Squatting in the United States

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In the United States, squatting occurs when a person enters land that does not belong to them without lawful permission and proceeds to act in the manner of an owner. Historically, squatting occurred during the settlement of the Midwest when colonial European settlers established land rights and during the California Gold Rush. There was squatting during the Great Depression in Hoovervilles and also during World War II. Shanty towns returned to the US after the Great Recession (2007–2009) and in the 2010s, there were increasing numbers of people occupying foreclosed homes using fraudulent documents. In some cases, a squatter may be able to obtain ownership of property through adverse possession.

Contents

Various community groups have used squatting as a tactic both to call for improved housing and to house the homeless. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) made a national campaign in 1979. Operation Homestead (OH) occupied 300 units in Seattle in the early 1990s. In New York City, squatters occupied 32 buildings, some of which the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) then helped to legalize. During the Covid-19 pandemic, hotel rooms were occupied in Washington.

History

Settling the Midwest

The Northwest Territory 1787 Northwest-territory-usa-1787.png
The Northwest Territory 1787

Settlers without legal claims, derisively called "squatters", had been moving into the Midwest for years before 1776. They pushed further and further down the Ohio River during the 1760s and 1770s and sometimes engaged in conflict and competition with the Native Americans. British officials were outraged--they wanted the West to be reserved for Indians but could do little to stop the Americans. [1] The British had a long-standing goal of establishing a Native American buffer state in the American Midwest to resist American westward expansion. [2]

With victory in the American Revolution, the new government considered evicting the squatters from areas that were now federally owned public lands. [3] In 1785, soldiers under General Josiah Harmar were sent into the Ohio country to destroy the crops and burn down the homes of any squatters they found living there. Overall, federal policy was to move Indians to western lands, such as the Indian Territory in modern Oklahoma, and have a very large numbers of farmers replace a small number of hunters. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Congress repeatedly debated how to legalize settlements. Whigs like Henry Clay wanted the government to get maximum revenue, and wanted stable middle-class law-abiding settlements of the sort that supported towns and bankers. Jacksonian Democrats like Thomas Hart Benton wanted the support of poor farmers, who reproduced rapidly, had little cash, and were eager to acquire cheap land in the West. Democrats did not want a big government and keeping revenues low helped that cause. Democrats avoided words like "squatter" and regarded "actual settlers" as those who gained title to land, settled on it, and then improved upon it by building a house, clearing the ground, and planting crops. [8] [9] [10] [11]

A number of means facilitated the legal settlement of the territories in the Midwest: land speculation, federal public land auctions, bounty land grants in lieu of pay to military veterans, and, later, preemption rights for squatters. Ultimately, as they shed the image of being outside the law and fashioned themselves into pioneers, squatters were increasingly able to purchase the lands on which they had settled for the minimum price, thanks to various preemption acts and laws passed throughout the 1810s-1840s. In Washington, Jacksonian Democrats favored squatter rights and banker-oriented Whigs were opposed. The Democrats prevailed. [12] [13] [14] [15]

Homestead laws after 1862

The Homestead Acts legally recognized the concept of the homestead principle and distinguished it from squatting, since the law gave homesteaders a legal way to occupy "unclaimed" lands. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act of 1862, which was enacted to foster the reallocation of "unsettled" land in the West. The law applied to US citizens as well as immigrants. It required a five-year commitment, during which time the land owner had to build a twelve-by-fourteen foot dwelling, and develop or work the 160-acre (0.65 km2) plot of land allocated. After five years of positively contributing to the homestead, the applicant could file a request for the deed to the property, which entailed sending paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington, D.C., and, from there, "valid claims were granted patent free and clear". [16]

