Squatting in the United States describes the legal and practical aspects of squatting (the unauthorized use of real estate) in the United States of America. Squatting laws vary from state to state and city to city. For the most part, however, squatting is rarely tolerated to any degree for long, particularly in cities. There have been a few exceptions, notably in 2002 when the New York City administration agreed to turn over eleven squatted buildings in the Lower East Side to an established non-profit group, on the condition that the apartments would later be turned over to the tenants as low-income housing cooperatives.