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Police entered the Kent home with their guns drawn. Angela Simmons panickedand held up her hands.

Crisis and opportunity had collided to bring Simmons into the Kent homein 2013. In the aftermath of the recession, when foreclosed houses around King County sat empty,Simmons was introduced to an ancient legal principle called adverse possession that resulted in her living in one suchabandoned home that she hoped one day would be hers.

Some may think of it as squatters rights, but adverse possession, enshrined in 19th century Washington law and common law going back centuries, theoretically can provide a path to property ownership through moving into an abandoned home without permission, paying taxes on the property and maintaining the place as an owner would. The challenge is to avoid getting caught.

But Simmonsnever thought that what she was doing could be considered criminal.

She wasnt the only one.

A man namedNaziyrYishmaEltaught a program in south King County on financial self-empowerment, including a course on adverse possession. At that time, several people, including Simmons,had signed ontoYishmaElsprogram, paid to become members of what he called the Association of Autonomous People. Then, some moved into foreclosed or otherwise vacant homes.

It was a perfect storm of factors: after the housing bubble burst, mortgages became harder to get for some. At the same time, homelessness also started to rise in King County beginning in 2012.

But adverse possession also often attracts attention from law enforcement and prosecutors, and both forces came down hard on YishmaEl. For his business advising people on financial empowerment and how to use the adverse possession law,YishmaElwas charged with theft and conspiracy but acquitted by a jury for all but one misdemeanor the unlawful practice of law which the state Supreme Court upheld last month.

Back in 2013,Simmons exchanged emails withYishmaEl, who sent her information on Washingtons adverse possession process and a spreadsheet of vacant homes.

SoSimmons, then working in city government,looked up the laws and even asked the attorneys she knew about adverse possession. It was real, they told her, though they didnt know how anybody mightactually goabout it.

For Simmons, the prospect of owning her own home in the area the ultimate stability for her kids looked very far away, even on a government salary.Soshetook the plunge. Shesettled on a four-bedroom home in a suburban Kentculde sac.

The home was in dire need of repair, so Simmons labored for weeks to fix up the house, remodeling the kitchen and roof. She hired a landscaper, installed an alarm and painted an eggplant accent wall.

It didnt last long. Shortly after Simmons moved in,a neighbor called the police.

An ancient law

Squatting, adverse possession and homesteading all have long histories in Washington state. Homesteaders played a major role in settling the Northwest, often outside the bounds of what waslegal. Many white settlerswho started farms in the Washington Territory before the land waseven surveyed, including on Native land, were later grantedlegal ownershipof it by the U.S. government.

Squatting in vacant buildings in Seattlealsoserved as amajorprotest tool of activistsin the 90s.After protesters agitating for more low-income housing occupiedabandoned buildings,two of those buildings were redeveloped to house people with low incomes and formerly homeless people.

The lesser-known law of adverse possession has been on the books since the late 19th century, though in recent years, activists have suggested adverse possession as a common-sense way to combat the homelessness and affordable housing crisis.

Prosecutorsalleged thatYishmaEltook advantage of people living at the margins through his business, for which he charged $7,000 for membership.YishmaElcountered that he warned his clients he was not a lawyer and advised them that the process wouldnt be easy.

I explained to each and every one of them, even on the day that this happened, look, the cops are going to be on there, he said. Youre going to have to fight this.

In California,community organizer Steven DeCaprioused the states adverse possession law toadvocate for people experiencing homelessness and to successfully occupyan abandoned home.

Two decades ago, DeCaprio found himself homeless in Oakland after losing a jobat Whole Foods. He had already seen squats in Europe protests that eventually blossomed into communities with schools and music venues while on tour with his punk band.

I just started researching and looking into it and the phrase adverse possession came up and I looked into it and eventually started squatting and litigating those squats, DeCaprio said.

DeCapriofound himself in and out of court, and in and out of various homes he and others attempted to occupyin the Bay Area. He founded an organization, Land Action, to help people do the same.

