Back in the 1990s when Easton Douglas was Minister of Housing, he promised an anti-squatting plan that would address 650,000 squatters island-wide.

Operation Pride, which was designed to address the problem, put a dent in this growing social menace.  But from all indications, squatting has gained momentum and is now moving like a runaway train across the country.

In general, squatters fall into two broad categories.  There are those who, desperate for somewhere to live, take the chance of occupying any empty land they see.  The other category is comprised of persons who are professional squatters.  These are persons who go from community to community, parish to parish, occupying mainly government land, usually prime land, with the hope and expectation that government would regularise their occupation of these lands by providing utilities like light and water and infrastructure, including roads and curb walls.

Criminals
These communities usually need criminals to protect them from members of adjoining communities that might oppose their presence.  They also need criminals to protect them from political opponents, and in some instances, to protect them from the owners of the lands on which they are trespassing. 

A squatter community is usually a safe haven for criminals.  The irregular development comprising initially of blue tarpaulins, zinc fences, winding tracks, lack of streetlights, lack of roads, lack of street names and absence of addresses and, indeed, proper names for occupants, all create a mixture of impossibilities and nightmare for policing.

The police cannot patrol these communities with motor vehicles or even with motorbikes.  They are therefore required to enter on foot and to do that at nights, bearing in mind there are no streetlights, is often akin to a suicidal mission.

Over the years, squatter communities have chalked up impressive records as breeding grounds for dons, extortionists, prostitution rings and drug peddlers.  Guns are stored in these communities and intelligence reports indicate that they are used as dispatch points for criminal gangs to neighbouring communities, where they carry out extortion activities, demand protection money, commit robberies, shootings, rapes and murders.  It is all but impossible to trace and monitor members of these criminal gangs in the squatter communities. 

There is also a culture of silence either out of fear or because some of the members of these communities are beneficiaries of the proceeds of crimes.

Politicians
It is a well-known fact that in Jamaica, some of the squatters consciously squat on the best lands in the area, and this is done with the sole intention of acquiring expensive lands.

Mammee Bay in the Ocho Rios area, where squatters are perched on lands with beautiful ocean view, is one of several examples.  These are lands which in any country where the authorities are serious about development, would never have been surrendered to squatters.

It is felt in some quarters that politicians on both sides of the fence encourage squatting as a means of bolstering their electoral support, and in some instances, guaranteeing the start of a garrison comprised of a block of voters who will always vote uniformly for them.

Squatter communities are the ones primarily responsible for deforestation and soil erosion in the Ocho Rios area.  These activities contribute to flooding even if the rainfall is not significantly heavy.  

The April rains which flooded Ocho Rios and closed the town, lasted no more than five hours, but within that time the town was covered with boulders, soil and debris washed down from the hills of Ocho Rios, which have been deforested by squatters. 

The improper disposal of human waste also leads to contamination of the water sources, including streams, rivers and drains.

 Social cost
 There is also a serious social cost imposed by these squatter communities, such as the illegal use of water and electricity.

Currently, squatters on the Steer Town/Windsor property are less than 300 metres from Protocol House, the Prime Ministers retreat at Roaring River, St. Ann.  These squatters are located on hills from where they can disturb the quiet of Protocol House with loud music or with more dangerous means, such as shooting.  In such eventuality, the property would likely cease being used for the purpose it was intended.  That would spell out just how badly the society has failed to deal with squatting in its midst.

Observers in St. Ann and its environs believe that the government should do the following:  establish a register in which all squatters are required to be listed.  The onus should be on them to do the registration.  Assess squatter settlements, following which, one of three decisions should be made.  These are:
(a) Development and formalisation of the squatter community.
(b) Relocation of the squatters.    
(c) Eviction, especially for those who (i) have alternative accommodation; (ii) are multiple squatters, i.e. those who squat on several pieces of land; (iii) where it is inappropriate and makes poor business and community sense to give such land to squatters.
    Finally, the government needs to provide incentives and make it easier for members of the private sector to build houses in the resort areas.