Thursday, January 15, 2026

Squatting Isn’t a Housing Policy. It’s Theft

In October last year, Absolum, age 18, finally got to visit the $115,000 home. But as he approached it, he realized something was wrong — someone was already living in the house.

Absolum called the police, who told him there was nothing they could do. The family living in the house had been scammed into believing they were renting it, and Absolum would have to go to court to evict the squatters.

“He was a victim once, and he’s a victim again,” his mother, Avril Absolum, told the Baltimore Banner in an article published this week. “He did the right thing. And there were people in his house.”

The case is pending in court, and Absolum still has not moved into his home.

Back in 2024, when “squatting” was having a moment, Republican governors such as Georgia’s Brian Kemp and Florida’s Ron DeSantis signed legislation making it much easier to evict people who took up residence either in people’s homes or in vacant buildings. Yet for around half the country, squatting is still only a civil matter; if a vacationing family returns home to find someone has moved into their residence, it could be months or years before they are able to expel the interlopers.

Read the rest here.

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