Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday August 23 2016, @12:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the helping-wiht-the-upkeep dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Squatters who illegally occupy vacant homes or buildings are not always contributing to apathy or social disorder, says a new University of Michigan study that will be presented at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

It can actually be a good situation for a neighborhood to have these individuals move into abandoned homes, lessening the chance of them becoming sites for drug users or burned by arsonists, the study indicates.

In urban communities nationwide, such as Detroit, which are experiencing population decline, homes have been abandoned by owners or left unattended by private investors who often purchase them in bundles of tens, hundreds, or even thousands.

"While attempts to revitalize a city rely on private ownership to induce responsible care for property, that isn't always an option," said study author Claire Herbert, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, where she earned a PhD in sociology.

That's where squatters come in.

Herbert, who will be an assistant professor at Drexel University in the fall, interviewed more than 60 people, including squatters, city authorities, and residents between 2013-2015, while also gathering ethnographic data on illegal property use from various sources, such as community meetings and squatted areas across Detroit.

Surprisingly, many of the residents in the study welcome squatters to keep abandoned homes occupied. Squatting, however, was not considered acceptable to residents if the home was still occupied or if the legal owner was maintaining and overseeing the property.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Tuesday August 23 2016, @09:46PM

    by Francis (5544) on Tuesday August 23 2016, @09:46PM (#392327)

    First off, it's generally illegal to discriminate against certain classes of people. Secondly, renters rarely care about who's renting their units as long as they pay on time, don't damage the unit and don't disturb the other tennants.

    The credit score and rental history are of your own making. Barring a situation where there's been rental documents that were confused, you're not likely to have to worry about that. What's more, if you don't have the credit score to rent an apartment, then how do you propose buying a house?

    Whenever I've looked at rentals, there's multiple ways of qualifying. One of them is to make more than a certain amount of money and the other is to have a certain amount of money in the bank. But, as I've already stated, landlords care primarily about being paid for their units. Just make sure you're a good tennant and keep in contact when the lease is up for renewal and you probably won't have much to worry about.

  • (Score: 2) by jmoschner on Wednesday August 24 2016, @12:44AM

    by jmoschner (3296) on Wednesday August 24 2016, @12:44AM (#392388)

    Most Landlords don't care about anything but collecting their rent check. If there is damage, they will bill the occupants or take it out of their deposit. If there is noise, they don't care. Most just want their money can could care less about the people living there as there are always people looking for a new place to live.

    Place that take Section 8 are usually the worst. They know they are getting a steady paycheck from those tenants (thanks to the government) and jack up the price for everyone else to maintain that check. The Section 8 residents can do just about anything short of burning the place down and the landlords don't care.