Squatted Social Centres and the Housing Question

Abstract

Squatted Social Centres (SSCs) can hardly be detached from the housing question. Housing shortage, unaffordability, real estate speculation, market failures, social housing policies, and increasing pressures towards home ownership in capitalist cities are usually contested by most forms of squatting. However, housing needs and struggles are not the only motivation behind the squatters’ movements. This chapter examines whether squatters’ movements evolve as a self-driven process independent of the ‘housing question’ or as a direct response to it. By comparing nine European cities, the authors discuss the interactions of the squatters’ movements and the neo-liberalisation of both housing markets and policies. They also explain the main differences between European cities in terms of alliances of squatters with other housing movements.