The parties behind a bill to ban squatting in the Netherlands have raised the proposed maximum sentence for squatting from eight months to a year to woo support from the right wing Freedom Party.

The anti-squatting bill is an initiative by MPs from two coalition parties, the Christian Democrats and Christian Union, and the conservative opposition party, the VVD. However, to pass through parliament the bill will rely on the support of Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party. Not only the opposition parties on the left, but also the second-largest member of the ruling coalition, the Labour Party, all fiercely oppose the anti-squatting law.

While the Freedom Party is firmly behind a ban on squatting, it would like to see a much higher maximum jail sentence for squatting of four years. In a move to keep the Freedom Party on board, the MPs behind the bill have now nudged the maximum sentence up to a year. There was also criticism from within their own parties that the bill was too lenient. The proposed sentences for unlawful entry and for squatting using violence or intimidation have now been doubled, to a year and two years respectively.

Bed, table and chair
At present, squatters are not prosecuted if the building they enter has been unoccupied for at least a year. After entering a building, changing the locks and moving in a bed, table and chair, squatters usually call the police to come and confirm they have squatted the building according to the rules. Although actually breaking into the building is illegal, under the present law, squatters have to be caught in the act. This is also something the anti-squatting bill aims to change.

As a political and cultural movement in the Netherlands, squatting had its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, and many on the left have been either sympathisers or participants. A book published earlier this year by squatters, former squatters and sympathisers claims that squatting helps maintain social housing, combats speculation, stimulates cultural initiatives and protects historic buildings.

However, critics say that today’s squatters often come from abroad, and don’t share such idealistic aims. Police say they increasingly encounter a hard core of violent squatters.