Housing Portal

Beyond Squat or Rot : Anarchist Approaches to Housing
by Chuck0
It's time to renew your yearly lease and once again your landlord wants to raise
your monthly rent. Should you stay or should you go? Are there options to leases,
rents and mortgages? Why does the landlord get away with raising everybody's
rents, when they probably haven't made any improvements to your building in the
last year? This issue of Practical Anarchy looks at some of the answers to these
questions, what alternatives exist, and how to challenge the traditional way
housing is provided.

Squat for Affordable Housing
by Tom Boland
People kept down by prejudice sometimes use the tactic of "non-violent civil
disobedience". Such tactics are familiar to many because those who marched with
Martin Luther King used them to win voting and other rights for people of color.
Native peoples, poor people and homeless people are using such tactics to seek
justice today.

The Prefontaine and and Overdale Squats: An Analysis of Building Occupations in Montreal
by Michael William
I have mixed feelings about the Overdale and Pr³fontaine squats, which is no
doubt the case with many people who squatted or who supported the squats. There
were delightful moments and some real triumphs. But there were also many problems
and disappointments. As with other North American cities, in Montreal squatting
is illegal. It does take place but is clandestine. In the 80s several anarchists
occupied a vacant school and attempted to do a political squat. They were quickly
evacuated by the police. Since those involved had other lodgings, the project
remained mainly symbolic in any case.