Welcome to Eviction Resistance

To find support against the threat of eviction, contact a local group or we can help you set up your own.

Contact us at info[at]evictionresistance [dot] org [dot] uk, or on Twitter at @EResistance

Hear about the ER workshops on Facebook or on this blog.

Successful High-Court Resistance in Central London!

Last Friday morning, the 8th of April, eight High Court Enforcement Officers, privately contracted bailiffs, struggled through blood and sweat for five humiliating hours in an attempt to evict a squat in Grenville Street, Bloomsbury. The building, in an upmarket area of central London, has stood empty for over ten years for the sake of profit, and been evicted multiple times over, while homelessness across the city increases.

Watched by a hundred supporters and interested locals, the bailiffs faced a mammoth task of attempting to get through the barricades whilst being cajoled by bystanders and facing the wrath of an ear-wrenching soundtrack comprised of babies wailing over Requiem by György Ligeti. The support for the squatters came quickly, was vocal, and from a broad spectrum of folk. The resistance was physical and militant, and after removing two doors only to find they were but a fraction of the way through the barricade, the bailiffs lost hope. Upon consulting the rather timid constabulary, they packed their bags and headed home, the shame (among other substances) visible on their faces.

A victory gathering was held, and much was said about how important it is to have such a triumph against unjust attempted evictions, especially in times like these, where the law is being constantly tweaked in favour of landlords. It shows that all is not lost just because the courts have ruled one way or the other, that people have the power to ensure they are not thrown out on the street simply because an owner wishes to leave their building empty.

 STAND UP WITH NAZRAH AND ISMAIL! NO PROPERTY DEVELOPERS IN NEWHAM HOUSING!

On Friday, Nazrah and Ismail, two of the most active members of the Focus E15 campaign, will be facing Newham Council at the Royal Courts of Justice in Central London, and they need your support.

Since coming to a Saturday campaign stall in November 2014, looking for help resisting their family’s eviction, Nazrah and Ismail have worked tirelessly to support other families in Newham and beyond going through housing struggles of their own.  They have lived in Newham for over 6 years and developed strong ties and support networks.

In that time, with their three young boys, the family have experienced their own high court bailiff eviction and been in constant conflict with Newham Council and the Home Office about their housing, right to work (as a teacher and teaching assistant, respectively) and Asylum claims.

On Friday they will be appealing Newham Council’s rejection of their responsibility to house the family, while challenging the role of the senior housing manager at Newham, who is also a board member of a property developer in the borough. The family are arguing that someone who makes a profit from property development, management and rentals, should not be in a position to determine the borough’s housing needs, or decide where families in need should be housed.

Join them on Friday to help keep the pressure on Newham Council!

Stand with Nazrah and Ismail!
No to property developers in Newham Council!

Central London County Court, Thomas More Building WC2A 2LL

 10:30am, Friday, December 4, 2015

Southwark residents resist eviction!

Congratulations to Southwark residents for another successful eviction resistance! Here’s what happened on the day….

**Crossposted from https://housingactionsouthwarkandlambeth.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/weve-stopped-the-eviction-now-southwark-stop-trying-to-make-people-homeless/ **

We’ve stopped the eviction, now Southwark – stop trying to make people homeless!

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This morning over 50 local people came together to stop the eviction of Aminata and her family from their temporary accommodation by Southwark council. Even though bailiffs had told the family they would arrive at 8am, they had coordinated beforehand with police to evict them at 11am. Lots of people returned to scupper the bailiffs plans and prevent the eviction. Another important win with collective action!

The eviction attempt was being watched over by the head of temporary housing at Southwark Council. He refused to speak to Sky News about why he had come to watch a family get evicted by police and bailiffs and he offered no solution that did not result in further homelessness for Animata and her family.

This was gross behaviour from Southwark council – calling police and bailiffs on local residents and using their staff time to come and watch a family be turfed onto the street. We were able to stop the bailiffs today but Aminata and her family were served with a court notice that puts them under 24/7 threat of eviction – another sickening move by the council. Southwark council need to stop this threat, drop their ‘intentionally homeless’ decision and continue to house the family until suitable social housing is given to them.

Why are Southwark council trying to make people who are already homeless, homeless again?

Aminata and her family, like all of us, needs secure, truly affordable and quality social housing. We must keep the pressure on Southwark council to drop their claims on ‘intentionally homeless’ and to continue to house the family until suitable social housing is provided.

Join us tweeting Southwark council and Councillor for housing Richard Livingstone.

Help us to organise an action to show our support for the family and tell Southwark council that no one is intentionally homeless! Get in touch and keep a watch on our website and social media.

 

Waltham Forest Resist Eviction!

On Tuesday 29th September at 8.00am, the forces of darkness descended on a property in Ilford to evict a family of three.  To their surprise, they were met by a group of Waltam residents standing peacefully but assertivately in front of the house. On realising what they were up against, threats were made and the police  called. Yet, the Waltham community stood firm in their solidarity and prevented the eviction from taking place, keeping the family housed.

Communities coming together to support and defend eachother against the cruelty and injustice of the London housing market. Is this the beginning of the end of the housing crisis?

Here’s some inspiring video footage of the resistance, please share widely.

 

 

Hackney Resists!

Upcoming Eviction Resistance Workshops

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Fridy 25th September 2015, time TBC @ Soas University, Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG

Outline of the workshop:

1. How to send the bailiff away peacefully. And why! How to use this moment for the best long term results

2. Practical steps to build up strength as a community, to defend your neighbours and community

3. Where do we go from there?

You don’t have to be a SOAS student to join us: come, learn, share your knowledge and ideas with us, and build up bonds and community strength with the locals 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/events/1462968897366855/

Sunday 27th September 12.30 -17.00pm @ St Barnabus Church Fosters Hall, St Barnabus Road, E17 8JZ

Have you ever experienced eviction from your home or seen what eviction does to people’s lives?

