Editing Squatting (section)

=== South and East Asia ===
{{further|Squatting in Asia}}
Squatters in Malaysia live on both privately owned and government-owned land.<ref name="Menon">{{cite news |last1=Menon |first1=Priya |title=Pasar Sentul squatters face an uncertain future |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/08/12/pasar-sentul-squatters-face-an-uncertain-future |access-date=13 May 2019 |work=The Star |date=12 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513175742/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/08/12/pasar-sentul-squatters-face-an-uncertain-future/ |archive-date=13 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some squatters have lived on land owned by national electricity company [[Tenaga Nasional]] for over five decades.<ref name="Menon2">{{cite news |last1=Menon |first1=Priya |title=Sentul squatters want to escape urban squalor |url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/07/15/sentul-squatters-want-to-escape-urban-squalor/ |access-date=13 May 2019 |work=The Star |date=15 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513175723/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/07/15/sentul-squatters-want-to-escape-urban-squalor/ |archive-date=13 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Squatters in Indonesia live on both privately owned and government-owned land. For example, the former {{ill|Kalisosok Prison|id|Penjara Kalisosok}} in [[Surabaya]] has been squatted since 2000s after being used as a prison for over 100 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=''Begini Rasanya Ngekos di Bekas Sel Penjara Paling Mengerikan di Surabaya''|url=https://www.vice.com/id/article/begini-rasanya-ngekos-di-bekas-sel-penjara-paling-mengerikan-surabaya/|work=Vice Indonesia|language=id|date=25 March 2019|access-date=1 September 2020|archive-date=7 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907102139/https://www.vice.com/amp/id_id/article/yw89nj/begini-rasanya-ngekos-di-bekas-sel-penjara-paling-mengerikan-surabaya|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Squatting in Thailand|Thailand]], although evictions have reduced their visibility or numbers in urban areas, many squatters still occupy land near railroad tracks, under overpasses, and waterways.  Commercial squatting is common in Thailand, where businesses temporarily seize nearby public real estate (such as sidewalks, roadsides, beaches, etc.) and roll out their enterprise, and at closing time they fold it in and lock it up, thus avoiding the extra cost of having to rent more property.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yasmeen |first1=Gisèle |last2=Narumol |first2=Nirathron |title=Vending in Public Space: The Case of Bangkok |journal=WIEGO Policy Brief |date=2014 |issue=16 |pages=13–15 |url=http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Yasmeen-Vending-Public-Space-Bangkok-WIEGO-PB16.pdf |access-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420143528/http://www.wiego.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/Yasmeen-Vending-Public-Space-Bangkok-WIEGO-PB16.pdf |archive-date=20 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the early 2000s, the government estimated that 37% of the population lived in low-income urban communities, over half of which were squatting public land or renting precariously. The National Housing Authority stated over 100,000 families were living under threat of immediate eviction.<ref name="Empowering" />{{rp|26}}

In China, [[informal settlements]] are known as [[Urban village (China)|urban villages]].<ref name="Chinese Urban">{{cite book|last1=Liu|first1=Yuting|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230299122_10|title=Marginalization in Urban China: Comparative Perspectives|last2=He|first2=Shenjing|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|year=2010|isbn=978-0-230-29912-2|pages=177–200|chapter=Chinese Urban Villages as Marginalized Neighbourhoods under Rapid Urbanization|doi=10.1057/9780230299122_10|access-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003030407/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230299122_10|archive-date=3 October 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Squatter settlements occurred in [[Hong Kong]] in 1946, after its wartime occupation by Japan.<ref name="Madokoro37">{{cite book|last=Madokoro|first=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|title=Elusive Refuge|year=2016|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=978-0-674-97385-5|page=37|access-date=2020-12-25|archive-date=2023-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205114627/https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> After 700,000 people migrated from [[mainland China]] to [[Hong Kong]] between 1949 and 1950; the squatter population was estimated at 300,000, with people sleeping wherever they could find a space.<ref name="Madokoro37" />  A [[Shek Kip Mei fire|fire at Shek Kip Mei]] in December 1953 resulted in over 50,000 slum-dwellers being left homeless.<ref name="Madokoro48">{{cite book|last1=Madokoro|first1=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|title=Elusive Refuge|year=2016|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-97385-5|page=48|access-date=2020-12-25|archive-date=2023-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205114627/https://books.google.com/books?id=xYsrDQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Rooftop slum]]s then developed, when people began to live illegally on the roofs of urban buildings.<ref name="Shadbolt">{{cite news|last=Shadbolt|first=Peter|date=2 November 2011|title=Slums with penthouse views highlight Hong Kong's wealth divide|publisher=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/hongkong-rooftop-slums/|access-date=21 December 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105075758/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/hongkong-rooftop-slums/|archive-date=2013-11-05}}</ref> In addition, the [[Kowloon Walled City]] became an area for squatters, [[Housing in Hong Kong|housing]] up to 50,000 people in Hong Kong.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-03-18|title=Life Inside The Most Densely Populated Place On Earth [Infographic]|url=https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-04/life-inside-most-densely-populated-place-earth-infographic/|access-date=2021-05-24|website=Popular Science|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907003630/http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-04/life-inside-most-densely-populated-place-earth-infographic|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Street dwellers in Mumbai.jpeg|thumb|right|Street dwellers in Mumbai]]
In [[Mumbai]], India, there are an estimated 10 to 12 million inhabitants, and six million of them are [[Illegal housing in India|squatters]]. The squatters live in a variety of ways. Some possess two- or three-story homes built out of brick and concrete which they have inhabited for years. Geeta Nagar is a squatter village based beside the [[Indian Navy]] compound at [[Colaba]]. Squatter Colony in [[Malad]] East has existed since 1962, and now, people living there pay a rent to the city council of 100 rupees a month. [[Dharavi]] is a community of one million squatters. The stores and factories situated there are mainly illegal and so are unregulated, but it is suggested that they do over $1 million in business every day.<ref>Neuwirth, R (2004) ''Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World'', pp. 110–114. Routledge {{ISBN|0-415-93319-6}}</ref> Other squatters are [[pavement dwellers]], with very few possessions. Activists such as [[Jockin Arputham]], [[Prema Gopalan]] and [[Sheela Patel]] are working for better living conditions for slum dwellers, through organisations such as [[Mahila Milan]] and [[Slum Dwellers International]].<ref name="IIED">{{cite journal |last1=Patel |first1=Sheela |last2=Mitlin |first2=Diana |title=The work of SPARC, the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan |journal=Working Paper Series on Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas |date=2001 |volume=5 |url=https://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/9074IIED.pdf |access-date=7 November 2020 |archive-date=11 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411103717/http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/9074IIED.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In the [[2016 Mathura clash]], members of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi (Free India Legal Ideas Revolutionary Protesters) who had been living in Mathura's largest public park Jawahar Bagh for two years were evicted in a large police operation. At least 24 squatters were killed.<ref name="BBC_Mathura">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36441938 |title=India squatters: At least 24 killed in Mathura eviction drive |publisher=BBC News |date=3 June 2016 |access-date=27 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727131707/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36441938 |archive-date=27 July 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

