Squatting law change challenged

The Government has been urged not to criminalise squatting after a study found it would mean more of the most vulnerable homeless people sleeping rough.

By The Newsroom

Published 5th Oct 2011, 07:00 BST

The report, published by Sheffield Hallam University on behalf of homeless charity Crisis, comes during a Government consultation on making squatting a criminal offence and ending so-called “squatters’ rights”.

The researchers said new laws would criminalise homeless people who squat because finding adequate affordable housing in England and Wales is so difficult, wiithout reducing the number of people squatting.

The report – Squatting: A Homelessness Issue – found most homeless squatters squat only as a last resort, after approaching and being turned away from, hostels, shelters and councils. It added that homeless people who squat occupy empty, usually disused or abandoned property and there was no evidence of squatters displacing anyone from their homes.

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