Squatters are taking London’s housing crisis into their own hands

(June 28): In the shopping streets and housing estates of the south London town of Croydon, some once derelict buildings are slowly coming back to life.

At a former school, peeling walls get a fresh coat of paint and laundry hangs on a line to dry. At a disused youth center, laughter can be heard in the dormitory-turned-gymnasium, and a vase of purple flowers decorates a scuffed kitchen counter.

The Reclaim Croydon collective, a group of squatters, have taken over disused commercial premises to provide beds for the homeless, saying they offer a community solution to a broken housing market.

“The government is failing the homeless,” said one of the youth center’s new occupants, who goes by the name Leaf.

Leaf, who is from Reading and is non-binary, said they had been living on the streets and in squats as rising rents outpaced government welfare and housing benefits. Leaf claims many of the country’s derelict and empty properties could be turned into homes.

“If the people in charge really cared about someone who’s struggling, they’d make those houses livable,” Leaf said. “Homelessness is a direct political choice.”

Like most of the occupants interviewed by ReutersLeaf, 28, would only give one name, so as not to attract the attention of the authorities.

Britain has long been short of housing, but a 22% rise in private rents in England over the past five years has left a growing number of people struggling to find somewhere to live. Housing routinely features in the top five issues pollsters report as most important to voters ahead of Thursday’s general election.

High rents and unaffordable house prices have meant that people in their 20s and 30s are still living at home with their parents or sharing. At the extreme end, growing numbers are sleeping on the streets and in empty buildings, official figures show.

Public services in areas such as mental health have been hit by a decade of tight spending controls and rising demand, adding to homelessness, policy analysts and homelessness advocates say.

Studies have found that ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected, with a 2022 report published by the charity Center for Homelessness Impact showing that black people were more than three times more likely to become homeless than white people in England.

Britain’s biggest political parties have not made people available to discuss the housing crisis. However, both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives and the main opposition Labor Party have pledged to tackle the problem by building more homes.

Labour, expected to win the election in a landslide, said it would overhaul the country’s planning system. — often cited as overly complex and skewed against developers — and build 1.5 million homes over the next five years.

The Conservatives have struggled to reform the planning system in the face of opposition from rural MPs and residents seeking to preserve green spaces and the original character of their neighbourhoods.

Housing campaigners have long argued that local councils should also use some of England’s estimated 700,000 vacant homes as a cheaper and quicker solution.

“We’re seeing more and more councils saying that temporary accommodation budgets for people they theoretically have a legal duty to accommodate are literally bankrupting them,” said Chris Bailey, campaign manager for the charity Action on Empty Homes.

London Councils, an umbrella group representing the capital’s local authorities, said the number of people presenting as homeless rose by 14.5% in the year to September 2023, with more than 175,000 people homeless and living in temporary housing.

The cost of providing temporary accommodation in hotels, hostels or flats rose by almost 40% last year to £90 million (US$113.54 million or RM535.7 million) per month, London Councils said.

As of 2018, eight councils — including Birmingham, the largest local authority in Europe — they effectively declared bankruptcy.

Croydon Council — which said it was unable to balance its accounts three times between 2020 and 2022 — spent more than £38.6 million for temporary accommodation in the financial year 2022-2023, not including the rent he receives.

The council has increased council tax — paid by residents — by 15% last year. It also increased taxes on empty properties and second homes.

“It is hoped this will help bring more empty homes back into use,” the council said in a statement to Reuters.

The council wants to sell the occupied youth centre, which was closed during the pandemic.

“We are making arrangements to recover and secure this public building,” it said.

Croydon — a large, built-up city with high-rise apartments and office blocks — had nearly 4,000 derelict properties in October 2023, according to government data.

On the main shopping streets, closed businesses and posters advertising closing sales are hidden among discount stores and a bustling market.

Alex, 28, a Reclaim Croydon organiser, said the group had renovated around 30 buildings since it was set up last year, providing homes for more than 100 people.

The group first makes sure the buildings are vacant and have basic needs like running water and electricity, he said. They then make repairs to make them livable, which can include installing showers and kitchens, fixing leaks and removing mold.

The people who live in the buildings come from diverse backgrounds. Squatters at the Leaf youth center include a student and a transport worker who couldn’t keep up with London rents.

Some try to escape from the streets, others from the turmoil of life in various temporary accommodation.

“Many people in the UK are simply stuck in the limbo of homelessness and would rather stay with us,” said Alex.

Among them is Oumnia, 35, who said she was offered temporary accommodation in a hostel while she waited for her asylum claim to be processed.

“It was a small room and I have two children. It’s not enough for us and it’s not healthy,” said Oumnia, who declined to give more details about her.

Reclaim Croydon found the family a room in an ornate red brick building that had once housed a law firm.

But within months of their arrival, an eviction notice was taped to the door. Reuters The owners could not be reached for comment; there are no contact details on the property deed.

The half-dozen squatters packed up and moved into a small, sparsely furnished former girls’ school that had been empty since 2020.

Oumnia and her young children now live in an annex with a small kitchen and its own bathroom. In the evenings, residents sometimes gather in a former gym to share a plate of chicken stew and bread.

However, it is not clear how long they can stay. The building is owned by Barnardo’s, a children’s charity.

“We are aware that a property owned by Barnardo’s in Croydon is currently occupied by squatters. We are working with local authorities to safely resolve the situation,” the group said without elaborating.

A culture of squatting has existed in Britain for hundreds of years. After World War II, many soldiers and their families moved into empty military bases. In the 1970s, the movement took on a political aspect as anarchists took over the buildings in acts of protest.

Since 2012, it is illegal to squat in residential buildings. But commercial squatting is not a criminal offense provided no damage is done and the squatters leave at the disposal of a court.

The British Association of Property Owners estimates that occupancy in commercial buildings has increased by almost 300% since December 2021, a problem which its boss, Sajjad Ahmad, blames on government policies rather than squatters.

“Many of these people you see on the street or squatting in buildings are not drug addicts,” Ahmad said. “You talk to them and you realize that some of them are skilled people who still have jobs.”

Britain embarked on a house-building spree after the Second World War, with much of its public housing stock built for lower-income families.

But some of these have been sold and not replaced under a policy by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher to allow people to buy their homes from local authorities.

In 2017, the government said 300,000 new homes a year were needed in England by the mid-2020s to address the affordability constraint. Since then, fewer than 250,000 have been built on average each year. Some landlords have also been happy to let properties sit empty, benefiting from rising valuations.

Squatters said Reuters that finding a room had been transformative, giving them back a sense of dignity even as they feared being kicked out.

“It was the first time I felt like a human being since I came to Britain,” said Youness Elaissaoui, a 49-year-old Moroccan immigrant who spent time at the school and former solicitor’s office.

Leaf, who walks with a cane, said finding a community of squatters saved lives.

“I’m disabled. I wouldn’t survive on the streets. Simple as that,” they said.

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