The Metropolis

Squat scare stories obscure a much grimmer truth

Mike Pollitt | Monday 7 November, 2011 11:13

This particular squat is vast. The entrance courtyard, blackened by fire and roofless, has strewn around it paraphernalia that presents a squalid pastiche of deprivation in 21st century Britain. There is a scattering of syringes, small blackened bottles requisitioned for the smoking of crack, the desiccated body of a rat, numerous television sets (the innards of a set can be sold as scrap metal for around £10) and literally hundreds of empty super-strength cider and lager cans.

Jeremy Swain, chief-exec of the Thames Reach charity, has a must-read post on the realities of squatting.

By contrast The Standard speaks to a doctor whose home was squatted, and who supports a new law criminalising squatting which is currently being debated in Parliament. Just because he’s rich doesn’t mean he should have to put up with squatters in his home. But Swain empahises that his story is the exception not the rule:

Our reality is that many squatted buildings are death-traps and we routinely witness living conditions that go beyond wretched…The focus must be on enforcing effective and humane squat closures involving outreach teams, environmental health and the police.

Hard to argue with him.

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