Amid growing concerns about housing, opioids and mental health, there are reports around the U.S. of homeless people moving into spaces like Airbnbs, unoccupied homes and abandoned buildings to seek shelter. Unease about the practice has reached Wyoming.
A constituent told Sen. Jim Anderson (R-Casper) that she found around six men in one of her properties, he told WyoFile.
“She told them that she was going to get the law, and they laughed at her,” he said.
They eventually did leave, but she felt threatened, Anderson said.
Police told Anderson’s constituent the men may be considered tenants, and there’s a multi-step process to evict them.
If someone says they have a lease or permission to stay — especially in a house of someone who died — it becomes a civil issue to fight that claim. That may require landowners to go to court, but doesn’t initially involve police.
So, Anderson is hoping to address the issue by making this a criminal trespassing offense, allowing police to remove someone if the resident can’t prove they have a right to be there.
He’s basing his proposed statute changes on a bill that will soon go into effect in Florida, which is one of a handful of states considering legislation to involve police, press criminal charges and speed up the eviction process of squatters.
Squatting has gained national attention over recent incidents, and the word has even trended in recent years, according to Google Trends. Still, some housing experts argue the practice is rare and coverage is overblown.
“She told them that she was going to get the law, and they laughed at her.”
Sen. Jim Anderson (R-Casper)
For Anderson, the legislation would be preventative.
“Right now, there’s just a few [in Wyoming],” he said of squatters. “But they seem to be multiplying in the United States.”
While this has become a regularly cited problem, there is scarce data on the issue. Still, Anderson isn’t alone in wanting a legal remedy here. The Joint Judiciary Committee discussed the same issue Tuesday with plans to draft its own legislation and work with Anderson in the near future.
Law enforcement and some local officials told committee members about the anecdotal evidence of a growing number of incidents and more concerns about squatters around the state.
Meanwhile, others are concerned about involving police in what could turn out to be standard tenant disputes.
Details and concerns
The Casper City Council already changed some local ordinances late last year to help address squatters, but Casper Police Chief Keith McPheeters told committee members he wants a statewide policy change.
“I believe that this is in the best interest of us to address on a statewide level on behalf of our citizens, on behalf of our quality of life, on behalf of our cost of living,” he said.
Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) cautioned that she didn’t want new legislation to cut “the legs out from underneath” actual tenants and their rights when they’re in conflict with landlords, she said Tuesday.
And this is just one symptom of a larger disease, she added.
“How can we look at [potential] solutions for what we need to do for folks that are struggling to find housing,” she said. “I hear your testimony, but also throwing people in jail who are homeless is not something I’m very excited to do.”
Casper City Councilman Kyle Gamroth, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, agreed that this is part of a much larger issue, saying his city is working on broader solutions, but that he’s also heard a lot about this particular concern.
Casper organizations’ work to provide services to homeless, addicted and severely mentally ill residents is also attracting struggling people from all around the state, Gamroth said.
While he’s happy Casper and Natrona County can help them, “there needs to be processes in place to get them back home.”
“Not only is that where their support systems are at and where they’re going to be most successful, but the city of Casper simply doesn’t have the resources to provide those high levels of services throughout the entire spectrum of care for everyone in the state that needs it,” he said.
Gamroth is on both the city’s Downtown Development Authority board and a local homelessness coalition task force. He said about 65% of those seeking services at the Central Wyoming Rescue Mission in Casper are from Natrona County. An additional 10-15% are state residents and another 5-10% are from other states.
While immigration has been a national talking point tied to squatting and homelessness concerns, Gamroth said some undocumented immigrants come through but “it’s mostly a state of Wyoming issue.”
At the same time, enacting more criminal laws could further strain the prosecutor’s office, according to Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen. He told lawmakers his office hasn’t had an increase in employees in 20 years, but more laws have been passed and certain timelines have sped up.
“I have seven legal assistants,” he said. “We handle right now 111 felonies. You simply can’t keep up those numbers and produce that work that quickly.”
So while he acknowledged the challenges homeowners and police may face, he also wanted lawmakers to understand that more laws may require further funding for the offices tasked with upholding them.
What’s next
Lawmakers discussed making some small, key changes to address concerns about squatting, and there is expected to be a bill draft at the next Joint Judiciary meeting slated for September in Cheyenne, including a discussion with Sen. Anderson.
The post Should police confront squatters? Wyoming lawmakers mull statute change appeared first on WyoFile .