Squatters Overtake Georgia Man’s Home as He Cared For Sick Wife, Police Refuse to Evict Them

In a startling turn of events in DeKalb County, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, a man returned home from tending to his sick wife only to discover that squatters had forcibly changed the locks on his residence and taken up residence. 

The local legal landscape is now proving to be a significant hurdle for him to oust the alleged freeloaders.

Paul Callins, the aggrieved homeowner, explained the distressing incident, stating, “basically, these people came in Friday, broke into my house and had a U-Haul move all their stuff in. It’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating. I can’t even sleep,” WSB-TV reports.  

Callins, who had invested considerable time and money renovating the inherited property from his late father, is now grappling with impediments to evict the intruders.

“When I called the police, they said since they have a fake lease, that they can’t do anything. That it’s a civil matter,” lamented Callins, pointing to the frustrating legal deadlock. 

The beleaguered homeowner suspects that the squatters targeted him after responding to a rental advertisement he posted online, intending to lease the property to a government-subsidized tenant.

Rather than resorting to forceful eviction, Georgia law mandates homeowners to file an “Affidavit of Intruder,” a bureaucratic process that must navigate the court system before law enforcement can intervene. 

“I have to go through the court system, and I understand it could take 60 to 90 days,” explained Callins.

Callins’ predicament is emblematic of a broader issue in Georgia, where approximately 1,200 homes in DeKalb County alone are currently occupied by squatters, according to the National Rental Home Council trade group. 

Critics argue that the classification of squatting as a civil matter exacerbates the problem, hindering homeowners from swiftly removing intruders.

In response to the escalating crisis, lawmakers in Georgia are on the verge of passing a bill that would elevate squatting to a criminal offense. 

The proposed legislation also seeks to categorize the use of fake leases as a felony, empowering police officers to make arrests in such cases. The impending legal changes aim to provide homeowners with a more effective means of combating the growing threat of squatting in the state.

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