Brandon Weiss Calls Squatting Narrative a “Distraction” from True Housing Crisis

Brandon Weiss (’08), Professor of Law at American University, Washington College of Law, was quoted by both The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution discussing how exploiting the narrative on incidents of squatting deflects attention from the country’s affordable housing crisis. “Stories about the growing number of squatters is a sort of narrative, or rhetorical tool, being used to push back against tenants. Narratives like this will shift the balance of power even further towards landlords. . . . Nobody is advocating wildly reckless lawbreaking, but if you take these caricatured cases to enact law reform, that can affect people in ways that the law probably didn’t intend.” (“Squatters Have Become a Right-Wing Talking Point. What to Know about the Rare Practice.” WaPo, Apr. 3).
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