After more than a decade of fixing up a long-abandoned home, DeCaprio eventually acquired the title through adverse possession.His story made national headlines and wound up in an online presentation ofYishmaEls still available to watch on YouTube.

But in Washington, owning a home through adverse possession is much more difficult because of the length of time involved. California only requires five years of occupying a home intended for adverse possession; Washington in most cases requires 10.

Its not usually a successful strategy just because the period of time is so long, says EduardoPealver, a property law expert and dean of Cornell Law School. Among the ways to acquire property, its one of the riskier ones.

Typically, before that 10 yearperiod is up, an owner will show up to kick you out. Plus, theres potential criminal liability,Pealversaid, as if youre breaking and entering onto the property.

But the switch that flips when the clock runs out thats what makes it enjoyable to teaching students about adverse possession,Pealversaid.

Because its so counterintuitive,Pealversaid. Youre engaging in trespass and thats bad, but if you do it long enough you become the owner.

A long road to get back on their feet

When Simmons explained to the Kent police what was going on,she handed them a packet of paperwork she had filed with King County, including a notice of adverse possession.

Police chalked the dispute up to a civil matter meaning they couldnt do anything about it and left.

Then, shortly after her interaction with police, Simmons found out the home was being put up for auction? Itleft her scrambling.Simmonshad sunk an estimated $5,000 into the home, all of which went to waste. She had paidYishmaEl $2,500.

Others who learned about adverse possession from YishmaEl had worse outcomes. Holli Gaines was homeless with her son and her newborn, living out of her car, for more than two months after she was arrested for burglary in ahomeshe found throughYishmaEls course. (The burglary charge was later dropped). Another woman who followed the adverse possession course lost all her family photos after she was arrested.

Unpopular views

On a recent Friday afternoon,YishmaEl, now 50, had just learned that the Washington Supreme Court had upheld his misdemeanor conviction. It frustrated him. He considered his business and what he advised his clients a matter of his First Amendment rights.

There was no responsibility or accountability on the police,YishmaElsaid of the justices decision. He believes the charges on which some of his clients were arrested never would have held up in court.

By his own account,YishmEelhad spent much of his early life angry. Angry at the bullies in his Omaha neighborhood who targeted his family because they were Black. Angry at the system.

And even with this adverse possession, in a way, it was kind of my way of thumbing my nose to the system,YishmaElsaid. Weve got one of the most prosperous countries in the world, we have homeless people, we have people that work full time job, they dont get a high wage, but theyre on the verge of being homeless.

YishmaElstill fiercely believes in the potential of adverse possession and is convinced it could be a partial solution to the regions current homelessness crisis. Hes also considering taking his unlawful practice of law ruling to federal court as a First Amendment challenge.

King County prosecutors have a different view ofYishmaEl. To them, he was an opportunist who already had an embezzlement conviction on his record and took advantage of people on the margins during an economic crisis.

You cant just walk into a home and claim itsyours,King County senior deputy prosecuting attorney Jennifer Atchison said.

DeCaprio, the man who successfully used adverse possession in California,agrees withYishmaElsargument whileskeptical of his business model. He calledthe recent Supreme Court ruling an affront to freedom of speech, the right to organize, the right to engage in public discourse, and opens the door for unlimited targeting of individuals who hold unpopular views.

As for Simmons, seven years after she attempted to find a home she could own, shes still renting. Until last year, her daughter still asked about when the family might go back to the big Kent house.

She still wants a stable home for her kids,now determined to do it the hard way.

She is convinced her best shot at that in King Countys tight real estate market is to wait until another economic downturn, when more houses might go up for auction at cheaper prices.

Atchison,the King Countyprosecutor,believes that another economic downturn will almost certainly resultin morecases likeYishmaEls, when homes areforeclosedonand people see an opportunity.

But ifYishmaElsclients had stayed in the homes long enough, could they have succeeded?

Atchison paused before answering. Possibly.

This story has been corrected to reflect the proper spelling of Eduardo Pealvers name.

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In times of housing crises, Washingtons old squatters rights law is put to the test - Seattle Times