SOME think turning over buildings to squatters is a milestone in the redistribution of property. It allows relatively poor people to own and enjoy what formerly belonged to the greedy landlord class.
Others see it as a reward for flagrant, lawless behavior, not only paying a ransom, but handing over the entire ship to pirates. Critics argue that this policy encourages illegal seizures of abandoned buildings, and makes fools of people who work hard to acquire property the normal way: by purchase.
As is so often the case in matters of public policy, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Turning over East Village buildings to squatters was an ad hoc solution to a particular, protracted case that is part of a social problem that has plagued the Lower East Side for over 20 years.
In 1996, squatters were removed violently from buildings they had illegally occupied and some structures were bulldozed. People sneaked back into the premises and it became a nightly struggle to keep them out.
The buildings had been abandoned by their previous owners because they were impossible to maintain and operate at the rents that could be charged legally. No one who wanted decent housing would live there anyway. The squatters shared the buildings for a while with rats and other unwelcome guests. The situation simmered for years.
On principle, city buildings should not be sold for $1. But if they are sold, they should go at auction so that all will have the opportunity to bid for them, not just the insiders who have broken the law by occupying apartments to which they have no valid claim.
Many of those who squatted in the East Village were not former tenants, but newcomers. They are squatters of opportunity.
This solution was viewed by Mayor Ed Koch and, later, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as a way to resolve an unusual, long-neglected situation in the East Village.
But giving away buildings in lower Manhattan to people who break into them and declare themselves owners should not be considered the new public policy of the city of New York.
Over the years, squatting, like graffiti, has been romanticized as an expression of popular will and an assault on the establishment. That may be true — but it is not the best way to allocate scarce housing among a large and deserving population.
Stern, a former city parks commissioner, is president of the nonprofit group New York Civic.