Detroit squatting

I think everyone is starting to see that we are making this a better place. Wilbur and her daughter collect used clothing and items for the "Free Store" they opened in an empty house across the street.

Anyone can stop by and take anything. The city recently tore down the house, so they are looking for a new location for the store. Wilbur also runs one of the community gardens and shows kids in the neighborhood how to grow their own food on overgrown plots of land.

A month ago, a notice on Wilbur's door said that the homeowners were past due on their property taxes and that the county would soon place the house on public auction.

She checked into the option of buying another house in Fireweed that was also up for auction. The problem is that Wilbur is a homemaker, and her only income is a small alimony check.

She plans to go to the Wayne County Treasurer's Office to see if she can buy her current place before it goes up for auction. Wilbur doesn't have that kind of money, she says, but maybe the county will cut her a deal. It's not like demand is high for old, derelict homes in Detroit, she says. Pregnant and living in her vehicle with her four kids in the fall of , Rebecca Fritz began a desperate, strategic search for a place to crash before winter hit.

Fritz, who had previously been living in a suburban domestic violence shelter, had called around to shelters, but they always seemed to be full. She changed the locks, blacked out the windows and quietly moved in. Fritz rigged a makeshift shower using a kiddie pool and found an oversized sink in the garbage that she could use for cooking and washing clothes. She installed a circuit box and ran wiring to the first floor so they could run electric heaters, learning as she went.

Even without having to pay rent, Fritz has struggled to afford necessities. She also juggles work with taking care of her kids and rehabbing the house. Her difficulty finding stable employment and housing led her to activism. An assistant professor at Drexel University, Herbert lived in Detroit for five years researching illegal property use.

She recently published two papers on squatting. She focused on survival squatters people who take refuge in abandoned homes for emergency shelter and holdover squatters renters or former owners who stay after foreclosure.

In Detroit, squatting is one form of precarious housing on a spectrum that includes street sleeping or doubling up in an apartment, said Herbert. They tend to have openings for single men but not enough beds for women and families.

So when one house on a block goes vacant, blight can spread to neighboring structures like a cancer. It makes it easy for property owners to remove the illegal occupants or trespassers from their property.

However, be advised that the owner is not allowed to conduct the physical removal of the squatter or trespasser. Only the County Sheriff has the power to remove a squatter from your premises. In Detroit, Michigan a squatter must occupy your property for a period of fifteen 15 years.

Then he can claim adverse possession. If the squatter decides to pay for property taxes however, it shortens the required 15 years of continuous occupation down to This makes it even easier for a squatter to make an adverse possession claim.

A squatter must occupy your property in a specific way for them to have rights as a squatter. Michigan has required conditions that determine if a squatter can make an adverse possession claim. The good news is there are steps a property owner can take to prevent squatters or trespassers. You must practice vigilance to avoid the stresses of dealing with a squatter. The station also reported the alleged squatter filed papers with the city claiming the property was abandoned.

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