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Socialist Paradise: Homeless Frenchmen Squat In Vacant Office Buildings While City Hall Enacts "Eminent Domain"
it appears the memo about the glorious housing recovery has bypassed the socialist paradise of France. Either that, or the concept of shared property is so advanced there, and the costs of evicting squatters so high, that all a homeless Parisian needs in order to have four walls and a roof above their heads is to find an empty office building and claim it as their own. Which is precisely what is happening. And while squatting is not a unique phenomenon to any paradise, socialist or otherwise, when a group of 16 Parisian families decided to take over a vacant 4-story building, have decided to put a little signature touch: they telegraphed their presence far and wide by placing repeated food orders so the neighbors could see the "comings-and-goings" of the delivery man (supposedly justifying their squatting), but actually went so far as to invite the French housing minister. And got her support! Socialist utopia indeed.
From Reuters:
The occupiers staked their claim to the building with pizza.
When the first of 16 families entered a vacant four-storey office block in Paris one night last December, they placed repeated food orders so the neighbors could see from the comings-and-goings of delivery men that the address was occupied. Under French law, witness accounts of residency make eviction harder.
But it was their next act that really had the building's owner shaking his head in disbelief.
"What amazed me was when they invited in the housing minister a few days later," said Spanish property developer Ignacio Lasa Georgas, who has temporarily lost control of his 7- million-euro ($9 million) office block between the Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est railway stations.
"And over she came to give them her support."
So the lesson to all real-estate wannabe developers in France: invest millions in commercial real estate, lose your tenants due to the worst European recession in, well, ever, and then lose your investment because tenants proclaim "squatters' rights" because they ordered pizza, and got the blessing of the head commune organizer that the greater good is more important than the individual.
Alas, we may have misspoken when describing France as an utopia. Shocking, it appears the entire economy and its housing market is imploding.
The squat at Number 2 rue de Valenciennes is both a political battleground and a symbol of France's dysfunctional housing market. Activists helped the families move in to draw attention to how Europe's second biggest economy, which prides itself on its welfare system, is struggling to provide basic shelter for many of its 65 million citizens. The problem is not unique to France, but the reasons for it are both aggravated by, and feed into, the country's wider economic woes.
House prices started to rise in 2000. Spurred by a growing population and fragmenting households as well as cheap credit, the average house price in France has defied recession, increasing more from the turn of the century than in countries such as Britain and the United States. Government data show the cost of a home in France has outrun rises in household incomes by 70 percent; houses are now at their costliest compared to disposable incomes since the 1930s.
The housing shortage is further fueled by long-standing policies to protect tenants that discourage many owners from putting properties up for rent. Housing experts say as many as 7 percent of all apartments in Paris are vacant.
The red tape that clogs up bids for planning permission, as well as a steadily growing list of regulations on everything from safety to parking spaces, has also discouraged new building. Strict rules on building figure prominently in the total 400,000 regulations in France's law books. In Le Mans, a city famed for its motor races, plans for a new school have hit trouble because authorities are insisting it be earthquake-proofed - despite a government report stating there has never been any evidence of seismic activity in the region.
The shortage is plain on the streets of the capital. An early morning walk reveals huddles of cardboard and blankets in doorways, the makeshift abodes of some of the 33,000 people estimated by housing charity Abbe Pierre Foundation to be living rough in France - a figure that rises to 274,000 including those in shelters, short-term bedsits and improvised homes on campsites or the like.
That is nearly half the 633,782 people officially recorded as homeless on a single night last year in the United States, a country whose population is almost five times that of France. Exact comparisons are difficult because the countries use different methods, but both measures include people who are living rough or in temporary shelters.
In fact, maybe "socialist hell" is a better description:
Add to the homeless those living in acute overcrowding or moving from sofa to sofa, and Abbe Pierre, the charity, estimates a total of 3.6 million people in the country lack decent housing. The group puts the shortfall of affordable housing at more than 800,000.
As the problem grows, it is magnified. The families who occupied the offices at rue de Valenciennes are registered as priority cases for social housing, but their requests have gone unanswered for years.
The housing minister who visited them in January said squatting in office blocks is no solution to the crisis. Such occupations, said Cecile Duflot, are "never very legal."
Under French law, squatting is a civil offence and evictions not simple. In France, no one can be evicted in winter. Data on squatting is hard to find, but the latest estimates suggest it has risen sharply in Paris - helped by increasingly organized activists - to around 20,000 squatters from about 3,000 in 2002, said Hans Pruijt of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, who has studied the practice across Europe.
The aim of Duflot's visit "was to show I understand," the Green party MP told Reuters in her office across the River Seine from the squat. "My compassion is for the woman who before that was trying to raise her children in nine square meters of space."
