Former city council member David Oh, who is now running for Philadelphia mayor, was behind the original ordinance in 2018. But within months of its passage, another council member introduced a similar bill that"basically gutted all the protections to homeowners and actually created loopholes that anyone could claim," Oh said.
The replacement law, passed later that year, sought to balance"penalties for criminals and protections for victims and rightful dwellers,"It reduced the fines and jail time that could be levied against squatters, allowed more time for alleged squatters to leave if they claimed they'd fallen for a and protected alleged squatters from being removed if they claimed to have been a victim of domestic violence or sexual harassment by the owner of the property or someone else who recently lived at the property."The opposition to [my] bill was, 'People in other people's homes is a way to address homelessness,'" he said.relationship with the alleged squatter.
"I'm one of these people that live in these neighborhoods," she said."I have to deal with squatters and people you're locking out, and they don't care about the neighborhood." She added,"I don't think the citizens know what they're getting into when they're voting for our public officials … certain people are out for our best interests and a lot of them are not."Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox
Another progressive success story. 📚