Forced to live with squatter in my Detroit Boston-Edison house?

[poobert]

A lot of the recent upswing in squatter activity is due to Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and the monster that is Maureen Taylor. They cook up some phoney, notarized documents and convince the squatters they have rights to the property. They harken back to an old ordinance, Repair-to-Own, which is on the books, but they don't actually go through the proper legal channels to execute it.

They put families in houses without plumbing, water, heat, or electricity because their idea is that it is better than nothing. In each instance I am intimately familiar with, the properties were all privately-owned by everyone from actual mortgage-holders who owned the property, to real estate agents listing them, or you name it - all privately owned. In each case the squatter behaved, well, like a squatter - threatening neighbors, throwing sewage out the window, allowing the property to rapidly deteriorate, all with the assurance that they own the property.

I sympathize that so many people are without a home but this clearly isn't the solution. Of course the decent homeowners nearby [[the ones who, you know, use toilets) want nothing more than to jump ship, further destroying the neighborhood.

Again, all this is with the blessing and fierce advocation of Maureen Taylor and the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. Rather than find real solutions they put families in dangerous situations. The squatters inevitably end up thrown out through the [[long) eviction process. I'm virtually certain that this woman in the video is speaking of the same "program"

Squatters Rights are largely a myth. In Michigan you need to occupy a property for 15 years to obtain what is called Adverse Possession. They're just tough to get out because you need to prove they're not supposed to be there [[none of them are), which can be tough when they have official looking documents.

I realize many people need help but if they invested half as much energy in productive activities as they did with phony documents, breaking into houses and changing locks, and fraud then I am sure solutions could be found.

[swingline]

The squatters inevitably end up thrown out through the [[long) eviction process.

The civil eviction process in Michigan is obviously not an ideal solution for an owner under these circumstances. But it is not a long process compared to other judicial matters. Properly handled by a competent attorney, the process would take about six weeks [[even in 36th District Court).