Squatting Has Had a Long

Squatting has had a long history worldwide, especially as concepts and laws related to property ownership change. Although most American media focuses on squatting movements in New York City, other cities in the United States are seeing squatters take over abandoned or foreclosed properties. The economic recession has driven many landowners out of their homes. Some are opting to ignore eviction notices, while other homeowners are becoming inadvertent landlords when homeless squatters take advantage of the indoor space. In some cities, squatting has become a political response to income disparity. Organizations like Take Back the Land in Miami works to place new "tenants" in abandoned homes, even setting them up with "secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list," ("As Foreclosures Rise, Squatters Lay Claims"). As with Europe, the United States has been demonstrating a willingness to view squatting as a form of peaceful protest.

Squatting is a form of social justice, a politically subversive reaction to injustice and income disparity. When rents are artificially high -- or at least higher than local residents can afford -- many legal tenants are driven from their homes. The result is a glut of empty property and a simultaneous humanitarian crisis from increased homelessness. Squatting is viewed as a viable solution to mitigate problems like overly powerful landlords and economies that prejudice the poor.

In New York City, squatting made recent headlines when eleven buildings on the Lower East Side sold for $1 each. The city of New York basically donated the buildings at this price, giving them to a non-profit group that then handed the buildings over to 200+ squatters living inside. Cities are not always on the side of squatters, but increasing numbers of city representatives and law enforcement officials are taking stances in favor of squatters' rights. "Carol Abrams of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development said the arrangement was made possible because the city does not want to displace people while creating code compliant housing," ("For $1, squatters become building owners in NYC"). In other words, the city understood the humanitarian and social justice issues at stake. There is no reason why a building should remain abandoned when in fact there are too many homeless people already. "The city preferred to have the squatters -- who will continue to live in the buildings while they are brought up to code -- inherit their seized homes rather than be shown the curb in a time of rising homelessness in New York City," ("For $1, squatters become building owners in NYC").

One of the most remarkable success stories in the history of squatting, the New York experiment shows how poverty can be squelched by simple and peaceful activism. The city understood that the squatters, when empowered by being given homes, would be instrumental in helping the neighborhood gentrify as well as the building. In return, the squatters become owners in a cooperative housing project. The plan has long-term viability, as the cooperative housing project helps uplift the lives of all residents. "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.