squatting

Establishing residence without owner permission is not only common in circumstances of mass poverty (view top video), but as well in affluent societies experiencing housing crisis. As discussed in this recent In These Times article by Rebecca Burns, squatter organizations, such as Chicago's Liberate the Southside, have developed in the U.S., the U.K., and various European nations to both facilitate the redistribution of unoccupied housing to the poor, while dealing with the problem of abandoned and neglected property in the city (view bottom video). In light of preventing urban blight and thereby maintaining property values, Herbert Gan's discussion on the economic functionality of the poor should be amended in his classic piece, The Uses of Poverty.

The Interrupters

The Interrupters, now accessible for online viewing as part of the PBS Frontline series, examines attempts by former gang leaders to stop youth violence in inner-city Chicago.  Additional information on making the documentary and the intervention process itself is available through NPR interviews with directors and an interrupter featured in film.