Yup: we get it too: it's compassion, but more importantly it's a "fairness" issue. We also get that in a world that is insolvent there will be much more "unfairness" (and much worse). But with lunatics running around deluded that somehow everything can be made good for everyone, one thing is certain - it is only going to get much worse.
And going back to the unlucky Spanish investor in the office building, he may have gotten the most "unfair" treatment:
At rue de Valenciennes, owner Lasa Georgas is paying to keep power and water running, for what he called "humanitarian reasons". The building was heated through the winter and some apartments even have air-conditioning.
But the block was not made for families, and it shows. A waist-high counter cuts the main room of the Lacombe's residence in two. They get from one side of the room to the other by using a corridor outside.
The building has plenty of toilets and hand basins, but just one main kitchen and three showers. On the ground floor, children attend an improvised homework club supervised by a member of Droit au Logement (DAL, or Right to Housing), one of the movements that initiated the occupation.
Despite his legal claim, Lasa Georgas is unsure when he will have access to the place, if ever. Hollande's Socialist allies at Paris City Hall announced in April they would make an offer on the building, with a view to buying it to convert into social housing.
In France, local authorities have a pre-emption right to bid for buildings for the wider public good. This does not mean they can force a sale, but it obliges owners to either enter negotiations or challenge them in court, which can take years.
Jean-Yves Mano, the Paris deputy mayor in charge of housing, said City Hall made a "symbolic" gesture to buy the building. He declined to say how much it had offered, but called the price a "significant mark-down" on the market value which a government agency had put at 7 million euros.
He says City Hall uses its pre-emption right on up to 30 buildings a year and has no qualms about bidding low. "After all, we are responsible for looking after the money of the people of Paris," he told Reuters at his office.
Lasa Georgas said the city's offer was 4.3 million euros, which he rejected. He is angry. "I invested in France back in 2005 because at that point Spanish property prices were already sky-high and I thought French law would give me protection. But the authorities seem to have a clear aim of taking away my building." A hearing on the case in early May was postponed on procedural grounds.
And this is how the dreams of a global socialist paradise end: enforced eminent domain "offers" (which can't be declined), handed over to all those who "unfairly" profited from the system, and whose turn it is now to give back... or else.
Because it's only fair.
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stupid french
Never let it be said that they don't know squat though.
Ca plan pour moi, moi, moi
Not looking too green for a POMO Tuesday.
They tried to do that in Detroit too but they fucked it up because they waited for the free chicken giveaway at Popeyes and Popeyes ran out of chicken...
You know she ate a pizza, dancin to the beat.
Nice!... But can you do the dance moves while you sing that?
~~~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKCHvpYq_8
Oh my....
Given historical trend, can't we just send a few Germans over to resolve the problem. I'm sure a white flag will appear soon thereafter.
This kind of silly jokes stinks like a stale hate
Les Francais sont completement fous.
Shummer must be a dual politician there
Suck duck assface!
This just in socialist program Obamacare actually more expensive and less choice... who woulda thunk it? http://tinyurl.com/ljzzdgn
Don't worry, if you cannot afford the increased rates, the government will give you subsidies.
!!!. Lot's more empty office buildings coming soon.
AnAnonymystic squatters don't stick around, but instead quickly leave the scene.
stupid french
That's an oxymoron.
you mean like USA, USA...land of the free?
Behind NSA we stand one nation under God.
Actually, I think stupid French is a double-negative, not an oxymoron
you mean like USA, USA...land of the free?
I mean like "delusional Americans"...
Not oxymoron, redundant.
True, it's a pleonasm.
My bad...
as long as its not a nazti stasi metaphor, you are forgiven.
Yeah... It was kind of a French error. :P
Still not correct. It's a tautology.
The serious riots in Europe will start in France, it will be the catalyst. France is toast.
stupid spaniard
I mean, only invest in French things that you can carry with you. Who doesn't know this!?
In the US people are sleeping in hospital hallways and restrooms.
But some of them are dead.
Isn't BombyCare wonderful???
3 can keep a secret, but only if 2 are dead.
Really the secret is only kept if the three of them die.
Quite a few tall buildings in lower manhattan need to be squatted on/in.
There is a really good one that keeps the lights on when all the other lights go out.
33 Liberty?
As long as there is cable...
time to squat in the Louvre and claim the Giocconda is part of your decoration.
100 years ago the article would have read "Headless Frenchmen".
I think you will find the French revolution started in 1789, looks like Yank appreciation of history has a lot in common with their knowledge of geography.
What do they actually teach in US schools? Flag worship! Gook killing?
My eyes saw Homeless Frenchman but my brain saw Hedgeless_Horseman - weird
the french commune resurrected. With the blessings of the minister. No charge by the national guards this time!
Marx should be smiling. A capitalist building goes socialist.
