Establishing Squatting rights during the housing crisis in the US.

[Strooikaas]

Hi there!

I've been an passive squatter in the Netherlands for 4 years and an active, activist kindof squatter for over 2 years now. Recently a dutch newspaper wrote, in relation to a Dutch debate on squatting, about the Foreclosure situation in the US right now. I have a wealth of knowledge about squatting in Holland, barricades, legal mumbo jumbo, speaking with the coppers, breaking open doors and the whole ideoligy that goes with squatting.
Now in Holland Squatting is legal. Eventhough housing prices are (way) higher than in the US, squatting is still legal. It is kept this way because its a good way to force houseowners / speculants to do things with their property.
Squatting in Holland was not always legal. It has been legilized because in the high court of Holland at one point a courtcase was put forth where people attested the fact they would be evicted from a house they held no claim to. They were allowed to stay (this was 1904 if I recall correctly). Living rights got to go first over property rights.

Now I read on foreclosure.com that over 2 million american homes have been foreclosed. As far as I found out, this means that banks own these houses again now.

What better company to "steal" house from than from a bank!?

Anyways, I know there is already a pretty welldifined set of 'guidelines' of how you can stay in a squat as long as possible, but there's no laws or precedents being set. Is this housing crisis not a good moment to start a squatting campaign? In Holland, with the help of a few small groups and loads and loads of students the empty houses quickly filled up after people discovered the fact they could live there without being kicked out. After this, more precedents were set, for instance the fact that you have a right to gas, electricity and water.
The right we Dutch squatters apply to is called housepeace, its the right to call a space your own, to tell people "Get out of my house!". Its a right that was hardearned and a lot of people are making use of it still.

And, seeing this crisis right now I think you could turn it in your favor with good media attention and legislation/courtcases to enable Americans to establish some basic rights for 'illegal occupants'.

Oh, and don't forget to pick a house that is easily barricaded :D I know you Americans like to use wood, but pick a house that basicly already is pretty much a bunker and stick to it.

Has this been tried and am I kicking a dead horse? I dunno, but I wanted to start the discussion. Also after seeing some movies on Youtube and reading some articles about people at least not being kicked out for some 8 months and actually being allowed to connect water and electricity.

Happy squatting,
Strooikaas

ps. if you need tips and tricks on breaking and/or barricading, shout out :)
pps. Argh! I made the most horrible spelling mistake in the title of this thread! Please save me from the spellingguru's mister moderator? :P

[politics student]

To be honest I don't know much about squatting rights but in this housing crisis I see no issue with stealing from banks.

I only know of some of the legal squatting rights in the UK.

[Yardstick]

I don't have a huge amount of knowledge on US squatting rights, but from my limited understanding it seems there is just about NO protection given out to squatters, and it seems rather likely that you will be forcefully removed by the police.

[Mala Tha Testa]

i guess squatting right vary from city to city in the USA. but according to wiki laws are rarely tolerant of squatting as Yardstick said. i've read somewhere there are places like C-Squat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Squat) across the country, and if i find the information on those i'll post it.

[Dean]

Every time I hear about the laws and what I could possibly do here, I just want to leave this shitty nation. The cops and the inhumane property laws are enough to drive any rational person away.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Title fixed.

As to squatting in the US, all I've heard is that it's very hard to do successfully, as there are no protections or squatter's rights that I know of.

I can only be glad that the laws regarding squatting in the UK are considerably more sane, although they could be better.

[( R )evolution]

I researched this a little within my own city and I found that squatters have almost no protection. It is really hard to do in my city and most likely throughout much of the US. I doubt most people in the US even know what squatting is because it just doesn't happen here.

[Bright Banana Beard]

As most of the above said, the squatter doesn't have any rights and it is rarely heard unlike in Europe.

[which doctor]

There has been quite a bit more squatting in the past few years due to the forclosure crisis and all the vacant homes. Some neighborhoods have very high vacancy rates, up to 50%. However, laws such as breaking and entering and trespassing prevent nearly any kind of squatting illegal and the squatter can be evicted without notice, in addition to facing charges.

