DEC
2014
2014
Monday 29TH
posted by Joana Ramiro in Britain
Squatter demands government step into crisis
A homeless man who found shelter and a cause at a central London occupation demanded government hands Love Activists a new building yesterday after the squatters’ group was evicted on Christmas Eve.
The man, who goes by the name of “Steve,” said he joined the occupation of the former Royal Bank of Scotland offices on Charing Cross Road after sleeping rough for five months.
Together with fellow housing activists he had helped plan a Christmas dinner for the homeless but the Metropolitan Police evicted the squatters’ group on Christmas Eve.
“When we took this building, we took it with so much space, with the intention of opening it up for the homeless for the Christmas holidays,” said Steve.
Since being evicted, the group has established a makeshift site just across the road from the building with stalls of free food and clothes.
Steve said: “The response has been absolutely amazing, sensational.”
There are currently an estimated 1.29 million empty properties across Britain.
In England alone, Homeless Link counted over 2,400 people sleeping rough every night in 2013.
The Love Activists — a self-styled “new decentralised community everyone can support” — reached out to Steve and other homeless people after occupying the central London building.
“I didn’t believe that they had this building,” Steve said
as he recounted how he came to become a member of the group.
“We are now a family.”
Despite plummeting temperatures Steve and other housing campaigners vowed to stay put and keep feeding the homeless.
“We will not be moved,” he said. “We, the Love Activists, want a building from the British government.
“We want a building to put homeless people, to house them, to feed them, as an emergency night-shelter or whatever, but a constant 24-hour around the clock, where they can come in and eat, get a warm drink, feel welcome, feel safe and not be judged.”
The building at 2a Charing Cross Road was taken over by Love Activists on December 20 after squatters reportedly found a back door open.
It is owned by Jersey-based Greencap Ltd and was valued at the beginning of 2014 at a mere £9.
Love Activists made an appeal for further donations of hot food and clothes.
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