SINCE THE MID-1990s, unsheltered Brazilians, known as the sem teto,or roofless, have organized to seize abandoned buildings and transform them into rudimentary housing. São Paulo, the most populous city in the Americas, has become the symbolic epicenter of this housing struggle, if only for the cruel irony of having more vacant dwellings than unsheltered people. In its center, from which the well-to-do have long decamped,
Maria Martin, 38, is charged with larceny from a building, vandalizing property, and permitting abuse on an elder or disabled person, according to Rutland police. She allegedly lived with the elderly Rutland resident under the guise of being a caretaker. When the elderly woman returned home, the locks had been changed, and drug paraphernalia was found around the house.
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.