California

During and after the California Gold Rush (1848–1855) new arrivals squatted land. Under the California Land Act of 1851, squatters made 813 claims as the population in California increased from 15,000 in 1848 to 265,000 in 1852. [17] The Squatters' riot of 1850 was a conflict between squatters and the government of Sacramento, California. [18] Squatting occurred during the Pacific theater of World War II when Japanese-Americans were sent to Manzanar concentration camp. Buildings which had been left abandoned around the Little Tokyo area in Los Angeles were occupied by African American migrant workers moving to California to work in the armaments factories. [19] In the 1970s and 1980s, gold mining again became an issue in places such as Idaho. [20] In 1975, over 2,000 illegal operations were reported in California and the Forest Service took action on what it called "occupancy trespass". [21]

Great Depression of 1930s

Huts in Manhattan, 1935 Huts and unemployed, West Houston and Mercer St., Manhattan (NYPL b13668355-482853).jpg
Huts in Manhattan, 1935

Hoovervilles were shanty towns built by homeless people across the US during the Great Depression in the 1930s. They were named after Republican Herbert Hoover. [22]

Great Recession (2007–2009)

During the Great Recession (2007–2009) shanty towns again appeared across the US, for example Dignity Village in Portland, Oregon, Umoja Village in Miami and Nickelsville in Seattle. [23] [24] [25] After the United States housing bubble collapsed and banks have foreclosed on many homeowners unable to pay their mortgages. [26] Sovereign citizens in Georgia have squatted million dollar homes in Dekalb and Rockdale counties using fake deeds. [27]

According to a Florida based lawyer, "we haven't seen this kind of level of squatters since the Great Depression". [28] In the San Francisco Bay Area, local NBC News reported that people were even squatting on their own foreclosed properties. [29] Michael Feroli, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase, has commented on the boon to the economy of "squatter rent" or the extra income made available for spending by people not fulfilling their mortgage repayments. [30]

Housing justice

Various community groups have used squatting as a tactic both to call for improved housing and to house the homeless. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) made a national campaign in 1979. Operation Homestead (OH) occupied 300 units in Seattle in the early 1990s. In New York City, squatters occupied 32 buildings, some of which the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) then helped to legalize.

ACORN

Community organizations have helped the homeless to take over vacant buildings not only as a place to live but also a part of larger campaign to shine a light on inequity in housing and advocate change in housing and land issues. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN) was one of the first organizations in the US to launch a national squatting campaign to challenge and transform federal and local housing policies to provide for more affordable housing. In 1979, ACORN launched a squatting campaign to protest the mismanagement of the Urban Homesteading Program. This housed 200 people in 13 cities between 1979 and 1982. [31]

In June 1982, ACORN constructed a tent city in Washington, D.C., and organized a congressional meeting to call attention to the plight of the homeless. In 1983, as a result of their demonstrations, many of the suggestions of ACORN were incorporated into the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983. This brought in a period of local urban homesteading where tax delinquent properties on the city level were included in the program. [31]

In 1981, ACORN and the Inner-City Organizing Network moved hundreds of people into vacant buildings in Philadelphia. The actions created such an upheaval that the Federal government got involved, offering housing to the squatters in the 67 federally owned buildings if they agreed to leave. [32] Between June 15 and August 2, 1985, ACORN supported homeless people to take over 25 city-owned buildings in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. [33] During the incident, 11 people were arrested. The City responded by granting the former squatters 58 city owned buildings, money for technical and architectural aid, and $2.7 million in rehabilitation loans. [34]

In order to preserve democratic decision making and affordability to the buildings the squatters organized themselves into collective members of a Mutual Housing Association. In a mutual housing association, neighborhood residents form a collective, contributing some money and a lot of sweat equity to rehabilitate buildings for their own use in return for public support and limited ownership. The collective – in this case the Mutual Housing Association of New York – retains title to the land. If owners choose to sell, the association has the right to repurchase for a price reflecting only individual investment, not the market. [34]