This is not good for Hollande who wants to sell french real estate to the plutocrats; to promote Paris vs London as uber capital.
Oh the contradictions of being an ass sitting between two stools.
All hell is going to break loose if a horse drawn carriage speeds down the rue and runs over a child.
in which case PAris, London, NY, DC will begin to look like Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul.
Thats globalisation for you, a race to the bottom; except in Caymans!
Supposedly there is a small pyramid cap of solid gold at the top of the Washington Monument... I was going to say, somebody could probably go snatch it if things got bad... Only trouble is, it's probably already been rehypothecated...
I think Dan Brown has an option on it.
That's good because he owes me money...
Aluminum.
Be our guest. Be our guest. Put our squat rights to the test...
The greatest squatters of all times are governments who have squatted all over our lives through taxation, spying, counterfeit money......etc
I'm sure the owner of the property is fine, he should be happy because unlike gold, his asset is income producing, or so they tell me.
Touche'
Shit, we'll all be squatting when this shit hits!!! 87% CHANCE OF COLLAPSE BY YEARS END
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/doomsday-poll-87-risk-of-stock-crash-by-year-end-2013-06-05?link=kiosk
I LIKE DEM ODDS!
87%... not 90, not 85 but 87%. That there is sum gud predictions.
I thought French law would give me protection. But the authorities seem to have a clear aim of taking away my building.
That was his mistake -- thinking that the law protects the citizen in a dispute with the government.
Who runs the courts? Case closed.
Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RijB8wnJCN0 (3:26)
2 years ago, our great housing minister Cécile Duflot said on tv that japan is in the southern hemisphere...
As you say, no brain, no pain
LOL. It's an upside down world after all these days so the Minister may have been right.
Seriously though, did you expect anything better. Hollande is a clown without the need for make up.
Talking bout stupid, still remember that other head of state who held his finger over the red button of nuclear doom, whilst telling us the internet was a set of tubes....
Wait till the mega super majority of Mexicans in East LA figure out they don't have to pay either
"Yuck yuck yuck. That boy is so dumb he thinks the Mexican border pays rent."
-Foghorn Leghorn
A lot of politicians on the Left, both in France and the UK, were pretty hard left Marxist campaigners in their younger days. Makes you wonder if they moderated their views or simply hid them under a centrist blanket so as not to scare the horses.
"Property is theft" used to be the battle cry....
They still believe it. That's why they've liberated the Chateau Lafite Rothschild from the rich for their very own personal distribution.
A house without a person for a person without a house.
What famous phrase does that remind me of? I suspect francis_sawyer knows.
A king without a sword... A land without a king is from 'Excaliubur' [I don't think that's what you're referring to, but it's the only jingle that trips in my head]...
~~~
Anyway ~ I spend my weekends refurbishing my future 'getaway' home underneath the interstate... I'm seeing how many crops I can get to grow like chia pets on concrete...
"If a boy can own a dog, a dog can own a boy." - judge's ruling on episode of Peabody and Sherman.
Set the wayback machine to the French Revolution.
Oh the humanity! People in need of a roof took over a vacant building! The end is near! Why can't they do as in the US where they send heavily armored police force to make sure all those vacant buildings stay vacant for their rich bank owners to park some cash and speculate.
except in Philly.
In Philly, a 'Rochefoucauld' will get you 50 bucks... Righteous Bucks!
Do you have an unused bedroom? No? Well, the government just decided you should divide your living room up to make one so this Nicaraguan family can move in. Because you have more than the 279 square feet your socialist betters feel you need based on your current rank in The Party. Don't you agree, Comrade? After all, property is theft!
What part of "vacant building" you didn't understand?
"In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread."
Anatole France
Hey, it is a socialist country, get yours wether you earn it or not.
Socialism is bad enough but when it is mixed with stupidity it really takes on a new life.
Socialism is always mixed with stupidity!
You can't have one without the other. I mean...take a look at France!
Beat me to it.
Which one is the worst? Socialism or Capitalism?
Under Capitalism, man exploits man. Under Socialism, it's the other way around.
squatters? They were employees. Just the laws never allowed them to be fired.
Wait until the "tenants" start renting rooms.
That poor guy is going to wish he invested in Costa del Sol.
Plenty of vacant houses in Detroit for those American socialists not supported well enough from welfare. Come on over, no limits.
In Detroit, back in 2008, you could have bought the whole fucking Pontiac Silverdome [which hosted a SuperBowl] for $450,000...
Whats it worth now Francis ? Thirty five bucks?
!!! 39.50$ with sales tax.
Les Miserables. Life imitates art.
I'm sure French socialists will have the solution to this housing crises: .......MORE SOCIALISM.
You know it makes sense ...and it will make France much fairer.
