"In just the last few years the neighborhood went from an open air drug market to a place where young bond traders and New York University students sip $5 lattes," ("For $1, squatters become building owners in NYC"). Miami is another recent success story in squatting. Squatters are being practically protected by the police, who have no right to enter the premises of the building without a legal reason. In Miami, "the only way to get squatters out is to have owner get them evicted, which requires going to court," (Panzer). When the owner is delinquent or has left the country, an eviction is unlikely to manifest. Moreover, in Miami squatters are taking over lovely waterfront properties in Coral Gables. Neighbors may be upset but if the owner is so detached from the state of the home to file an eviction notice, then the waterfront property is merely being wasted.

Squatting is also a matter of civil disobedience. "In addition to squatting, some advocacy groups have organized civil disobedience actions in which borrowers or renters refuse to leave homes after foreclosure," (Leland). In some extreme cases, squatting becomes not a matter of homelessness and financial expediency. It is a political choice, like a sort of sit-in or live-in. As Lennard states, "squatting is about everyone's right to housing; they are anarchists who reject the idea that homes be treated as commodities to be speculated over for profit." One man in New York City squats for different, and more selfish reasons. Daniel Peckham squats in the flat he has lived in for years even though his landlord has offered him an attractive rent package in a highly desirable neighborhood (Lombardi).

The squatting phenomenon highlights the issues at stake with poverty and

However, squatting can also be viewed as a type of peaceful protest, non-violent resistance, or simply a personal statement of freedom. Any case in which the owner of a property is willing to take responsibility for the land -- whether that entails paying back a defaulted loan or paying back taxes owed to the city -- then the squatters would be expected to vacate the premises. Yet as long as landlords cannot care for the properties they own, those properties should be considered as public as parks and open to those who need them.
Works Cited

"As Foreclosures Rise, Squatters Lay Claims." CBS News. 2 Dec 2008. Retrieved online: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/02/national/main4642403.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4642403

"For $1, squatters become building owners in NYC." Wired New York. Retrieved online: http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3207&s=00c409a2cf39d25afc955dbccf7d5211

Leland, John. "With Advocates' Help, Squatters Call Foreclosures Home." 9 April 2009. Retrieved online: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html

Lennard, Natasha. "You don't know squatting: A movement returns." Pinched. Retrieved online: http://www.salon.com/life/pinched/2010/05/12/squatters

Lombardi, Kristen. "The Squatter." The Village Voice. Retrieved online 26 Sept 2006.

Panzer, Michael. "Squatters in Ritzy Miami Neighborhoods: The New Kids on the Block?" September 28, 2009. Retrieved online: http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2009/09/28/squatters-in-ritzy-miami-neighborhoods-the-new-kids-on-the-block/