Squatting in Ashley Road

Last Tuesday, 28th October, there was an attempt to evict some squatters from an address in Ashley Road, St Pauls, here in Bristol. The attempt failed but one of the occupants of the house has written an interesting article over at Bristol Indymedia on the hows, whys and wherefores of squatting in the city.

We are a diverse bunch. Most people in the house are in paid work, some are not, probably in similar proportion to an average group of people in St. Paul's. We range in age from 16 to 40. We don't have kids or families with us at the moment, simply because of the pressure from the authorities. How we may be different from others is that we try and solve our problems ourselves, collectively. All of us living at Unity House had previously being living in houses that were socially owned (housing association or council) that had been abandoned then sold off to private developers. This is a trend we see increasingly.

People who trash houses, be they developers, squatters, arsonists, thieves or whatever, are not good people. Me and the people that I live with always attempt to make the space we live in as pleasant as possible, as would any decent person. To see any building derelict or destroyed is sickening to me. We are people who are struggling for collective space. We have had gigs and parties, meetings and film screenings for a range of groups. We were part of the International Days of Action for Autonomous Spaces in April and we will continue to look for and help create vibrant spaces in our communities.

WHAT IS 87 Ashley Rd?

We have been sold a lie; that private ownership and placing poor people on the housing ladder is the solution to the so called housing problem.

Places for People Group are the biggest UK housing association. They also have the highest paid chief executives in the housing sector, (Director salary: £258k in 2007). Housing associations were set up to fill the gap left by Thatcher’s destruction of social housing provision. Legally, they can not make profits, so they make up for this through fat bonus checks for the fat cats. That is taxpayer’s money going to fund extravagant lifestyles (see first link above).

The registered owner of 87 Ashley Road is a separate legal charity based in Preston, called Places for People Individual Support. This charity has never contacted the occupiers of 87 Ashley Rd... More

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