This is so scummy and sounds exploitative as fuck. "Doing tenants and landlords a favour". Not to mention 'installing guardians' as if the people are only put there to serve the property... (Which probably is the priority.)
It looks livable I guess... but seems like substandard housing with extra steps. Namely inserting themselves for the purpose of taking two payments on a property they don't even own. This isn't brilliant business, it's preying on a housing crisis to pull slumlord shit.
(Yes, I know this article is old and UK based. I'm looking at various ways of managing housing shortages.)
Wasn't there a disastrous fire that killed dozens in a semi official squat warehouse in California. It's just a dangerous idea to put people in abandoned buildings