Do you want to defend yourself from eviction or get involved in practical solidarity action?

Come to our next Eviction Resistance Workshop! We are starting an Anti-Eviction Network in Walthamstow. Children’s corner for under 12’s available.

You don’t have to be a local resident to join us: come, learn, share your knowledge and ideas with us, and build bonds and community strength with the locals 🙂

Share widely!

* * * * * Program:

At 12:30, before starting the workshop and discussions, we will watch SI SE PUEDE: a very inspiring documentary about how people have organized and resisted evictions in Spain for the last 8 years since the beginning of the Spanish housing crisis (250 local anti-eviction groups at the moment!). As well as videos of eviction resistances in Walthamstow.

The workshop itself will start at 2pm, and we will speak about:
1. How to peacefully demonstrate against evictions and keep people in their homes
2. How to best support someone throughout the whole eviction process, until a long term solution is found.
3. How to organize further against evictions in Walthamstow, now? Several evictions have been stopped in Walthamstow and people have been re-housed adequately as a consequence. Keep up the good work!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1521749048115842/

Join the Eviction Resistance Network page to be updated on future workshops and events: https://www.facebook.com/groups/766223116837670/

 

 

 

 

Bailiffs sent packing by Barnet community power!

** Cross posted from https://sweetswayresists.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/mostafa-eviction-delayed/**

Bailiffs sent away! Mostafa still at Sweets Way!

On Monday, people kept a family from being evicted and pushed a council to reverse the decision that would have left them homeless. But we need to keep up the pressure to keep Mostafa and the family safe.

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Photo by Hannah Nicklin

On Sunday night, many of us didn’t go to sleep. Bailiffs were due at 46 Sweets Way and because we had seen what Mostafa and his family had gone through, and we had seen them failed over and over again by the various systems that are meant to protect them, we knew we needed to prepare with them to stay in their home.

We were prepared to do everything peaceful within our power to stop High Court bailiffs from entering the home of the last family at Sweets Way and making them homeless. Some of us planned to take photos and document the experience, others were prepared to take civil disobedience and face arrest.

But whatever kind of action we spent the night before preparing to do, we prepared to do it because it was right.

As it turned out, there were enough of us there that sending away the bailiffs proved to only require a very passive form of resistance: being there! Enough of us, even, that they didn’t show their faces or even make an attempt to breach the gauntlet of more than 60 people (including allies from Our West Hendon, Barnet Housing Action, Haringey Housing Action Group, Barnet Alliance for Public Services and Black Dissidents) and an extensive array of amateur barricading.

In fact, we only even found out that the bailiffs had come and gone when we called Barnet Council’s lawyers. We asked if the bailiffs were still scheduled to arrive and were told that the two of them that had been dispatched knew immediately they were no match for our collective power, and left. (They didn’t use exactly those words…).

You could feel the sense of collective power in the air – we knew what we had achieved, and the energy was electric! A group of regular people had sent away the bailiffs and kept a family in their home! And we knew we would be able to do it again.

Better yet, as Barnet had been punishing the family over the a small amount of rent arrears accrued since the Council unexpectedly cut their housing benefit, they received a message this afternoon informing them that their housing benefit had been reinstated, retroactive a month ago. This will address their arrears and allow Barnet to once again own up to their responsibility to house the family appropriately.

This is a clear victory spurred by our collective action to highlight the Council’s many failures to Mostafa, and the number of media requests that came off the back of our action. Once again, Barnet need to find the family somewhere to go. And it’s up to us to make sure they have a home until the point where they have an alternative that truly meets their needs.

This will require a lot of work from all of us, preparing to fight off the bailiff threat whenever it rears its ugly head. High Court bailiffs don’t normally offer a time or date when they are coming, and are entitled to use physical force to enter and remove families from a house. Because of this, Mostafa and the family remain barricaded in and ready for an attack.

We need to be there with them.

We have a strong contingent of occupiers staying around Sweets Way at the moment, but we need more people who can stay there (or who live very locally) in the coming days, to ensure an initial line of defence when bailiffs do return. It would be tragic if all our hard work yesterday was lost because a few of us slept late one day.

Get in touch if you live within in a few minutes of the estate, or can come stay over during the coming days. sweetswayresists[AT]gmail[DOT]com / 07812 372 298

We are all inspired by what we were able to do yesterday – let’s be sure it continues to grow!

PS – having made it through many months of intense campaigning without any way of receiving cash donations beyond the bits of cash visitors would sometimes pass along, we have set-up a PayPal account and would appreciate any help in covering some of the extra costs that several of us incurred, personally, during the People’s Regeneration Show Home project. Thank you so much!

 

Eviction Resistance workshop in Hackney, the ball is rolling!!

Another great workshop, this time in Hackney, with Reclaim Hackney, DIGS, and some other groups and individuals. These people are amazing and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they get on with setting up a phone network and resisting evictions. And to keep on working together: more workshops, more documented eviction resistances (when everyone involved is happy with that), more shared knowledge!

Once again, whilst doing this workshop we might have created opportunities for more workshops. And even better: people in Hackney spoke about organizing their own workshops too. We’re all up for helping them out when they start doing it. The ball is rolling: we won’t stop until every single tenant knows their rights and knows what to do when threatened with eviction!

Eviction Timetable, have a look!

We have written this little explanation with a housing barrister:

https://evictionresistance.squat.net/online-resources/eviction-timetable-what-happens-when/

What happens when in the eviction process.