Advisory Service For Squatters is an UNPAID collective of workers who have been running a daily advice service for squatters and homeless people since 1975. It grew out of the former Family Squatters Advisory Service, which was founded in the late 1960s. ASS publishes The Squatters Handbook, the fourteenth edition of which is the current one, and has sold in excess of 150,000 copies since 1976.
As we are short of volunteers and money we are rarely able to help students, journalists etc., who so often seem to want us to do their article/project for them. This website has been set up to try to provide all the necessary information without taking up our volunteers’ scarce time. In the resources section you can find articles, documents and various information about squatting including history and ‘squat zines’. There is also a gallery with photographs stretching back over 30 years.
Contact
- Address: Angel Alley, 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX.
- Phone: 020 3216 0099
- Phone/SMS/Signal: 07545508628
- Email: advice<at>squatter<dot>org<dot>uk
- PGP for email: BFB6EBA3AFF433B7D4FCBA73377B47AC16484F19
- Do you have legal knowledge about areas of law that relate to squatting or an interest in looking into ways the law can be used to squatters’ advantage? We’d love to pick your brains every now and again.
- Are you interested in campaigning or organizing around squatting?
- Want to do any fundraising?
- Do you do media work or like talking to the press?
- Can you translate information about squatting into other languages?
- Have any other skills or interests that you think might be useful?
MONDAY to FRIDAY from 2-6pm
(NOT Saturday/Sunday). Don’t leave it to the last minute before contacting us as we are always busy:-) If you wish to call in at the office, it’s best to phone first to make certain someone’s in.
How To Find Us
Angel Alley can be a bit hard to find. It’s off of Whitechapel High St, next to the Kentucky Fried Chicken near Aldgate East tube, Whitechapel Art Gallery exit. The office is on the top floor above Freedom bookshop.
Transport
Nearest tubes are Whitechapel or Liverpool St (10 minutes walk), Aldgate (5 minutes walk) and Aldgate East (less than 1 minute walk). Buses stopping just outside of Angel Alley: 25, 205, 254. Plenty of other buses go to nearby Aldgate station including 15, 115, 40, 42, 45, 67 (Commercial Rd ), 35, 43, 78, 149, 242, 344, 388 (Liverpool St) 242, 253.
Volunteers
We can always do with more volunteers including advisors for the office (requires attending weekly evening meetings). We hold training days whenever we have some new volunteers. If you don’t fancy doing shifts in the office, but would still like to get involved, there’s other stuff we could use help with:
Get in touch!
Fundraising
It’s a miracle that ASS has been existence for 41 years: we’ve been threatened with closure many times, but have been saved by donations at the last minute after desperate appeals. Obviously it’s much better if we can get standing orders, as this means that we know where we stand financially and saves us from emergency appeals. But we certainly won’t turn down any donations if you’ve got money that you don’t know what to do with!