As the housing bubble burst and home foreclosures has become lucrative business for some shady firms here in NYC, it’s unsurprising that Occupy Wall Street’s latest movement “Occupy Our Homes” involves eviction-squatting. Today, Occupy Wall Street and over two dozen of its branches across the United States have begun to “give back” the homes that families lost during foreclosure, by helping move residents back into their residence and disrupting public auctions of bank-owned houses. Since at the very least this plan involves breaking and entering, we have to wonder: where are the police, who never miss an opportunity to attend an OWS party?
The answer might be as simple (and complicated) as state laws regarding squatting. Depending where the homes are, the police might require a signed affidavit from the banks that currently own the foreclosed properties in order to move in. (This was the case in Miami in 2008, when The New York Times did a story on families across the country that were squatting in their old home.) Getting signatures from the banks shouldn’t be too hard, until you consider that the police would need a different piece of paperwork for every individual property being illegally lived in. That’s a time-consuming process…and not as easy as throwing protesters off of city property or privately-owned lots.
(The New York Observer has contacted both the city and the NYPD for clarification on its process for evicting squatters, but have yet to receive a reply.)
It’s doubtful that the families that Occupy Our Homes are currently trying to help will stay in their building long enough to have what is known as adverse possession: essentially, squatting so long that you gain legal ownership of the property. (And NYC doesn’t make it easy…requirements include the current owners knowing that you’re squatting, making it public that you are sitting on their property unlawfully, and then let you do it for around ten years anyway.)
#OCCUPYOURHOMES #DECEMBER6TH #D6- “Homeowners Speak Out” – Mimi Pierre Johnson & Jean Sassine from Rhodes Pictures on Vimeo.
The best plan of action for OYR would be to draw as little attention to the houses they are helping “give back” as humanely possible, thereby stalling the process between the banks who own the homes and the police who would evict them. But in typical OWS fashion, the Occupy Our Home “day of action” is being livestreamed, addresses are being released for the buildings being reclaimed, and marches and “block parties” for newly-returned residents are being held in several East New York communities today. (Not to mention the media coverage!) This movement also has the support of New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Organizing for Occupation, Picture the Homeless and VOCAL-NY, as well as all the pro bono lawyers working with the movement. So far, there have been some successes in getting evictions temporarly reversed and hot water/electricity turned back on. That’s a major win.
Though maybe if the same lawyers had been around to lend free services when homes were being foreclosed on due to some less than credible sub-prime mortgage bundling back in 2008, these people might still be living in their homes legally.
