after positive press attention for your squat -- make sure your squat has been opened by middle-class artists, then we'll talk. That's what the Guardian newspaper seems to be telling us, in its latest fixation with such squats. It's telling that this article appears in their "art & design" section. Where would they put a non-artistic squat?

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New squat-related news, this time from the United States.

And whilst it may be illegal to squat there, it hasn't stopped a number of advocacy groups taking advantage of the climate of foreclosures in the US, by actively moving homeless people into vacant properties. One such group is Take Back The Land, whose website features video footage of their efforts and dialogue with Max Rameau, founding member.

The foreclosure crisis is very much in the news over there. Amongst the stories of squatting of such is this one of a young man happily living in a foreclosure until he was discovered. Interesting to note in this article how they keep the leccy and water switched on in these empty properties.

The New York Times has just published photos of California's tent cities. These communities include the Village of Hope, where people are housed in tool sheds, and a tent encampment in Fresno called New Jack City. Other American shantytowns and tent communities have started springing up across the country, as evidenced here.

Umoja Village in Miami, Florida, until 2007 when it was accidentally burnt down, was home to 50 homeless people. Erected on a vacant lot that once housed low-income apartments, Umoja offered a safe space to put down roots and work towards a communal cause. Read their story.

Slack space?

Temporary schools of thoughts are one thing, but the Guardian has recently reported on the growing 'slack space' movement as a possible way forward for artists occupying disused buildings.

Slack space? They define it as, space caused by business closures during recessions that provides a foothold for numerous successful businesses. The article discusses how one in six shops will be vacant by the end of the year and the ways that local artists are reworking the empties, ie. a vacant Woolworth's becoming a community cafe, a papier mache business taking root in a former greengrocer's.

Is this a form of squatting or just another moneymaking enterprise? The article thinks it might be the former: "Artists and curators have begun colonising "slack space" freed up by the recession and are transforming vacant shops into "creative squats", galleries and studios." Make up your own mind here.

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Meanwhile, with businesses shutting down by the dozen in these recession'd times, UK ministers this month have outlined a series of emergency measures to prevent the rise of ghost towns as a result.

Part of their plan includes giving thousands of grants to people who can find creative uses for vacant shops. The article describes this new UK law as coming halfway to meet potential squatters: "Planning rules will be relaxed to allow changes of use which go against local guidelines. Temporary lease agreements will enable owners who want to retain a vacant property in the long term to make it available for community or creative use."

More of this grassroots 'slack space' movement? Read here.

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The latest set of useful reading.

Want to highlight the fallout of the financial crisis and its effect on society? Where better than to open up a squat in an empty £3 million property just to hold a weekend conference about it -- can't get more emphasised than that. Conference report here. Usual media outcry.

Want proof of the illegal steps that property owners take to oust squatters (than go through the civil courts)? Check out the latest intrusion at rampART.

The New York Times drops a report about the recent Temporary School of Thought housing in Mayfair.

And a tribute to Alan Walter, a leading figure of the Defend Council Housing Campaign who was also involved in the infamous Tolmer Square squat in London in the '70s. Geeks amongst you may be interested in the minutes of a meeting from 1974 that documents the squatting activity in the city that year.

Atom Tom does Bow Arts

The Londonist has just published my interview with the Bow Arts Trust from almost a month ago. An assignment that peaked my interest straight away, I had the opportunity to interview the Trust's chief executive and one of the resident artists, which turned into an hour-long joyride of the guys just excited to be interviewed. Needless to say, my head was spinning afterwards from it all. A chinook landed beside me at one point, having mistaken me for a fellow helicopter.

It should be noted that at no point during the joyride did I share my housing exploits. Whilst it would've been interesting, at the same time it would have been out of place and unprofessional. I was there to meet them and listen to their ideas and that was all. With many thanks to Lindsey.

Chopped Potato : Do-gooders?

The first of many monthly estate squatter meetings begins tonight. Somewhere in the region of 40 people turn up in the squatter fashion sense we have all come to know (ie. nothing colourful or mud-free). A member of the local advisory service chairs and you either endure the heavy tobacco smoke in the room as the meeting unfolds, or step outside to breathe and freeze to death in the blistering evening air.

Following a discussion about electricity, the agenda moves swiftly onto efforts to integrate the squatters with the community. Squatter insecurity, however, seems to be prime motivation.

"We don't pay the rent", says one chap to all, "and so we must do something to make the residents feel better about us." The project to kickstart these 'community relations' is squatter-initiated recycling facilities, "we want to show them a positive image". The suggestion of "squatter PR" comes up, which will involve door-to-door interviews with residents to learn what we can do for them. Guerilla gardening and a free shop are other possible projects.

All very well, until the chair makes a comment that blows the entire thing wide open. "The residents are moving soon, they don't care" she says. Startling. If she'd spoken to the residents in advance, she will find that they do care.

Their estate has after all been in redevelopment limbo for 8 years. Not only have they been plagued with multiple regeneration setbacks, they now find their housing estate crawling with squatters, junkies and drug dealers.

