NYC City Council Bill Targets Squatters, Proposes Criminalizing Freeloading

DEBARYLIFE – A new City Council plan that would also make freeloading in the Big Apple illegal would track squatters in New York City and publish the buildings they occupy in an internet database.

The bill, which calls for the NYPD and other local agencies to submit a quarterly report on squatter properties, was submitted by local Councilwoman Susan Zhuang on Thursday.

Zhuang demanded that squatting be recognized as an illegal behavior, saying, “We cannot allow squatters to be above the law.”

The addresses of known squatter homes and the duration of squatter control over the property would be included in the quarterly report, which would be made available online. It would also cover the time that the city authorities or the NYPD learned about the squatters and how they handled complaints about them.

Zhuang stated during a City Council hearing that her southern Brooklyn area has been affected by the squatting crisis, which is why she is advocating for the bill.

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“A union worker in my district was compelled to keep making thousands of dollars in mortgage payments for a house he and his hospitalized wife cannot live in,” Zhuang stated. “A squatter had set fire to the house four times and caused numerous other problems for the neighborhood.”

Zhuang continued, “People are scared to even go on vacation because they think someone else will be living in their house when they return.”

“When squatting is reported, it is categorized as a problem between the landlord and the renter and is brought before housing court immediately. The available information about squatting is inadequate.