Posted on 04/10/2009 5:05:39 AM PDT by reaganaut1
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.
In addition to squatting, some advocacy groups have organized civil disobedience actions in which borrowers or renters refuse to leave homes after foreclosure.
The groups say that they have sometimes received support from neighbors and that beleaguered police departments have not aggressively gone after squatters.
“We’re seeing sheriffs’ departments who are reluctant to move fast on foreclosures or evictions,” said Bill Faith, director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, which is not engaged in squatting. “They’re up to their eyeballs in this stuff. Everyone’s overwhelmed.”
On a recent afternoon, Ms. Omega sat on the tiled floor of her unfurnished living room and described plans to use the space to tie-dye clothing and sell it on the Internet, hoping to save some money before she is inevitably forced to leave.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Couldn't the "organized" squatting groups be prosecuted under RICO?
Yeah, see? “Free homes for squatters” is change we can believe in...
Change for the worse, that is. I guess mortgage payment are for suckers.[rolleyes]
Of course, we see what this woman wants: a free house. We can also guess what she's contributing to society: zilch.
This is the plan. Hasn't worked well in the past, but they think it will work this time.
The house on either side of me is empty but owned. One neighbor is in Florida for the winter and the other has several houses that he stays in as he travels around the country on business. The neighbor behind me also owns another house.
What’s to prevent these ACORN nazis from siezing these “extra” houses?
It's not her living room.
*Ring ring*...paging Barney Frank, Mr Frank?, oh ok Mr Dodd will wait for Mr Frank's return call
This is the microcosm of what is happening in the entire country at the moment. We are overrun with squatters like these, Obama-fueled “entitlement junkies” squatting on our way of life - and defecating.
Wow. How insane.
On the one hand, just the sheer ballsiness of it is impressive.
The sense of entitlement, though, is enough to make me want to puke.
Sure, they could be prosecuted under RICO; it could be a form of theft or fraud, and that’s under RICO, and it’s a criminal conspiracy, but we’d need some will to actually go after these people. After all, they’re just victims...
“Queen Omega” and her cohorts at “Take Back the Land” should be taking up residence in a padded cell.
Time for an RPG through the window.
Not true! She says she has plans to start making some tie died clothing.
Surely that merits a 400K house?
The elites in NYC may not have a way to prevent this from happening, but we gun and religion clingers here in Athens, AL do.
Water and power WILL NOT be turned on until you present to the utility department either a) a copy of your deed - if you are the owner, or b) a rental agreement (signed by the property owner and verified against public deed records) plus a certificate of occupancy from the building inspection department.
These big city folks sure can be stupid!
Good plan. Now, if she can only find some tie-dye and clothing to steal......
Her Highness Queen Omega needs to contact...
Take Back the Furniture
Take Back the Plantation Shutters
Take Back the Sensible Landscaping
Take Back the Taseful Interior Decorations
Take Back the Grill and Summer Kitchen
and so on
I can't imagine what sort of nation-wide catastrophic wave of damage being inflicted on houses occupied by squatters would convince the authorities that they better start to get serious.
The country is built on property rights. If people are allowed to have no respect for rights of ownership ... well ... things ought to get real nasty, real quick.
Yep, Take Back the Land is just an organized crime ring.
Did you get a load of the pic of "Omega" (hmm, Omegatron, must be a Transformers fan)? All piled up in a disheveled mess on a nasty mattress.
Am I supposed to feel bad? That woman needs to get her priorities straight.
Wonderful indeed. Any bank that owns a house but refuses to maintain it, or refuses to deal with squatters in some manner, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Their actions harm the people who actually, you know, are responsible.
I am surprised that type of law isn't more widespread. It really would solve a lot of problems.
That might be the sheeplibs’ concept of communism,
but in reality, the government forcibly siezes all property,
and lets you have what some bureaucrat thinks you need.
Reminds me of the scene in Dr Zhivago where the “revolutionaries” kick their family out of their house because 20-30 people could live there.
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