Other groups

In 1988, Operation Homestead (OH) in Seattle began occupying buildings and negotiating their sale to nonprofit low-income housing organizations. By 1993, it had successfully reclaimed 300 units. [35] In May 1991, OH occupied Arion Court, a vacant apartment building, to draw attention to vacant housing the city was letting deteriorate despite a large need for affordable housing. [36] As a direct result of the protest, the building was renovated and turned into 37 low-income housing units. [37] Arion Court became the first self-managed permanent housing project for previously homeless people in Washington State. Residents decide the rules and how to enforce them. [38]

In 1992, OH occupied the Pacific Hotel, prompting the house to be turned over to a nonprofit for low-income housing. It functioned as an emergency shelter until it was renovated and converted into 113 affordable housing units. [39] OH also did occupations of the McKay Apartments and the Gatewood Hotel. [40] Another community organization is Take Back the Land, a Miami-based, self-proclaimed "housing liberation" group that formed in 2006. They break into vacant, unused bank-owned foreclosed homes and move homeless people inside. [41] Take Back the Land organized a shantytown called the Umoja Village to squat a vacant lot in 2006 and 2007. [42] Homes Not Jails in San Francisco advocates squatting houses to end the problem of homelessness. It has opened "about 500 houses, 95% of which have lasted six months or less. In a few cases, squats have lasted for two, three or even six years." [35]

Other groups working for housing justice include Picture the Homeless (New York City), MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment – St. Louis), Right 2 Survive (Portland, Oregon), Organizing for Occupation (New York City), PUSH (People United for Sustainable Housing – Buffalo, New York), ONE DC (Washington DC), LIFFT (Low Income Families Fighting Together – Miami). [31] In Minnesota, a group known as the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign has relocated families into thirteen empty properties, and one national organizer likened the advocacy and service work of her group to "a modern-day underground railroad". [41]

Moorish Nation has been identified by numerous news organizations and a former FBI assistant director [43] as a movement with members squatting and encouraging the practice of squatting. [44] [45]

New York City

Sign at C-Squat. C-Squat letter.jpg
Sign at C-Squat.

In New York City, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) was at the forefront of a homesteading movement in the 1970s and 1980s. [46] Despite squatting being illegal, artists began to occupy buildings, and European squatters coming to New York brought ideas for cooperative living, such as bars, support between squats, and tool exchange. [47] In the 1990s, there were between 500 and 1,000 squatters occupying 32 buildings on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The buildings had been abandoned as a result of speculation by owners or police raids as part of a crackdown on drug use. [48]

As the area became gentrified, the squats were evicted, Dos Blockos being one. Three buildings on 13th Street were evicted without notification following a prolonged legal battle in which the squatters argued through their lawyer Stanley Cohen that they were entitled to ownership of the buildings through adverse possession since they had lived there since 1983. [49] In 1995, a preliminary injunction was granted against the eviction plans, but this was overturned by state appellate. [50]

More recently, in 2002 the UHAB liaised with the city to legitimize the efforts of squatters in 11 buildings in the Lower East Side. [46] In this project, UHAB bought the buildings for $1 each and agreed to assist the squatters to undertake essential renovation work to bring the buildings up to code, after which their apartments could be bought for $250 each. UHAB would also train them in running low-income limited-equity housing cooperatives. [48] [46]

After prices peaked from the housing boom, several of the squatters told the press that they wanted out of the contract so they could be allowed to sell their units at market rate prices. No such arrangements were made, but some squatters attempted to challenge the contract, arguing that adverse possession protected their ownership claim. [51] The first project to successfully renovate was Umbrella House. [51] Others are Bullet Space, which hosts an art gallery, and self-managed social center ABC No Rio, which was founded in 1980. [46] [52] [53] In 2012, the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space opened at a fourth project, C-Squat. [54]

Homeless people squatting in underground spaces in New York City such as Freedom Tunnel have come to be known as Mole People which was the subject of a documentary film Dark Days . [55]

The number of years required for adverse possession in different states Adverse possession US.pdf
The number of years required for adverse possession in different states

