Expert analysis puts squatting in New York City at as much as 20% higher over the past two years, and the bungled approach to COVID is clearly part of the problem.
The high-profile nightmares run the gamut, from the crew of illegal immigrant criminals who took up residence in a Bronx squat to the Queens scammer trying to steal a $2 million house out from under an elderly couple with a disabled son.
And the legal absurdities the actual owners face are ugly.
A different Queens homeowner, Adele Andaloro, got arrested for having the temerity to try to get a squatting thug out of her house — which the squatters were reportedly subletting.
Yet another duo sued the legal owners of the house they’d sought to steal and tried to use a Shake Shack receipt as proof of tenancy.
This is all thanks to New York City’s pro-disorder laws, which grant squatters possession after only 30 days, and currently leave no recourse for owners except a lengthy slog through the courts.
Even then, the current system offers countless opportunities for the squatters to delay facing any consequences through procedural loopholes.
And the city’s housing courts, never a miracle of efficiency, are choked to the gills with a backlog of cases thrown into limbo by drastic COVID overreactions (which included both city court closures and the eviction moratorium).
As with so many other issues around the basic rule of law, Gotham’s political class is only too happy to side with the thieves.
No matter whether they’re stealing toothpaste from Duane Reade or the roof over someone’s head.
