http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/224/BINNENL...aakverbod.dhtml

A national squatters' protest in Utrecht took place without violence on Saturday. The police arrested one person for public drunkenness. Thousands of protesters took part in the demonstration. The parade made its way through the middle of the busy inner city. The many people shouting and dancing surprised shoppers. They carried banners, waved flags and chanted "kraken gaat door". Families with children were also in the group. The squatters distributed "krakelingen" (a type of biscuit) and "gekraakte" nuts (The Dutch word for squatting is "kraken")

I am curious how it all ends....

Is squatting very big in Amsterdam? I see some places that look like squats, and some places that I know are squats. But it doesn't seem as common as in say NYC or Berlin or other cities that have more space. In fact, in Amsterdam there seem to be very few buildings which look at all abandoned. Knowing Dutch law I assume that there are laws to stop buildings from looking derelict?

Yes, squatting is very, very big in Amsterdam. Maybe not quantitatively, but socially and historically. Dutch law permits squatting if a building remains unoccupied for a year. There are professional squatters who move in on a property on the 366th day. The housing market in Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands is extraordinarily tight. This gives squatting a moral force that it doesn't have elsewhere. For most low-income people it's practically impossible to find a place to live in the centre of Amsterdam. A lot of counter-culture people would like to live in Amsterdam, but how would they get a place?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting#Netherlands

http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/artic...eekeinde__.html

This weekend about 20 new places were squatted (including four in Amsterdam). This was part of a "National Squatting Campaign" designed to show that squatting is alive and well despite recent political moves against it.

Nick, it's good to see you're still around...

Part of the tightness in Amsterdam is due to some 50% of all residences in the centre being allocated to social housing, a percentage well above average for the Netherlands, and way above average for city centers in the Netherlands.

I like squatting as a means to prevent rampant real estate speculation without social utility, but the income argument never really made sense. For most low-income people it's impossible to find a place to live in the centre of London or New York, but those cities manage just fine. Also, I get the impression that house sharing amongst adults (i.e. non-students) is still very common in urban centers around the world, whereas most Dutch people seem to find the very notion offensive.

SZ, since you're a Dutch person who knows something about this, could you answer marknz's original question?

I think the apparently high level of squatting here has to do with Dutch law. It seems to encourage squatting. (This is being changed though, isn't it?)

Or would you say the squatting movement here is simply more activist and more reported than in other cities? Maybe squatting occurs in other cities at the same level, but it just seems less prevalent there because it's not politically motivated and doesn't make the news.

Is the huge role of social housing in Amsterdam a reason for the large, longstanding presence of the squatter movement in Amsterdam? Essentially these young people wouldn't be squatting if they could jump the queue and get to the top of the social housing list. Don't they harbour any resentment towards this system?

You say Dutch people have cultural issues with flat sharing. This seems right to me. The wongingbouw system doesn't support sharing either, I think. I'm not sure. You could argue that the woningbouw system is distorting the market, making it more difficult for people to find affordable places to live in Amsterdam. However, I know the fear is immediate gentrification of the entire city.

The irony is that the Dutch have introduced massive social housing to prevent gentrification, thus allowing low-income people to live in Amsterdam, but here you have thousands of young people squatting regardless. I think the squatter's movement is polticised. Look at the slogans painted on the walls of their buildings. They just want free housing and they want it for political reasons. Squatting has become politicised in the Netherlands.

Presumably the squatters are living like roommates. Why don't they just get a more expensive apartment on the private market and share it? I guess that's how people do it in London and New York.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but Amsterdam can hardly be compared to London, New York or even Paris. Every so often you hear people make this kind of comparison, but it really isn't the same at all.

The thing I find hard to understand is the level of violence used by squatters. They don't leave peacefully. Where does this violence come from? Essentially they are violent radicals.

I'm certainly not an Amsterdammer, and I'm no squatter either, but I have a friend who is, and according to him, the Amsterdam squat scene is more international, and far more radical than elsewhere in the Netherlands. He thought that they were principally responsible for giving squatters a bad name.



