‘When people walk by they probably wouldn’t know it is a squat'(Picture: Hannah McKay/REUTERS)
‘Tom’ has lived in various squats for ten years. Homeless since he was 17, he hasn’t known a permanent safe place to call home at any point in his adult life.
Now 28, Tom’s lost count of the different types of property he’s lived in, but, so far, he has managed to find somewhere to sleep in abandoned warehouses, vacant offices, empty schools, a police station, fire station, post office and even a leisure centre.
‘It’s a just a way of life,’ Tom tells Metro. He’s part of the Reclaim Croydon collective, a squatters’ group, which has taken over disused commercial premises to provide beds for the homeless as a community-based solution to a broken housing market. The group has refurbished around 30 empty buildings since it was formed last year, providing homes for over 100 people.
After arriving in the UK from Eastern Europe a decade ago, Tom explains that he was unable to find a property to rent and ended up sleeping on the streets. Eventually some squatters offered him a roof over his head and he felt ‘safe for the first time’. He’s been living rent-free ever since.
‘I live with a crew – a collective of people who have to live together,’ he says. ‘For legal reasons, someone always has to be at the squat as it is a form of occupation. But people have jobs and lives – they are all people I trust and love. They have become like a family now.’
He is using a pseudonym, Tom adds, as he wants to protect his identity. While squatting is legal in commercial buildings, he has come up against the police who have tried to illegally evict him in the past and doesn’t want to draw the attention of the authorities.
The Croydon squat he currently lives in looks like a home; it is cosy, comfortable and taken care of. Until squatters moved in, it was a private block of flats that had been left empty and neglected.
‘We refurbished it, got rid of the mold and repainted it,’ Tom explains. ‘When people walk by they probably wouldn’t know it is a squat. There is a regular front door with a doorbell and everyone has their own key.’
Squatters rest in their common room in a building which was once a school(Credits: Hannah McKay/REUTERS)
The squatters have fixed plumbing, toilets, lighting and installed new flooring in the crumbling Croydonbuilding (Picture: Hannah McKay/REUTERS)
Tom works as a builder and used his skills to help his housemates fix up the plumbing, toilets, lighting and installed new flooring in the crumbling building. They overhauled the overgrown yard that had been taken over by brambles, planting flower beds and clearing pathways, and extended their efforts to the churchyard next door.
‘We are not a burden. We take care of the buildings,’ Tom adds. ‘Of course there are bad squatters that give us a bad name, but we are contributing to society.’
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Source:: Metro