They know more about their estate than we do. They don't need to be patronised or told by a bunch of activists that they know better and squatters don't need the excuse to act like do-gooders. But that's exactly what this meeting seems to be doing.

Instead of generating projects with the idealistic intention of saving the community so the residents will accept squatters, surely a simple hello to your neighbours is enough for the moment? Surely treating this community with a bit of respect is a more organic way forward?

They are regular people after all, who surely don't need the misplaced heroics of their insecure squatting neighbours on top of all else. What do you think?

Chopped Potato : Emptied

Astonished that empty council properties are being smashed up and made uninhabitable whilst there are homeless about? Shocked when you witness flat smashing firsthand, the homes of former tenants ripped out and thrown into lorries? My block of flats currently has 13 empties in it, perfectly good flats standing empty.

The Londonist did some research back in June 2008 into the number of empty properties per borough and were astonished by it as much as anyone else. Lambeth at the time had 845, Hackney had 1051 empties in 2007 and Southwark 1300. You can read about what they have to say here. Drop by the Empty Homes Agency site for more intel.

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More useful reading, this time related to the housing market.

Shelter's current ad campaign reports that 200 homes are being repossessed a week. Their website offers housing advice in relation to eviction, repossession and homelessness, and is currently highlighting the changing housing market with their film "House of Cards".

Is this squatting or is it still paying rent? Dutch company Camelot perhaps straddles the two. In exchange for a low rent, Camelot tenants have the chance to live in a variety of empty properties (ie, mansions, office blocks); but at the same time, they must also protect the site from, uh, squatters. Some argue that Camelot is "privatising squatting", that if you want to squat, squat. Others argue that squatting isn't as straightforward to initiate as you think (or easy), and that Camelot provides a halfway. Make up your own mind here and here.

Annoyed there are empty properties in your city and yet so many homeless people? The Empty Homes Agency feels for you. They have done the math: there are 783,730 empty homes in England right now. Highlighting the waste of empty property, the Agency works with other bodies to campaign for their reuse. Check out what they have to say.

Derelict London is a photographic site documenting many of London's derelict and empty spaces. Useful for squatters, perhaps? The New Statesman comments that the site "seems to trace the skeleton of a dead city while it is still in apparently rude health".

Is that the way to do it?

Emptying council estates being reclaimed as short-term rented properties for professional artists?

Poplar HARCA and the Bow Arts Trust seem to think so.

Many of east London's council estates due for redevelopment are facing regeneration limbo at the moment, thanks to bankrupt local authorities and the laborious planning process they were already enduring. The absence of rebuild news has left council estates scarred with boarded-up flats and their communities broken and confused.

In the case of the Bow Arts Trust, Poplar HARCA has agreed to hand them the most derelict flats on their estates, which are in turn rented by professional artists who convert them into short-term livable home/studio spaces. This arrangement ensures that estates are populated (and kept out of the hands of squatters) up until demolition time comes.

I had the opportunity today to meet the chief executive of the Bow Arts Trust and one of the artists, a graduate from Slade, to discuss the project. Our energetic conversation took place on the 24th floor of Balfron Tower (see photo below), whose sister building you might recognise as the Trellick in Notting Hill, and is one of the estates up for redevelopment in 3-4 years' time (in this case, refurbishment rather than demolition).

During our two hours together, we discussed all manner of project value, not only to the existing residents and the local community but also to the future economy and the prospect of creating London's first arts quarter. My interview for the Londonist will be posted here shortly, but you can probably tell I am rather taken with this project.

Think about it: the possibility of paying an affordable rent and live/work as a creative person without the compromises that ludicrous amounts of rent creates; and without having to squat in order to survive this city. I'm in favour of that. Could this project be a bridge between rent paying and squatting? If so, is this the way to do it?

Squa(rt)?

A squat opened exclusively for a gallery? Section6 seems to think so. A not-for-profit organisation founded by two art graduates, Section6 puts together exhibitions in reclaimed spaces, with the aim of uniting art with the everyday world.

Here are some photographs from their opening night tonight.

Certainly is an interesting take. Questions that spring to mind: would the general public find squatting more acceptable if squats housed art instead of people? Would you even call an art gallery squat squatting?

Chopped Potato : Stand by your land

So you're squatting, but where do you stand legally?

This is what the UK law has to say on the matter.

Protection for the occupier

1. Occupation of property without prior consent of the owner, is not a criminal offence, and there is no automatic right for the owner to use violence or threats, to regain entrance or to evict the resident occupier.

2. The Police have no powers over such a civil dispute.

3. The Police are obliged to stop any unlawful eviction that may cause a breach of the peace.

Resources for the displaced occupier ('displaced residential occupier')

Under The Criminal Law Act 1997 as amended and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. You may have the status of ‘a displaced residential occupier’.

As such you may apply to a Justice of the peace or Commissioner for Oaths for an order to allow you to enter the premises to evict. The previous occupiers will then be committing an offence should they not leave at your request. At this point you may ask for Police assistance.

The Police have powers under the above Acts, in order to keep the peace, to arrest any person who fails to comply with an Order obtained by 'a displaced residential occupier'.