In the United States, squatting is illegal and squatters can be evicted for trespassing. [47] Real estate managers recommend that vacant properties be protected by erecting "no trespassing" signs, regular checks, tenant screening, and quickly finding new tenants. [56] In Miami, municipal ordinance requires that property owner exercise all legal means to remove squatters and police are empowered to take actions to remove squatters from private property and then bill the owner or lessee. [57] In 2024, Alabama passed legislation to have squatters evicted within 24 hours, face felony charges, and 1–10 years in prison. [58] [59]

In common law, through the legally recognized concept of adverse possession, a squatter can become a bona fide owner of property without compensation to the former owner. Implementation and specific requirements vary across locality. [60] The typical requirements are that the occupation must be actual, continuous, exclusive, hostile and public. [61] The most difficult part of claiming adverse possession for squatters is normally the requirement of continuous possession. [62]

The Pueblo Chieftain , a local newspaper in Colorado, suggested that indicators of squatting might include people carrying in jugs of water or living by candlelight. A captain with the Pueblo Fire Department said squats present difficulties for fire fighting. [63] In Colorado, in order for police to act, the homeowner is expected to be willing to press charges and report to the police within a reasonable time frame. In 2018, district representatives sought to amend the law so that the police could immediately remove squatters. [64] The Bulletin , a local newspaper in Bend, Oregon, reported that second homes and vacation rentals can become a target of squatters. [65]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting</span> Unauthorized occupation of property

Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history, broken down by country below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C-Squat</span> Housing co-op in Manhattan, New York

C-Squat is a former squat house located at 155 Avenue C in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that has been home to musicians, artists, and activists, among others. After a fire, it was taken into city ownership in 1978 and squatters moved in 1989. The building was restored in 2002 and since then it has been legally owned by the occupants. Its ground-floor storefront now houses the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space.

Dos Blockos was a squat situated at 713 East 9th Street in Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York City. In active use as a squat from 1992 onwards, the six-story building housed up to 60 people at its peak, including Brad Will. The building funded repairs by being a set for movies. The squatters were evicted in 1999 and the building was converted into a commercial apartment building.

The Frances Street Squats were a set of six squatted houses, including one women-only building, that existed between February and November 1990 in Vancouver, Canada. They were occupied by SAVE and took a stand against development which was generally supported by local people. The Vancouver Police Department evicted the buildings.

Take Back the Land is an American organization based in Miami, Florida, devoted to blocking evictions, and rehousing homeless people in foreclosed houses. Take Back the Land was formed in October 2006 to build the Umoja Village shantytown on a plot of unoccupied land to protest gentrification and a lack of low-income housing in Miami. The group began opening houses in October 2007 and moved six homeless families into vacant homes in 2008. By April 2009, the group had moved 20 families into foreclosed houses. As of November 2008, the group had ten volunteers. Take Back the Land volunteers break into the houses, clean, paint, and make repairs, change the locks, and help move the homeless families in. They provide supplies and furniture and help residents turn on electricity and water. Though the occupations are of contested legality, as of December 2008 local police officers were not intervening, judging it to be the responsibility of house owners to protect their property or request assistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in England and Wales</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in England and Wales

In England and Wales, squatting – taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own – is a criminal or civil offence, depending on circumstances. People squat for a variety of reasons which include needing a home, protest, poverty, and recreation. Many squats are residential; some are also opened as social centres. Land may be occupied by New Age travellers or treesitters.

Umbrella House is a former squat and a Housing Development Fund Corporation in New York City's East Village, at 21-23 Avenue C. The squat, formed in 1988, was known for its political engagement and high level of collective organization among its members. In 2010, the building officially became a housing cooperative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Australia</span> Occupation of land or buildings in Australia without permission of owner

Squatting in Australia usually refers to a person who is not the owner, taking possession of land or an empty house. In 19th century Australian history, a squatter was a settler who occupied a large tract of Aboriginal land in order to graze livestock. At first this was done illegally, later under licence from the Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Ireland</span> Occupying without permission

Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Netherlands</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Netherlands

