Frankie’s Squatting is Anti-Social Behavior

My squatter Frankie Walton has a job and a place to go. How do I know? Because… Frankie regularly goes out about 7:00 am and comes back after 5:30 pm, from Monday to Friday. He also bragged to the police he is working everyday when they asked who he was. And Frankie sometimes stays somewhere else for a couple of days. Frankie smokes a lot and always takes out something to eat from McDonald’s. Frankie also sometimes calls and uses the taxi. Frankie Walton is squatting as a business, not from economic necessity.

We have to seriously consider the reason why people squat - by necessity or by something else. In this period of recession, squatting has become more and more prevalent in America. Some people desperately squat based on deprivation - housing need. Since we humans need a roof to sleep under, of course, we should give a chance to them to stay. But if squatting is done as a profitable business like Frankie Walton, we have to reconsider it.

In many countries, squatting is a crime. For example, on June 1, 2010 the Squatting Ban was accepted by Parliament, so Squatting is illegal in the Netherlands. But in America, squatting is considered as a civil conflict between the property owner and the squatter.
Accordingly, the squatters in America are indistinguishable from the normal lawful tenants. The squatters already bypassed the common sense, human rules (the property owner has a right to possess and use the property), but the beleaguered owners are not provided with any adequate, effective self-defense tools.

In my case, Frankie Walton is not only possessing & using the house, but also claims rights over the backyard, although Frankie has nothing to do there.  As I stated before, Frankie never cut the grass, dumped garbage to the backyard, and repeatedly urinated there. The backyard became a rat’s nest. I couldn’t bear it anymore, so I started to clean up the backyard. Of course, Frankie Walton called the police several times and claimed his rights over the backyard and demanded the police to stop me from working there. Since the police confirmed the poor condition, they did let me clean up. After clean up, I made the backyard a vegetable garden. Frankie Walton kept coming and urinating there. I fixed the fence and gate and closed it to avoid Frankie’s willful misconducts. Frankie knocked down the fence several times.

Squatting - staying while people recover from their unfortunate life events – is a matter of human life requiring mutual understanding and respect. But squatting performed by Frankie Walton should be considered as an Anti-Social Behavior causing a great deal of distress to the property owner and local residents. Since squatting becomes widespread, we need more adequate countermeasures against its abuse.