The National Rental Home Council (NRHC) trade group reports that squatters in Atlanta have transformed one of the 1,200 squatted homes into an illegal strip club.
Evicting squatters in Atlanta has become difficult due to court backlogs and strained police resources.
As per Bloomberg, online listings and virtual real estate agents have made it easy for squatters to identify vacant properties to break into.
Last October, an Atlanta neighborhood was embroiled in scandal as squatters turned a home into an illegal strip club, hosting weekend parties and even housing live horses on the property.
Four people—DeAnthony Maddox, Jeremy Wheat, Kelvin Hall, and Tarahsjay Forde—were arrested for illegally occupying a large home in the South Fulton area, turning it into a hub of illegal activity.
According to local reports, the squatters ran a secret strip club, hosted loud parties, and organized street car races, significantly disrupting the neighborhood for other residents.
“They would get live horses. One day they had live horses,” one neighbor told Atlanta station WSB-TV TV2.
A SWAT team eventually came to clear out the home, where they recovered two stolen cars, a stolen weapon, and stolen credit cards.
According to The Post, one neighbor said they were afraid to go on vacation because if squatters realize the home is empty, they’ll move in.
“Is this even America anymore? We are homeowners and we can’t even do anything about trespassers?” The neighbor said in frustration.
In another incident, army officer Lt. Col. Dahlia Daure found a convicted criminal squatting in her home.
Daure told WSB-TV that when she returned home from active duty she found Vincent Simon squatting in her $500,000 residence.
Simon, who has a criminal record for guns, drugs, and theft, refused to vacate the house. When Daure reported him to the police, they claimed it was a “civil matter” and were unable to assist. Even serving eviction papers proved ineffective.
After employing an obscure law to engage the police, they discovered firearms and drugs at the residence.
“To find out that this person moved into my home right after I got done renovating — it was very aggravating and I was angry,” Daure told FOX.
In the city, Tiber Capital Group’s CEO, Simon Frost, said there’s been many incidents where unlawful occupants wielded weapons and threatened neighbors, significantly impacting neighborhood safety.
According to Matt Urbanski, who manages a local home-cleaning company, one of his employees was shot after attempting to remove intruders from a property.