And in US, the FED buys MBS worth $0.20 on the dollar at face value, they hire an army of contractors with 6 figure salaries and call them PRIVATE sector employees, declare some as above the law because they're too important and US elites get middle class defuses all green with envy when 400 lbs obese and unemployable people end up collecting $900/month disability or incensed when god forbid if they use their cash welfare benefits via their ATM enabled SNAP cards to buy a pack of smokes.
It's happening here also. In my old hood (thank God I sold in time!!) two of the long-empty houses now have 'secret' squatters living there. No "For Sale" signs, unmowed lawns and a broken fence ....that's all the evidence you see. My guess is they take their dumps in the backyard (since there are no utilities) and/or use the local library or WalMart. Who knows. Neighbors do say there are lots of pizza and Chinese deliveries there.
Another Hallmark of the "Recovery."....or as some write about it, "Suburbs to Slums."
Can you imagine how people feel who bought thinking the housing recovery is here?
Isn't this what Les Miserables is about?
i was in France last year. the waiter gave me one ice cube for my warm bottle of Coke. i slid the glass with the one cube back across the counter towards the waiter & asked very nicely, "please, may i have more ice?" he slid the glass back my way & said, "No!" now, ice is just frozen water. WHO! would say no to more ice for an old lady ? I tell you who would do that ..... the snooty French, that's who. sorry, but, when u can't be bothered to give someone a little more ice for a gdamn warm bottle of Coke, you got real problems in your country. it's just ice, people, it's just ice !
In a French restaurant in the Loire a few years ago I ordered a long drink (Pernod and Lemonade) before my meal. I enjoyed it so much that I asked the waiter (also the owner) for another one.
He refused, saying "only wine now". Such is their dislike of English speaking Brits and Americans.
Can you believe it...
This makes no sense
I think it was only a misunderstanding
How does the song go?
Your cash is MY cash,
My debt is YOUR debt...
Socialist Paradise? Coolio did an awesome song about those in the U.S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGbzYlnz7c
Its very dangerous to disturb someone's delusionary state. Sort of like letting a sleeping dog lie. The French have been living the "dream" for years if not generations. They are only now discovering it is actually a nightmare.
http://news.yahoo.com/more-americans-quit-jobs-sign-161601499.html
Strange.
"More Americans Commit Suicide; A Sign of Confidence in God"
(ummm ummm ummm my balls are painfully contracting up into my torso)
The correct action would be to sign a long term lease with a corporate tenant. The tenant could negotiate perks such as having all expenses and ulilities paid by the landlord.
This contract could be enforced by the tenant to get posession to run his business, the local government would have to step back and let the business run and hire local labor. If the local government objects they are causing "unemployment" if they move to seize the building they would still be subject to the lease and would be at a huge money loosing disadvantage. The tenant has the right to posession and all expenses covered. This is how poor tenants stay in rent controlled New York.
This would protect the owner politically.
There is always a solution, people make excuses and compalin too much. Do you know how silly the squatters would feel with an operating business in thier midst. They are squatting because its vacant. Having a operating business with a lease would make thier position much different.
Solving problems is what successful people do. I would lease the building, put my business name in front and a large now hiring sign suspended from a large baloon. This changes things from charity to disruption of other people getting jobs.
French law protects squatters, but you are not telling me that a squatter can take posession where a lease holder cannot. This would be insanity. I would schedule the building for "fumigation" It has a roach problem.
If need be the business can be a security firm training attack dogs in an indoor course. There are always ways....
The taxpayer is paying or subsiding every JPM Citi BofA office /building in USSA.
WTF you're on about, with your obsession with "socialist utopia"?
It's called usucapion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usucaption) and is as old as ancient Rome, which, btw, I've never heard being called socialist (nor utopia, for that matter)...
Not every country is under common law, you know (in fact, most aren't)... and doesn't everyone and their dog, here, claim possession is 90% of law? Guess what, you're right...
Again, i lived in france for 26 years... french dont reproduce, there are unoficially like 20 to 25 millions of black or arab muslims there and growing, with 400 000 -a small city- coming every single year, and they outbreeding the whiteys by tenfold, 70 % of new births being of black or arab origin... You do the maths. Most journalists, politics and industrials are faking numbers and working hand in hand to completely erase the native population.
Socialist depsise the people and want to replace them with third worlders, while staying at the top of the pyramid, funny when you know they were hippies in the 60s. After decades of brainwashing whiteys with bullshit multiculturalism, the result is that white people have been replaced to a point of no return.
And no, im not bullshiting you, im telling it like it is. Just like everywhere, so called official statistics are complete scam. If you look to official numbers, the immigrant population numbers didnt move in ten years. Complete garbage. France is quickly becoming the cesspool of europe, joining spain, italy and greece.