Squatting in the Netherlands is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Czech Republic</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Czech Republic

Squatting became a political phenomenon in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Squats in Prague included Sochora, Stary Střešovice and Ladronka. Milada was occupied in 1998 and following its final eviction in 2009, there was a lull in squatting actions. In the 2010s a new social movement squatted houses to highlight the number of derelict properties in Prague and the social centre Klinika was founded in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Nigeria</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in Nigeria

Squatting in Nigeria refers to a person who is not the owner, taking possession of land or an empty house. Squatters migrate from the countryside to informal settlements in cities such as Abuja, Port Harcourt and in particular Lagos. Lagos had a population of over 14 million people in 2019 and many slums, including Makoko.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Kazakhstan</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in Kazakhstan

Under the 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union, housing was guaranteed for every citizen and after Kazakhstan became a republic, a new housing code was established in 1992. From the 1980s onwards, many Kazakhs migrated to the largest city Almaty and squatted in shanty towns. In the 1990s, the Alma-Ata Union of the Homeless recommended to squatters that they should occupy unused land, summer homes or derelict buildings. When the authorities attempted to evict an informal settlement called Shanyrak in the mid-2000s there was a riot in which one police officer died; the poet Aron Atabek, who was chairman of Shanyrak's Land and Dwelling Committee, was arrested and imprisoned for 18 years. By 2016, estimates put the population of Shanyrak at 160,000 officially and at 220,000 when unregistered people were included.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Albania</span> Occupation of unused buildings

Squatting in Albania began on a large scale in the 1990s after the fall of communism, with internal migration towards formerly collectivised farmland establishing informal settlements. One such area, Bathore on the periphery of the capital Tirana, had 40,000 squatters by the early 2000s who successfully campaigned for better amenities. Other squatters occupied severely polluted post-industrial sites. The Agency of Legalization, Upgrading, and Integration of Informal Zones and Buildings (ALUIZNI) had legalized 16,500 homes on 152 settlements by 2009. As of 2020, 25 per cent of the population of Albania's cities lived in informal settlements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Chile</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner

Squatting in Chile is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. From the 1960s onwards, informal settlements known as callampas were permitted although there were also evictions such as the massacre of Puerto Montt in 1969. In the 1970s, the government of Salvador Allende encouraged occupations, then following the coup d'état, the military junta repressed squatting. Callampas then became known as campamentos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Brazil</span>

Squatting in Brazil is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. After attempting to eradicate slums in the 1960s and 1970s, local governments transitioned to a policy of toleration. Cities such as Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have large informal settlements known as favelas. A more recent phenomenon is the occupation of buildings in city centres by organised groups. In rural areas across the country, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) arranges large land occupations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Philippines</span> Occupation of derelict land or abandoned buildings

Urban areas in the Philippines such as Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao have large informal settlements. The Philippine Statistics Authority defines a squatter, or alternatively "informal dwellers", as "One who settles on the land of another without title or right or without the owner's consent whether in urban or rural areas". Squatting is criminalized by the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992, also known as the Lina Law. There have been various attempts to regularize squatter settlements, such as the Zonal Improvement Program and the Community Mortgage Program. In 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority estimated that out of the country's population of about 106 million, 4.5 million were homeless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Cambodia</span> Property squatting in the country of Cambodia

Squatting is common in the country of Cambodia. Following the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime, the new democratic government introduced land reform. In the capital Phnom Penh, where in 2003 an estimated 25 per cent of the population was squatting, there are informal settlements and occupied buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Liberia</span>

Squatting in Liberia is one of three ways to access land, the other two being ownership by deed or customary ownership. The informal settlement West Point was founded in the capital Monrovia in the 1950s and is estimated to house between 29,500 and 75,000 people. During the First Liberian Civil War 1989–1997 and the Second Liberian Civil War 1999–2003, many people in Liberia were displaced and some ended up squatting in Monrovia. The Ducor Hotel fell into disrepair and was squatted, before being evicted in 2007. In the early 2020s, over 9,000 Burkinabés were squatting on remote land and the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) announced a plan to title all land in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Taiwan</span> Illegal occupation of property in Taiwan

Squatting in Taiwan is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. Squatting was fuelled by migrants from China from the 1950s onwards and in addition cities such as the capital Taipei were swelled by internal migrants from the countryside. In order to create Daan Forest Park, 12,000 squatters were evicted. The informal settlement at Treasure Hill has been recognized as cultural heritage.