After World War II many people were left homeless in the [[Squatting in the Philippines|Philippines]] and they built makeshift houses called "barong-barong" on abandoned private land.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Manila#ref360828|title=Manila|newspaper=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2017-01-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118211348/https://www.britannica.com/place/Manila#ref360828|archive-date=2017-01-18|url-status=live}}</ref> The first mass eviction on record in [[Manila]] was 1951 and the largest was in late 1963 and early 1964 when 90,000 people were displaced.<ref name="Hardoy" />{{rp|43}} By 1978, there were estimated to be two million squatters in Manila, occupying 415 different locations.<ref name="Hardoy" />{{rp|77}} The number of squatters grew during the early 1980s, and attempts to relocate squatters to low-cost housing projects were made by the national government. The sites were not received well, as it moved people far away from their employment and social networks.<ref name="Hardoy" />{{rp|45}} Projects included the redevelopment of the former [[Smokey Mountain]] [[landfill]] in [[Tondo, Manila|Tondo]], the BLISS housing project in [[Taguig]], and the establishment of [[Bagong Silang|Barangay Bagong Silang]] as a resettlement area for slum dwellers residing in Manila. Philippine law distinguishes between squatters who squat because of poverty and those who squat in hopes of getting a payment to leave the property.<ref>{{cite act |title=Republic Act No. 7279 – An Act to Provide for a Comprehensive and Continuing Urban Development and Housing Program, Establish the Mechanism for its Implementation, and for Other Purposes |publisher=Chan Robles Law Library |type=Republic Act |number=7279 |article=I |date=March 24, 1992 |url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |accessdate=March 2, 2016 |archive-date=November 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109053552/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |url-status=live }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |title=Republic Act No. 7279 &#124; Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |work=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |access-date=September 7, 2020 |archive-date=November 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109053552/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/03/24/republic-act-no-7279/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> In 1982, [[Imelda Marcos]] referred to the latter group as "professional squatters [...] plain land-grabbers taking advantage of the compassionate society".<ref name="Hardoy" />{{rp|46}} Philippines-based media and journalists refer to squatters as "informal settlers".<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=September 6, 2014 |title=From 'Squatters' Into 'Informal Settlers' |url=http://philrights.org/from-squatters-into-informal-settlers/ |website=Philippine Human Rights Information Center |location=[[Pinyahan]], [[Quezon City]] |access-date=March 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123154139/http://philrights.org/from-squatters-into-informal-settlers/ |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Shahani |first=Lila Ramos |date=April 10, 2012 |title=Manila's biggest challenge |url=http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/3305-manila-s-biggest-challenge |website=[[Rappler]] |department=Views |location=Oranbo, Pasig |access-date=March 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301044054/http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/3305-manila-s-biggest-challenge |archive-date=March 1, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Community Mortgage Program]] was set up in 1992, aiming to help low-income families transition from squatting to [[affordable housing]]. By 2001, around 106,000 families had found secure housing in over 800 separate communities.<ref name="Empowering">{{cite book |last1=Mitlin |first1=Diana |last2=Satterthwaite |first2=David |title=Empowering squatter citizen: Local government, civil society, and urban poverty reduction |date=2004 |publisher=Earthscan |location=London |isbn=978-1-84407-101-2}}</ref>{{rp|54}}