If we could ever get true democracy, the world would truly be an awesome place.

I can’t agree entirely with Chrystal Ocean however, about squatter’s rights. It’s not so black and white. It too should be a consultative process. Maybe the land owner is ok with it, maybe not.

In my case I have had land for decades apparently ’standing vacant’ but in fact parts of it is regenerating native vegetation which takes a long time by human standards. I wouldn’t be too happy if someone starting living on my land just because it seemed like I wasn’t using it for anything without consulting me first.

As someone who qualifies by the above criteria, I’ve been hammering away on my blog about this issue for years. No one wants to listen, least of all officials of local governments. Their by-laws effectively support NIMBYism, effectively entrench the notion that residents already housed, i.e. property owners, have the right to exclude anyone else who is not housed; i.e., non-property owners.

If a lot or other land has stood vacant for years, then squatting by street people should be a legal right, tent cities should NOT be bulldozed and serviced parking areas (for the wheeled homeless in vehicles of all kinds) should be standard in all communities.

Squatters should be acknowledged to have as much right to life as anyone else, thus the right to the means to sustain that life.

Re Dignity Village… a link to it has been on my blog’s Favourite Links & Resources section from its creation. If only more communities would pay attention, see that solutions such as Dignity Village WORK. They work because they come from the target population itself, from the people who know better than anyone else what their needs are, from people who want to provide FOR THEMSELVES, not to be forever the targets of the well-intentioned but hopelessly misguided.