SQUAT FIRST
/MAKE NICE/
ASK FORGIVENESS LATER
RESEARCH
02-03.2022
Squatting took off in the 1960’s due to a growing frustration towards the housing market. The more well known squatting actions were often to send a message; There are plenty of empty buildings, yet there is a lack of affordable living space. We as people have a right to this living space, so if you will not give it to us, we will take it.
DHZ-WERKPLAATS
To get a better insight into the squatting community nowadays we needed the voices of active squatters. DHZ-Werkplaats is a good example of squatters in 2022 which are currently situated on a small municipal park near the Hofbogen area. An active squatting area since the 80’s. They’re connected to the back border of a ‘legalized’ squat. It consists of a small garden, half of a shipping container and a shed. They started in 2009/2010 as a squat on the border of Kralingen. Due to support from the locals, they were able to stay up till 2014.
After this they moved to a new location at the Burgemeester Roosstraat where they stayed until there was a fire in the neighboring complex and their building was deemed structurally unsound.This side spot in the park was supposed to be a temporary place, but slowly appeared to be a very nice place to stay, with some extensions and upgrades on the horizon.
The reason why DHZ-werkplaats is still right here, functioning and flourishing, in full view at this small park is due to a few reasons. First and foremost: this piece of land does not have a real estate value at all. Next to this lack of worth, is the fact that it does not function as a residence, but functions as a free service by volunteers: fixing bikes with the local residents. And third the positive reaction of the local residents. They cause zero noise, or drugs disturbance, so why would they?
INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNT
Squatting scene has proven to me to be very complex and not so obvious in solutions as I have imagined. After reading some papers on the topics (The logic of urban squatting, Hans Pruijt 2011, Seventeen reasons why the squatter problem can’t be solved, Shlomo Angel and Stan Benjamin 1976, The social and environmental benefits of squatting Claudio Cattaneo 2012), it all seemed like a practice of the oppressed people, who try to find any way of survival in abandoned buildings. In HNI archive, it occurred to me, it actually has to be well thought over to even exist. That there are communities with the same goal, who do not accept the way housing market treats them. The visit at Doe Het Zelf and a talk with Tomi, opened my eyes on how innocent this practice can be, and beneficial for both – people who squat, as well as community around. How they came to be a thing and obtained a trust from neighborhood, which helped them to get through to the owner of the land. I have summarised the experience I learned from Tomi, in a playful form of a manual, which I believe fits the attitude they share to DHZ as a place for development.
Squatting scene has proven to me to be very complex and not so obvious in solutions as I have imagined. After reading some papers on the topics (The logic of urban squatting, Hans Pruijt 2011, Seventeen reasons why the squatter problem can’t be solved, Shlomo Angel and Stan Benjamin 1976, The social and environmental benefits of squatting Claudio Cattaneo 2012), it all seemed like a practice of the oppressed people, who try to find any way of survival in abandoned buildings. In HNI archive, it occurred to me, it actually has to be well thought over to even exist. That there are communities with the same goal, who do not accept the way housing market treats them. The visit at Doe Het Zelf and a talk with Tomi, opened my eyes on how innocent this practice can be, and beneficial for both – people who squat, as well as community around. How they came to be a thing and obtained a trust from neighborhood, which helped them to get through to the owner of the land. I have summarised the experience I learned from Tomi, in a playful form of a manual, which I believe fits the attitude they share to DHZ as a place for development.
The long conversation with Martijn from BPW was a break through bringing me back to the ground, when I have learned this is not a way to go when you actually need a place to live. He has elaborated on how short-term this solution is, how much fear it bears. We have talked about the attachment to the place and people it forms, how people are involuntarily thrown from place to place, and how the market is spinning the vicious circle faster day by day. He believes, that the solution lays in more affordable ways to obtain ownership, not dependent on landlords and their psychological games, or at least change in laws directed on rental costs. W have unpacked a lot of issues of people who come for advice to BRP, in any possible moment of life, usually a bit too late for the needed help. How they can trick the investors to maintain the building instead of replacing it, and what patterns do investors usually use when it comes to old properties. I actually hope to get involved in their organization, especially because there is a majority of polish people who seek help.
poster produced by Wilhemina community from archives of HNU Rotterdam
LIST OF PROPOSITIONS
The research behind the exhibition Appropriation as a Collective Resistance uncovered a lot of social strategies regarding a housing crisis in the Netherlands. The main focus of their research, was the collaboration with the communities that practice squatting as an alternative to conventional housing. I found this method very interesting, how to get information straight from the source, forming the trust between the parties and helping each other out. I would definitely consider to look for information from people involved in the situations, to see their opinion, not edited and trimmed for purposes of different articles.
1. Anti-kraak versus squat – why not using a low cost alternative to the high rent problem? Safer, legal, the same rules of eviction but no legal charges, or is there any second side of the medal which makes it not a good solution? Development of this sector might help to find a balance between unaffordable rent and illegal squatting, offering empty space to invest in, at the same time respecting the human on the other side of the contract.
2. How squatters organize the space themselves, what do the groups consist of (age/gender/race/political viewpoint division) if everyone needs a shelter? What are their experiences of spatial strategies that work and what solutions don’t work in co-living space? (like separate rooms for sleeping/all together -> safety?). Open manual to how to make squatting accesible and not so intimidating.
3. What is the process of making a space/building suitable for squatting? What are the things you have to take care of to make it safe? Electricity/water etc. How to do it, everything DIY method or invest in the property, then how to connect renovating the property with earning for the living? Charitable foundations do work only to the excent of legal, so the monetary help is cruicial for some, especially because its’ the root of their struggle.
4. In the archive I’ve found materials from reconstruction of Parkhuis Wilhemina in Amsterdam. It was a vacant building, squatted by artists, who in a way prevented its’ demolition. The foundation created a series of questionnaires for the occupants, that cleared their vision of renovated building for CASA Architects, to be rented out later on in low-price as ateliers. I’m curious of how did the process look like, how did the funding work, and how often scenarios like this happen, if legalizing and institutonalizing those buildings and spaces is a way of preserving. Downside would be what happened in SoHo NY, where the squatted area became luxurious hub, skyrockeding the prices in the district from zero to unaffordable, gentrification in its’ pure form.
5. According to Martijn from BPW, the solution lays in the ownership. Lack of trust forwards landlords and big companies, anonimity of who is responsible for respecting the rental agreement - too many layers in the system, psychological games and powerplay between the parties where the tentant is always on the weaker positions, although they are the clients. The ownership is the safest way to occupy a space, while one is independent and can plan their life forward. The stability (also emotional) is now being replaced by mobility, which speeds up the housing crisis (ie max 2 year rental agreement, everything being ‘short term stay’, while people are shuffled and prices rise from tentant to tentant, no possibility for resistance).
ARCHIVAL MATERIALS FROM HNU ROTTERDAM
