Aging Squatters Ready to "Buy In," But Can't Sell High

There's a sprawling but informative article in this week's Villager about the state of some former East Village squats that have been made into legal residences through an unprecedented deal with the city—a deal that some squatters are now calling raw. Long story short, the squatters were allowed to stay in the buildings after the city agreed to sell them for $1 each in 2002 to the nonprofit Urban Homesteading Assistance Board [UHAB], which promised to get them up to code within a year.

Six years later, some of the buildings are only now getting their formal conversion to co-op. Some squatters accuse UHAB of mismanaging the renovations by hiring incompetent, overpriced contractors, and one group is suing for outright ownership of their building. Worse, the city's deal prevents the squatters from selling their units for market value, leaving some, like 53-year-old Michael Shenker, squat-proud but cash-poor: "On the market, I think my place would bring $800,000. I’d be happy with half of that; that could relocate me adequately and safely in a place that is more affordable than New York — Florida or New Mexico or, God knows what, if I have to go to a retirement home." [Photo by "Fly," via Curbed. ]