How to form a group and pick a place

How to form a group

A bad, untogether group will do more damage to your squat than the city government will in many cases. The people you live and work with are more important than the building that you choose. A group of people living and working together who all agree on everything cannot exist: someone in the group is always going to have to shelve, give up, or compromise on an idea. As you will be living in the unfamiliar condition of having no landlord and no way of calling in the police to settle your differences, you should give some thought to the kind of people you want to live with.

Six adults is probably a big enough group to go into a brownstone or tenement building. For a single-family home or a loft-like space, you might want a smaller group.

House rules

Lower East Side Squatters in the late 1980s found that a set of rules is must for any new group. The rules should be discussed in detail and agreed upon by all concerned. They should be written down, since verbal agreements tend to get pretty vague after a few months.

Here is one set of house rules you can think about:

  1. No hard drugs: they can be used as a pretext to throw everyone out of the building

  2. No violence (you might want to clear about what you mean by this: On or off the property? Partner/domestic violence? Breaking peoples' shit? Fights even when people are cool with each other afterwards?)

  3. No stealing

Breaking any of the first three rules can get you thrown out of the squat, though everyone should remember that squatters have no legal right to throw anyone out or evict them.

It is a good idea to think about who can be a member of the squat. You might want to set a numerical limit, work and monetary contribution requirements, or something else. For example:

  1. Every member must work a minimum of hours per month on the building. Jobs may include healthcare and other nonconstruction work. What work people do depends on their abilities

  2. Every member must pay a certain amount per month to a construction fund for the building (roof, plumbing, electricity, bills, etc.) or contribute in some equivalent manner

  3. All new members must go through a trial period in which they work on the building with old members for a week, and can then be accepted as a member by agreement of the rest of the group

  4. Some kind of agreement about members hosting visitors and overnight guests, and the conduct expected of guests

Initial neighborhood assessment

Let's say you spot a vacant building and want to occupy it. It's good to form a group, to check it out from the outside, do title research, and eventually check out the inside. But you also want to check out the neighborhood. Squatting works best in neighborhoods that are relatively peaceful and stable, where you can become good neighbors, and can be appreciated as such. In order to survive as a squatter, you have to relate to your community.

Standing out or fitting in

If your neighborhood is mostly of the same racial and cutural make-up as the members of your group, and your group members dress like the people that live there or like contractors, you may not draw attention or have conflict initially. But as the neighbors get to know you and test you in order to find out what role you will play in the neighborhood -- by starting conversation on the street, offering you drugs, soliciting sex, asking you for favors, or calling at your house to see how you live -- you will have to clearly and collectively demonstrate your dignity, discipline, boundaries, good-naturedness, and respect for the neighborhood.

If your group is mostly or entirely visibly different from the surrounding community or if you openly break community norms, you will initially stand out more and be talked about behind your back more. After it becomes clear you'll be around for a while, you will have many of the same stuff to deal with, but may be tested to find out if you are like social workers, do-gooders, addicts, homeless people, easy marks, "white trash" / "thugs" / "terrorists" / "illegals," people who sexually fetishize people of a different race from yourselves, or prostitutes.

Most of the conversations about you will happen behind your back, and your outreach will have to be aggressive, sustained, respectful, and consistent (consistent means each of you demonstrate similar principles when relating to neighbors).

Look at the buildings surrounding the one you've got your eye on. If the surroundings look as if they've been recently renovated for well-off people, this may mean more hassles from neighbors and police. Low-income and middle-income communities both often have a lot of foreclosed houses in the area. The more foreclosed houses (especially in an otherwise stable community), the more likely neighbors will be pleased to see decent new neighbors moving in.

Property search, thirty day rule, and code violations

The "Tips 4 Squatting in NYC" guide contains detailed strategies for property search and resisting removal from your squat using the NYC "30 day rule" and other means. You can get it through In Our Hearts distro (see the end of this booklet for contact info). Here's a quick overview.

You can find out who owns a property online or at the Office of the City Register. You will need the exact address of the house. Then go to the physical office or follow the NYC Department of Real Property "property search" link (webapps.nyc.gov:8084/CICS/fin1/find001i).

Your easiest defense against trespassing charges in NYC is by establishing that you have been residing in the building for more than 30 days. You do this by collecting mail at your address. The more official the better: cell phone bills and utility bills are golden, but you can start by just sending yourself a letter. The owner can still evict you if you have a 30-day snail-mail trail, but it's unlikely any trespassing charges will stick, and your handy dandy letters can give cops the opportunity to wash their hands of you and let you be the owner's problem. There should always be someone in the house with 30 day-old mail, and you should all lay totally low until you satisfy the rule.

Even with the 30-day snail-mail trail, your crew can be rapidly evacuated from a building without due process of eviction if the city gets an anonymous report of a code violation that poses imminent danger, and upon investigation discovers such a violation. We're talking about building, fire, and health codes. Is your water legally turned on? Is your roof stable? Do gutted out interior walls, lack of smoke detectors, lack of fire extinguishers, and lack of exits or obstructed exits from the building pose a severe fire hazard? Learn the basics of the codes, and find a cool lawyer who is into squatters.

If you invite wolves into your house, expect slaughter. If you violate local ordinances (like noise ordinances), or laws (like drug laws), or "domestic disturbances" occur at your house, you have invited the wolves in. Be very thoughtful when deciding which rules to break and which to follow.

Finally, know this: cops lie. They don't particularly care what your rights are or whether what you are doing is legal or not, especially under some obscure civil law statute. They arrest you, and let a court of law figure out if you were breaking any laws or not. To combat cop bullshit, the "Tips 4 Squatting in NYC" guide contains ideas about setting up a neighborhood eviction watch and eviction defense group. Check it out and think about it.

Neighborhood power structures

Try to get an idea if any community groups, politicians, gangs or real estate operators have an eye on the building. If so, figure out if they are for real and, if not, whether you will be able to take the building and keep them off your back. If you think they are for real, you might approach them and see if you can work together. You may also meet squatters who still have room in their buildings and are looking for new members.

Be polite, but be careful of people who are in too big a hurry to be your friend. Be particularly careful to avoid antagonizing any of your neighbors during the first month -- that is, until you've established your 30-day residence.