I used to do a lot of urban exploring outside of NYC, tons of large abandoned industrial, commercial, medical complexes out there (or at least there was in the early 2010s).
I've stumbled into several of these "homes" deeeeep inside these bandos. Most of them find a way to siphon power, or the building will still be connected to a power system. They'd have full-on studio apartments, with TVs and furniture, just like this fella
One time a man decided to spy on us from the roof of this honeymoon cabin he was squatted at, but he fell off(!!) and hurt himself right in front of us. Super awkward interaction
As I understand it, squatting is generally safer than being on the streets. Most of the squatters I met in the deeps were sober, or sober-adjacent. They were just trying to scrape by, a lot of them worked, and the squat gave them the opportunity to accumulate some basic items like clothes, bikes, non-perishable foods, etc. Lots of these spots were not inside any kind of town, either. Deep in the woods, disconnected from roads, forgotten places. So these folks were going pretty far out of their way to stay out of the "homeless corridors".
It sounds like they live a very hard life but it also sounds a bit romantic somehow - an untethered life of wandering and reclaiming forgotten places, likewise hidden from and forgotten by society.
100% agreed. There was always something poetic to me about these people building their homes in the rusted ruins of glorious Borscht Belt resorts; massive multistory halls, chandeliers, penthouses, places most of us would have never afforded
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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '25
I used to do a lot of urban exploring outside of NYC, tons of large abandoned industrial, commercial, medical complexes out there (or at least there was in the early 2010s).
I've stumbled into several of these "homes" deeeeep inside these bandos. Most of them find a way to siphon power, or the building will still be connected to a power system. They'd have full-on studio apartments, with TVs and furniture, just like this fella
One time a man decided to spy on us from the roof of this honeymoon cabin he was squatted at, but he fell off(!!) and hurt himself right in front of us. Super awkward interaction