Round up the homeless/squatters govt report says 350 to 4,200 could be imprisoned per year

If justice secretary Ken Clarke has his way, squatting in residential
property will soon be a criminal offence with those found guilty
facing a fine of up to £5,000 or a prison sentence of a year – perhaps
both.

Although the coalition government has made no secret of its desire to
criminalise squatting, the proposals are being quietly introduced by
way of an amendment to the legal aid, sentencing and punishment of
offenders bill.

We are in an economic climate where jobs are being lost and public
sector spending cuts are biting. There is a shortage of affordable
housing, whether rented or owned, and rising levels of child poverty.
Proposed restrictions on welfare benefits will only serve to
exacerbate the problem: research suggests that up to 133,000 workless
households in London will be unable to pay their rent under the
reforms.

Recently the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at
Sheffield Hallam University undertook research on behalf of Crisis
about the nature and extent of squatting. The final report revealed
some interesting and worrying statistics:

• Around 78% of homeless people who squat have approached a local
authority for help, but although recognised as homeless they have not
been entitled to housing because they are not in priority need or are
considered intentionally homeless.

• Many squatters have significant welfare needs: 34% of homeless
people who squat had been in care; 42% had physical ill health or a
disability; 41% reported mental health problems.

• Homeless people who squat occupy empty buildings.

• Squats are often in poor condition, lacking running water, heating
and electricity, with damp, broken windows and unsafe stairwells.

Given the current levels of housing shortage, is it really wrong for
empty properties to be used in this way when the alternative is a life
on the streets? Should the state be paying for the consequences of
criminalising the actions of those in desperate housing need?

The government has produced an impact assessment specifically for the
proposed new offence of squatting, which suggests that there could be
between 350 and 4,200 defendants accused of the offence in any one
year. Given that the vast majority of squatters will have no financial
means with which to pay a fine, prison may well be the only viable
option left open to the courts. It is therefore quite conceivable that
the prison population (and attendant cost to the state) will continue
to grow. In times of austerity, is that responsible?