Resources for an intended occupier ('protected intending occupier')

Under the above Acts, where you have obtained a contract to occupy the premises but have not yet done so, you may obtain the status of ‘a protected intending occupier’.

Where there is evidence that the intended occupation is not arranged to deprive the present occupiers of their home, you may be granted an order to evict the resident occupiers.

This status does not give you the right to forcibly enter the premises.

"Displaced residential occupier" is the legislation which allows the police to go and evict squatters who squat a non-empty home.

Londonist interviews Atom Tom

The Londonist has published just this lunchtime an interview I recently did with them about my story as a squatter. The interview was a cool opportunity, to put across a view of squatting, particularly in light of the recent Mayfair squats that have been in the news.

An opportunity like this was in fact something USgal and me had discussed when I first moved in way back in October, about how to engage with the mainstream about squatting, because as newcomers, we wanted to highlight the value of what we were doing. I am glad to have played a part in supporting the squatting world in this way and in challenging its public misconceptions. With many thanks to Lindsey.

Thanks a million

The London news is all a-buzz today over a pair of £30million squats in Mayfair.

Times like these serve of course as good opportunities to engage the usual general public. The Evening Standard vendor I chatted with about the headlines of his newspaper was taken aback that squatting was legal in England and that I was a squatter (I didn't look like one, he thought, ie. dirty-looking). Although he wouldn't be one to squat himself, he did approve of living rent-free, saying that rent only benefitted landlords and "the system".

Here are some press snippets :

"Squatters set up home in Duke of Westminster's £30million Park Lane mansions" the Daily Mail proclaims, referring to the band of squatters within as hippies, activists, freeloaders and stragglers.

The Sun is appalled that squatters are living rent-free, just yards from Madonna's house!

Meanwhile, just doors away is the £22.5million squat at Clarges Mews, which has been taken over by a group of artists known as Da! Collective, operating here as the Temporary School of Thought. Although this time round they are choosing to shun the mainstream media, they were interviewed in November and December 2008. The commenters of this Evening Standard article think squatters should be locked up!

Unconcerned with eviction, the School are holding open days, where anyone can attend workshops ranging from welding to "laughter", as well as live music, films and discussions. Photographs of the squat can be viewed here and here. Wonderful stuff, and a breath of fresh air from the more politically-focused squats I've been in of late.

Here here to more energised debate.

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Some useful reading about squats or related around the world...

Thinking about squatting in Amsterdam? Well, Barcelona @ van Boetzelaerstraat 1 has been keeping a detailed blog of their exploits in, although we're not sure anymore, thanks to their most recent entry, "Breaking News! We're fucked!" According to them, Parnassusweg, the Intergalactic KingDOOM of FuckYou, has ordered all our troops to be destroyed by the 31st of August, so it remains to be seen if they are still in existence.

Can Masdeu in Barcelona is proof that squats can be of any size -- in this case, an abandoned hospital!

Squatter City reports on squatting from across the globe. News stories include 400 families being pushed out of their homes in Cambodia; the postponed eviction of 20,000 squatters in Caracas; and the so-called 'City of Smiles', Bacolod City in the Philippines that is preparing to eject 3000 squatters from its boundaries. Informative and vital reading.

It has also been reported that Tascheles, the iconic squat in central Berlin of 10 years, is facing eviction. If any of you have partied in Tascheles, taken in a film or hung out in its backyard, this is surprising news.

In related shutdown news, the Londonist has reported on the recent closure of the London Astoria, one of the city's landmark music and club venues. All in the name of transport redevelopment (by the name of Crossrail). Take a last glance at the Astoria before the bulldozers come in.

Chopped Potato : Estate of mind

With the police chap the other day acting more excited at the prospect of the estate being demolished than with kicking out a few squatters, I thought it worthwhile to take a look into the story of the estate. Just what is going on here?

It turns out that where we live is quite famous. An eighties soul singer took his stage name from the name of the estate. It also turns out that where we live is part of a much larger sprawling housing estate, consisting of council blocks and terraced houses, and conceived in the 1950s as "the showpiece of modern social housing". Here is a map of the estate (with the street names blurred out):

And it is that estate that is getting all the media coverage.

And not just any old media coverage. The BBC have been at, telling everyone it's a great place to buy heroin in 2001, and updating us all in 2004. The Independent also wants you to know about da drugs. Never mind the thriving community that still lives here, but ho hum. Leave it to a group of artists to report on the sunny side of change in the community.

One of the prominent construction industry journals has also been at it, but this time to report more recent news concerning the future of redevelopment (thanks to much-needed consortium investment pulling out). The local press sadly confirm this.

When former PM Tony Blair visited the estate in 2001, redevelopment was heralded as the saving grace for the estate. Cramped conditions, buildings in disrepair and a hotspot for crime have plagued this community for decades.

The refurbishment of existing homes, the construction of new flats to replace crumbling council blocks and the development of new shopping parades would give the area a much needed morale boost and create an uplifting neighbourhood. But the community has yet to see any of this in the years since.

Whilst a delay in development is of course good news for the squatters here, it is important that we think of the residents we live among. It is these people we need to hope for, not ourselves.