Word: squatters
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When police demolished the illegal refugee squatter camp known as "the Jungle" in northern France in September, the French intended to make a statement - that European governments were finally getting serious about stemming the constant tide of asylum seekers who have fled war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan for the continent. A month later, French and British officials have begun to forcibly deport some of the tens of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan refugees whose epic journeys have ended in detention camps in Europe - making good on a threat they have voiced for months...
...driving this morning to try to sell an apartment, with her husband along as protection. He's been accompanying her into potentially shady situations ever since she entered a for-sale house with a key only to be greeted by a squatter with a gun who fired a warning shot...
...were supposed to be part of a revitalization of the downtown area. Apartments in Newport Lofts - Boemio's client, an out-of-town investor, paid $600,000 for one - are now listed for as little as $179,000. And this particular apartment isn't exactly in great shape. A squatter slipped past the doorman and, even more impressively, got a locksmith in to switch the lock and give her keys...
...squatter left behind no bed, but she did leave stained bath mats, towels, flip-flops, Chinese-takeout remnants, Sun-kist soda cans, prescription medicine, old mail and some used airline tickets to Miami. Boemio casually walks around all of it, occasionally laughing. The buyer's agent - a woman in a Gucci scarf and sunglasses - is a little more freaked out, trying to figure out how much this mess will cost to clean up. Which is strange, since she's offering $250,000 on behalf of her overseas client - $70,000 more than the asking price. There are no other buyers...
...hardest-hit areas. The houses look nice enough, but every third one has a for-sale sign, and there are almost no cars in any of the driveways. She picks a house at random, and we go to the back. She figures the odds are high that a squatter has left a door or window open. Indeed, the bathroom window has already been pried open, and the screen is bent, so I bend it a little more and squeeze myself through onto the toilet seat and then open the porch doors and let Boemio and her husband in. There...