[atheist_anarchist]

Pretty much all i know about squatting in the US is its illegal. You will probably get removed by the pigs, unless C-squat is still around. For those who dont know what C-squat is, it was pretty much a gift from New York to the squatters who lived there after long legal battles, its now technically not a squat but a place of free stay.

[Strooikaas]

I just found a complete guide on squatting in the US of A :D

legal.squat.net/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=usa

Read it and please see if its right :)

[Sasha]

since their website is down i guess the campaign bled out but a while ago there was an efort to restart some sort of squat movement in the USA under the name "homes not jails"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homes_Not_Jails
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20071013095809195
http://mlyon01.wordpress.com/2007/04/08/homes-not-jails-occupies-house-left-vacant-by-real-estate-speculation/

[Reclaimed Dasein]

It would be nice if someone with some legal skills would tackle this problem in the US. From what I hear, Salt Lake has a couple Squats that they can't be evicted from because no one legally owns the land... some how. I'll try and look into it.

[Bilan]

Good luck to you, I don't have much faith in the success though. But good luck. There's some american comrades you can hook up with on here (Midnight Maruader and Organic Revolution and BCBM would be three good ones)

[Sasha]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459965,00.html (http://service.gmx.net/de/cgi/derefer?TYPE=3&DEST=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fstory%2F0%2C29 33%2C459965%2C00.html)

Miami Activist Moves Homeless Into Foreclosed Homes

Nov. 26: Max Rameau, stands outside one of the "people-less" houses that
he is using in his own bailout plan in Miami.

MIAMI Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!"
he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great
blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent
you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy
cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his
clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own
around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move
into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a
grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land,
which also helps the new "tenants" 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.

"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no
money from his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country
are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done
out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is
believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move
in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the
phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida ? especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market ?
is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of
overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's
second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in
default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed
properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched
a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind
on their mortgage, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.

The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned
homes ? whether an individual or bank ? to register those properties with
the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere around the country, advocates in Cleveland are working with the
city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty,
dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people
to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month old daughter to a
ranch home on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie
Nadine Pierre, 39, has been sleeping at a shelter with her toddler. She
said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various
jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of
bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being
now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A
man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood
in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends
were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his
mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing
the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air
conditioning unit from the backyard, and it was only a matter of time
before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers
would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag
filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not scared of getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and
the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in
doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said city officials did not know Rameau was
moving homeless into empty buildings ? but they are also not stopping him.

"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an
e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private
property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those
individuals."

Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking
and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her
free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been
changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside ? her food,
clothes and family photos ? was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put
Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

http://shiftshapers.gnn.tv/blogs/30212/Miami_Take_Back_the_Land_Facilitates_Housing_Takeo vers
http://www.takebacktheland.org/

[StalinFanboy]

As a note. It is a LOT easier to squat a building owned BLM or the banks or another government agency. It takes forever for them to actually get around to do anything about squatters. But squatting a privately owned building is much trickier, as they have the law on their side. Sometimes squatters will get lucky and find a house where the owner doesn't care that they are squatting it as long as they keep it clean.

[coolrayfruge]

People lost their Freedom ,when they lost the right to live freely off the land.
When Governments started controling and charging people for that right.
No man or Government has that right!

[midnight marauder]

I'm a squatter from the US. I live in a house that was owned by a bank that went out of business during the whole housing crisis. We (the feral kat collective, an anarchist group in kansas city, missouri) wrote a zine on squatting in our city, but it has a lot of valid information that could be applied anywhere. I'll post that up when I have access to the digital version.

I'm certainly open to answering any questions people might have about the whole process, our particular situation, or anything else. Squatting is not impossible in the US...in fact, they've made it pretty easy for us. Reappropriate everything.

[ellipsis]

An anarchist comrade of mine has established a squat in Richmond, VA. She has gained a good amount of media coverage for her and her collective's efforts. But apparently it has been shut down. Read the story here. (http://radicalrichmond.net/2009/02/28/battery-tracks-story-of-a-richmond-squat/)