More Squatters Are Calling Foreclosures Home

[IDemo]

By JOHN LELAND
Published: April 9, 2009

MIAMI — When the woman who calls herself Queen Omega moved into a three-bedroom house here last December, she introduced herself to the neighbors, signed contracts for electricity and water and ordered an Internet connection.

What she did not tell anyone was that she had no legal right to be in the home.

Ms. Omega, 48, is one of the beneficiaries of the foreclosure crisis. Through a small advocacy group of local volunteers called Take Back the Land, she moved from a friend’s couch into a newly empty house that sold just a few years ago for more than $400,000.

Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said about a dozen advocacy groups around the country were actively moving homeless people into vacant homes — some working in secret, others, like Take Back the Land, operating openly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/us/10squatter.html?_r=1&hp

[T Wolf]

1. While a part of me has a little problem with this, a larger part says that these homes

should be occupied, at least while the "true" ownership is not certain.

If people are willing to "introduced herself to the neighbors, signed contracts for electricity and water and ordered an Internet connection" - what is the harm?

A family that needs shelter is getting it.

A residence will almost certainly be kept up better than an abandoned shell.

So, a financial institution is not making money for a time. Boo hoo.

Then, if the "squatter" can buy themselves into the home in some fashion, two problems have been solved. If someone else can take (and occupy) it officially, the squatter can move on to another.

With people, including families and children, living on the streets and in shelters - why is this bad?

[msongs]

2. person who paid for the house is kicked out and freeloaders move in at no expense. great. nt

[here_is_to_hope]

4. Well, they didn't 'pay' for the house did they?

If the 'owner' did, why are they not still there?
I say good luck to the squatters.

[juno jones]

3. Headline on USA Today (seen at work)

1 out of 10 homes vacant.

[Blue_Tires]

5. i like the fact that the squatter organization was about to move

a family in a house, only to see it already occupied by another squatter family...

[Lance_Boyle]

6. Do any states still honor "squatters rights?"

How long would a squatter have to occupy a property to gain a legal interest in it? And what happens if, during that time, a Realtor shows up to show the property to a potential buyer? The squatter cannot legally refuse entry. Seems that the owning bank could make "free" life in its property pretty miserable if it was so inclined.