References

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  2. ↑ Dwight L. Smith, "A North American Neutral Indian Zone: Persistence of a British Idea" Northwest Ohio Quarterly 1989 61(2-4)|page=46-63
  3. ↑ Alan Brown, "The Role of the Army in Western Settlement Josiah Harmar's Command, 1785-1790" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 93#2 pp. 161-172. online
  4. ↑ Richard White, "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West (U. of Oklahoma Press, 1991) pp. 137-143.
  5. ↑ On federal policy see Benjamin Horace Hibbard, A history of the public land policies (1924), online.
  6. ↑ On the settlers and squatters, see Everett Dick, The Lure of the Land: A Social History of the Public Lands from the Articles of Confederation to the New Deal (U of Nebraska Press, 1970) pp 9-69.online
  7. ↑ Matthew Hill, " 'They are not surpassed … by an equal number of citizens of any equal country in the world': squatter society in the American West," American Nineteenth Century History, (2023) DOI: 10.1080/14664658.2022.2167296
  8. ↑ Richard White, "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West (U. of Oklahoma Press, 1991) pp. 137-143.
  9. ↑ On federal policy see Benjamin Horace Hibbard, A history of the public land policies (1924), online.
  10. ↑ On the settlers and squatters, see Everett Dick, The Lure of the Land: A Social History of the Public Lands from the Articles of Confederation to the New Deal (U of Nebraska Press, 1970) pp 9-69.online
  11. ↑ Matthew Hill, " 'They are not surpassed … by an equal number of citizens of any equal country in the world': squatter society in the American West," American Nineteenth Century History, (2023) DOI: 10.1080/14664658.2022.2167296
  12. ↑ Richard White, "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West (U. of Oklahoma Press, 1991) pp. 137-143.
  13. ↑ On federal policy see Benjamin Horace Hibbard, A history of the public land policies (1924), online.
  14. ↑ On the settlers and squatters, see Everett Dick, The Lure of the Land: A Social History of the Public Lands from the Articles of Confederation to the New Deal (U of Nebraska Press, 1970) pp 9-69.online
  15. ↑ Matthew Hill, " 'They are not surpassed … by an equal number of citizens of any equal country in the world': squatter society in the American West," American Nineteenth Century History, (2023) DOI: 10.1080/14664658.2022.2167296
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  25. ↑ Rameau, Max (2008). Take back the land: Land, gentrification and the Umoja Village shantytown. Miami, FL: Nia Interactive Press. ISBN   978-1-4348-4556-6.
  26. ↑ "Have Borrowers Recovered from Foreclosures during the Great Recession? – Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago". www.chicagofed.org. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
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  30. ↑ Willis, Bob (April 22, 2011). "'Squatter Rent' May Boost Spending as Mortgage Holders Bail". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  31. 1 2 3 Dobbz, Hannah (2012). Nine-Tenths of the Law: Property and Resistance in the United States. AK Press.
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  34. 1 2 "New York Turns Squatters into Homeowners". The New York Times. October 12, 1987. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  35. 1 2 Corr, Anders (1999). No trespassing!: Squatting, rent strikes, and land struggles worldwide (First ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press. pp. 17–18, 22–24. ISBN   0896085953.
  36. ↑ "Activists Occupy Vacant Building". The Seattle Times. May 20, 1991. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  37. ↑ "Arion To Become Low-Income Housing". The Seattle Times. June 6, 1991. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
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