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 are getting a fresh coat of paint, and laundry hangs on a line to dry. Over at a disused youth centre, there is laughter in the gymnasium-turned-dormitory, and a vase of purple flowers decorates a scrubbed kitchen counter.
The Reclaim Croydon collective, a squatters’ group, has taken over disused commercial premises to provide beds for the homeless, saying it is providing a community-based solution to a broken housing market.
“The government is failing homeless people,” said one of the youth centre’s new occupants, who goes by the name Leaf.
“If the people in charge actually gave a damn about anyone who was struggling, they would make those houses habitable,” Leaf said. “Homelessness is a direct political choice.”
More power to them, we need collectives like this in every town and city. Build communities that exist to serve and support their members, not line the pockets of some already obscenely rich capitalist that has probably never even set foot locally.
I would say let’s absolutely do this in the U.S., but we would definitely be shot
Squatting isn’t even legal in the U.S. At least nowhere I’ve heard about.
And there are so many structures just in my not huge Indiana city that have been empty the entire decade or so I’ve lived here.
Squatting is only legal over time.
It’s totally illegal right up until it suddenly isn’t squatting any more
“Homelessness is a direct political choice.”
Talk about a quote that can be read both ways.
And, in fact, I initially read it the wrong way and thought, “they’re not choosing this life.”
Walkaway by Cory Doctorow.
