Empty storefront squatted in Ypres: “there are excrement and mattresses”

Among other things, mattresses and clothing have been found. It is municipal councilor Peter De Groote of CD&V who brings the matter to light. According to him, this shows how big the problem of vacancy is in Ypres. The city council is looking at what they can do about it.

“Door opens automatically”

“When you pass, the door opens automatically. It also attracts people to come in, especially at night or late at night. And then you have people who don’t have a place to sleep and they start looking for a place in such a building and try to crack such a building,” it sounds.

“There are excrement, there are mattresses, there are clothes, they have tried to start a fire. It is really unsafe for the neighbourhood, unsafe for the buildings next to it. There is a risk of fire. It is something that we have to stop and so quickly possibly take action,” said Peter De Groote of CD&V Ypres.

The police found this morning that the building had been squatted. The mayor is aware and is taking action.

According to CD&V, the squat has everything to do with the vacancy of commercial properties in Ypres. About 11 percent of commercial properties are currently vacant.