“Squatting is an activity embedded in the crevices of the development of English law and we have recognised the legal implications of this behaviour which starts out as a trespass on the land of another, but may ripen into a possessory title through long-time occupation of that other person’s land. It is therefore a two-edged sword fraught with complexity both for the squatter and the “owner” of the land. These legal principles need to be re-examined and squatting should be outlawed! – DAILY NATION July 16, 2010.
SUCCESSIVE administrations have paid little more than lip service to the problem of squatters, particularly those on Crown lands.
More often than not, the political will is absent. After all, each one of the hundreds of squatters represents a possible four-vote package, according to the experts, for a party looking to either hold on to power or seeking office.
As a consequence of inaction by the political directorate, the problem defaults to the usually faceless bureaucrats who in the eyes of the squatters become the “bad guys”.
These bureaucrats are not seeking office and therefore are not concerned about the vote count in the several hot spots identified by the Auditor General in his 2013 Special Audit.
They, rightly, are merely carrying out their mandate within the letter and spirit of the law, unfortunately without a public demonstration of support from the responsible agency, the Ministry of Housing and Lands.
Once again, this time in the midst of a water problem, concerns have resurfaced about the threat of squatters in the key Belle area and the ball is left in play for civil servants to run with while the politicians fall back preparing for defence.
Chief Town Planner Mark Cummins has stepped up and declared that the Belle squatters must go.
Deal with it
And he may have inadvertently exposed the naked rear end of the political directorate when he revealed that the department, out to the baller with the serving and enforcement of quit notices, was awaiting an amendment to the Barbados Water Authority Act for new zoning systems to become operational, including making the Belle an Exclusion Zone, instead of its current status as a Zone 1 area.
Cummins said relocation was a “social issue that not only the Planning Office but the Ministry of Housing and Barbados in general [have] to deal with”.
“I can safely say that the Planning Office has done all within its powers, in terms of the serving and enforcement of notices,” he added.
“We’ve also moved some structures from there, but that is the problem that continues to plague us and I think that has to be addressed nationally. We will not shirk away from it as we seek to amend the Physical Development Plan.
“The squatters that are still there, that matter would have to be addressed, because the new Zoning policy speaks of the well head, an area of 300 metres radius around the well head, so, obviously, if there are persons in there that would have to be cleared.”
Despite the apparent callousness and opportunism that may be inferred from the politicians’ stance, there has to be a humane way of dealing with this problem which some would want to blame on the parlous state of the economy.
The reality is, however, that even in the time of plenty squatters abounded and have been, as the audit report observed, part of the Barbadian landscape for some time.
The editorialist called for a change in the law to give the anti-squatter initiative more teeth.
Perhaps we need look no further than the Mother Country which has scrapped squatters’ rights law and introduced the criminal offence carrying a six-month prison sentence, a 5 000 pound fine, or both, ensuring police and other agencies can take quick and decisive action to “deal with the misery of squatting”.
Help the homeless
But critics of what has been viewed as “criminalising homeless people” have placed the blame squarely where it belongs – on the political directorate.
“It will do nothing to address the underlying reasons why vulnerable people squat in the first place – their homelessness and a lack of affordable housing,” said Leslie Morphy, CEO of the homeless charity, Crisis.
“Ultimately, the government needs to tackle why homeless people squat in the first place by helping them, not punishing them.”
Barbadians are not a heartless and uncaring people, but they hanker after order in their communities and demand respect for the rule of law.
Permitting people to squat on Crown lands indefinitely, and in some cases on private property for years awaiting the Santa Claus of adverse possession, is not the Bajan way.
But political inertia won’t help.
Albert Brandford is an independent political correspondent. Email: [email protected]
