The first news accounts of squatters in New York City were published in the 1850s, as impoverished German and Irish immigrants surged into the city. Charles Loring Brace wrote about them for The New York Times, describing the rough cabins they lived in and the rough living many eked out, by picking through the streets to collect and sell anything of value.
The building, once an elite members' club frequented by celebrities, has devolved into a derelict squat, attracting antisocial behavior and neglect.
The suspect clearly made it his own property. He was clearly using amenities inside the residence, sleeping there, explained Juan Madiedo, an officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department.
"I couldn't believe it. It was like a nightmare," Velazquez told ABC Chicago. The sheer disbelief of a homeowner being confronted by squatters defines the dread of property ownership.
"This is a building of the people," the squatter Dominique, who had worked construction, told me, referring to its history as a public health agency and its suitability for heavy use. Hard floors swept clean. Banks of cabinets, their material a blond composite, lined the halls, which at rhythms of their own let onto rooms that had been government workers' offices."
