The “How to... silent occupations” toolkit has been published

In recent years, we have had various experiences with so-called “silent occupations”, i.e. occupations that are not made public. In some cases, homeless people have had a roof over their heads for over a year. With the toolkit – which has been published in the form of a handy zine that you can fold yourself – we want to pass on the techniques needed to open up empty apartments and also share our own experiences with this form of action. You can download the toolkit as a PDF below this text. There you will also find a small folding guide.

Especially in the cold months, the need to have a warm place to sleep is particularly important for homeless people. For many people, sleeping in emergency accommodation is out of the question – whether due to addiction, repressive securities, lack of privacy or simply because dogs are not allowed.

The fact that apartments often remain empty for years and people have to sleep outside is a situation that we do not want to simply accept. We have had good experiences in remedying this situation ourselves and want to encourage other people to do the same.

So far, we have mainly gained experience with people with homes opening doors for people without homes and communicating with the local community in advance. Silent occupations require many resources that homeless people often do not have. Nevertheless, from our perspective, it is desirable to take all steps collectively in order to prevent a division into “activists” and “those affected” and the associated (knowledge) hierarchies. Because, by the way, in their daily lives as squatters, the formerly homeless are of course also activists.

We have found that open and direct communication with everyone involved is essential. Of course, this also means accepting that potential residents may not be able to imagine individual steps, such as opening the door. And if opening the door now seems like the “most blatant step”, remember that the future residents live with the possibility of the occupation being exposed every day.

It is important for us to say that many of the people we have helped to squat would prefer to have a legal tenancy agreement. For various reasons, however, the hurdles are very high. However, we have also had the shared experience that squatting can also offer advantages: It has often gone beyond “just living there” to the development of structures of solidarity within the housing community and beyond. Whether it was support in obtaining everyday items or resolving conflicts. For example, there was a situation of patriarchal violence in the squat in which the perpetrator was successfully thrown out of the apartment together with supporters and the housing community.

In our experience so far, however, there have also been effects of solidarity in the other direction: when a person from the squat community reported a stalker, the squatters agreed to be available at all times should things escalate. However, mutual solidarity can also take place on a structural level:

Apartments are vacant for a variety of reasons and it is not uncommon for them to be used as deliberate strategies to get rid of tenants. A squat can give the rest of the building community the motivation to oppose a longer tenancy and perhaps even stay in the building beyond the legal rental situation. And: squatted apartments are of course super unattractive for potential investors...

We were also able to gain experience of the pitfalls and potential for conflict inherent in silent occupations. The living realities of the squatters and the previous housing community can differ despite the shared roof. The realities of people who have been homeless are not suddenly completely changed by the use of an apartment. The health and psychological consequences of living on the street continue to have an effect in the new situation. Here we have learned that communication between all those involved is the key to success. Concerns on all sides should be taken seriously and solutions sought together.

Here we summarize the practical steps that are important to us:

Have fun and good luck!

The zine can be downloaded here as a PDF. (the zine is in german. may a benevolent comrade adapt it for the english-speaking audience.)

There are various explanatory videos on the Internet about the folding technique, e.g. here from 1:20 to 3:30: https://www.yewtu.be/watch?v=nSg6MDKzJIY

https://de.indymedia.org/node/326834