A homeless man in Aylesford, Kent, froze to death last weekend on the doorstep of an empty bungalow, according to Kent Online. Thirty-five-year-old Daniel Gauntlett had previously had trouble with the police when he tried to break into the abandoned building for shelter, and apparently took the decision to stay outside for the night, risking his safety to stay on the right side of the law.
Derek Bailey, 80, who lives next door, said Mr Gauntlett had not appeared to be in ill health.
“They took him up to the hospital about a fortnight before when they’d found him and social workers got involved,” said Mr Bailey.
“It was just the bitter weather. I know a lot about cold weather because I was in the Canadian army. I’ve known it drop to minus 70 but the trouble with this country is the dampness.”
The news has been widely linked to recent anti-squatting legislation, after a bill signed into law last year made squatting on residential property a criminal act. The Morning Star‘s Rory MacKinnon reports about the site “Is Mike Weatherley Dead Yet?” which places direct blame for Gauntlett’s death on Tory MP Mike Weatherley, who proposed the legislation to the commons. MacKinnon writes:
The Bill, which was proposed by Mr Weatherley and signed into law last year, made it a criminal offence to squat in a residential property – meaning police could immediately evict and arrest Mr Gauntlett. The MP could not be reached for comment today, but the creator of anonymous website Is Mike Weatherley Dead Yet? pulled no punches.
Give a gift subscription to the New Statesman this Christmas from just £49“[The] situation of homeless people is already desperate. Mike Weatherley is personally responsible for making it worse,” they told the Morning Star. “I hope he remembers that every time he tries to go to sleep.”
Weatherley’s legislation sparked widespread protest, with much of the objection focusing on the fact that squatting was often the least-worst outcome for someone on the verge of homelessness. While a working housing system wouldn’t need to allow squatting, we clearly do not have a working housing system. Charities warned that criminalising squatting would lead to an increase in homelessness, and the government proceeded anyway, with Grant Shapps, then the housing minister, saying:
We’re tipping the scales of justice back in favour of the homeowner and making the law crystal clear: entering a property with the intention of squatting will be a criminal offence.
That crystal clarity may have been responsible for Daniel Gauntlett taking the risk that ultimately cost him his life.
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