Thursday, February 06, 2025

Squatters' Rights to Skid Row


In the Kingdom of the Netherlands, there exists a right to squat in Amsterdam (if not the realm) to claim space in a building that has gone out of use. Whether this is granted by the sovereign or their government is immaterial. In the United Kingdom, the poor have a right to a dole - a place to live and a pension provided by His Majesty's government.

In the United States, especially in the original colonies, land is inherited from what was owned by the Crown with payment to the state every year fee simple - a dollar per year plus other taxes. In non-colonial states, the land is granted by the commonwealth, except tribal land which the tribe owns in perpetuity with the government acting as their agent - often badly - with use of such land permitted for grazing - as well as other public land. Public land can also be taken as a squat, which includes certain rights, hence the term, squatter's rights. I use the plural above because multiple people squat on skid row.

Rock Creek is behind me as I make this video, actually, the western branch inside of a regional, rather than the national, park. There is plenty of wood there and if it is not cleared, it is a fire hazard. I have purchased a book that shows how to do a house on such land for less than $50. I doubt, however, that Montgomery County would recognize a squatter's right to do so.

On Skid Row, in Los Angeles, a square block has been set aside for use by the homeless - mostly because no one wants to help these people and they have a constitutional right to refuse such help - and no one wants the infamy attached to forced removal - as such an action would be televised - both on Cable TV, local TV and the blogosphere.

That we let people rot in public is infamous. It is "a stain on any sanctity the society assumes for itself" (written, not said - feel free to repeat). The right to be unhelped should not be enshrined in law - however the law has other ideas. Instead, we give benefits to people who are disabled by mental illness because they are unable to work for people who are not as smart. Note to normies - yes, people who are either bipolar or schizophrenic are smarter than you - and if you make allowances - would run whatever enterprise you manage better than you would. So we give these people money to support themselves and supportive housing as individuals rather than putting them in a substandard asylum setting that would also invite infamy - or already did.

So, what can, indeed what must, we do about the squatters of skid row. The answer, of course, is to pay them off for the their squat. In human evolutionary history, if you squat on land, it is yours. The residents of that zone, and all the homeless, claim such a right to property and person. Evolutionarily and legally, they are not wrong.

Let's develop skid row, but the price to be paid must include a perpetual payment (with additional offer of services) for their squatter's rights. If housing is developed, then they must be provided with free housing plus the profit that would have otherwise been collected for that space - with that amount deducted from property taxes owed to the City and County of Los Angeles. If they agree to be located off-site - and must be during construction - they must still be given that payment, as well as the right to relocate. The right should not be perpetual or inheritable, but still be durable during the life of the squatter. If given locational residency, they must still abide by common rules, but will not lose their squatter's compensation. They should be hard to evict, as well, and if evicted provided with housing. 

If California ever creates a duty to be rehabilitated, then people must be compensated for agreeing to rehabilitation - in other words, pay them for seeking help through counseling and education, as well as paying the providers for doing so (as well as for case management). As a society, we can afford it. As moral agents, it is our duty to provide it.

So let's create such legal structures and clean up skid row, but in doing so recognizing the inherent rights of those who now live there.

Call it workable Georgism. 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home