The principles haven't changed. If you want to rent out a place, you're supposed to do so at regulated prices, and you can't kick out a tenant without going to court first, and proving the need to do so. I don't blame landlords for preferring to keep a building empty to renting it out.

Also, it's become more difficult to "illegally" rent out a room without the tax office or the housing corporation finding out. This used to be a big source of housing, for students in particular.



I doubt many of them have much faith in the free market either. Most of them seem interested in bucking the system in one way or another; communal living, avoiding regular jobs, doing volunteer work, or not working altogether. Having access to 'free' housing gives them an opportunity to do these things, and I somewhat respect them for it.

I've never heard of 'burgerlijke' squatters working forty hours a week, mainly caring about 'fitting in' and financing their skivakantie, even though that group *would* be in the majority if it were just about housing costs and availability.

Squatting is about resisting 'the system', but not just the system of social housing.



The woningbouwstichtingen could do the opposite, and facilitate flat sharing. It would immediately and significantly increase the amount of available housing, and they could use their administrative capacity to assist individual tenants who feel they have too much space.

Why don't they do it? Because it's not profitable for them.

But another reason to consider is subsidized rent. Two people of limited income are each entitled to about 300 euros a month if they can find a place of their own. If they share a place, they get nothing. Sure, pooling their money might allow them to live in a better neighbourhood, or a more upscale apartment, but not taking free money? That's just offensive to a Dutchman.



It's a capital city, and it's the most expensive place to live in the country. In that sense, they're alike (although I gather that Paris house prices are far more reasonable, and I'm often surprised at the cost of British properties I see on tv shows, even if they're only a few miles out of London)

Squatting has been banned in the Netherlands since 15 October. The bill, an initiative of the ruling Christian Democrats, the liberal VVD and the Christian Union, ends the current existing law that allows squatters to occupy a building if it has been unoccupied in a year. Squatters who now attempt to occupy empty buildings risk a year in jail.

http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/community_...-squatters.html

Thanks for the info guys, I'm new and I don't know much about Amsterdam's history! I'll need to get reading.

I see, so squatting is a legalised practice (soon to be changed?). From an outsiders perspective it seems like such a strange thing to try and legaly regulate squatting. In my experience and from the experience of my friends, squatting is something that cities and governments don't like. It's like petty crime or something. That's the impression I get

I guess the comparison to NY or Paris comes from people like me, because compared to the tiny country I used to live in Amsterdam seems like a pretty big and important city. Haha, I feel like such a small town guy!

Thanks for the link Wesley I love that this squatting culture exists here! can't believe that it has been legal for so long, amazing

Militant squatters is a new group I haven't come across yet. I have stayed in quite a few different squats, and from my experience they tend to attract gentle people. Guess you can't generalise either way.

I think squatting culture exists everywhere. As far as I'm aware, squatting is still legal in the UK... I knew of a case in the London area where a guy actually in the end got to own his squatted house legally as the law was that if you were squatting in the property for 12 years or more, you had the right to own it. So, he gained a property worth a lot of money for nothing!

Haha, yeah. I was following a story about a group of homeless people who squatted a giant mansion. And then the owner actually took them to court because they ended up with a legal right to the place. But can you imagine what kind of evil barron you'd have to be to have the means to own and not live in a giant mansion, and then sue homeless people? Almost comicbook-like evilness

I wouldn't call it evil, an unnecessary luxury perhaps... but how would you feel if you had a property/s worth millions and someone/people came along and took your property?

Pretty wealthy really

Hehe, no no, of course. Just funny looking at the situation from the outside

They should get a house in the Bijlmer and help me clean the streets from garbage.

Guess what ?

They never wanna live in the Bijlmer. They wanna live on an A location and pay nothing.

Squatters dont squat because there are NO houses. There are enough in the Bijlmer. They just wanna LIVE BETWEEN the elite and PAY NOTHING.

Squatters are therefor a bunch if hypocrites and should never ever be taken serious.

Yours faithfully,

Papillon