Columbia realtor sees rise in squatting incidents, warns of unsafe conditions
Erika McGuire
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Columbia realtor is speaking out after finding people squatting in the homes she is trying to sell.
Wendy Swetz, a longtime Columbia realtor, said she’s more squatting incidents over the past month and a half, and not in just one part of town. She says the issue is damaging homes, turning potential buyers away and creating unsafe conditions.
She says what she has walked into has been alarming.
“They had suitcases. They were doing laundry in the sink. there were pill bottles. There were so many needles. You could tell they were smoking something in little ash trays, so they had damaged some of the flooring,” Swetz said.
In one case, Swetz claims people broke into a home through a window, leaving behind damage.
“They got into the house by breaking into the window, they were arrested. So, the rest of the homeless people came and just destroyed what we had packed up; and put into the shopping cart and just spread it out in the front yard,” She said.
But the situation didn’t end there. Just two nights later, Swetz said someone went back to clean the home and found someone else inside.
“Just two nights the cleaning lady went back to clean and there was another person in that house and they were showering,” Swetz added.
Another incident, Swetz said, happened when an agent was showing a home to a potential buyer.
“They were showing it to a family, and they walked in. They got in through the lock box and they walked in; and there was a man inside the house, and he was very high,” Swetz said.
When it comes to for-sale signs, Swetz said she may stop using them altogether, as they may act more like an invitation for squatters. The issue has made her routine of showing homes nerve-racking.
“If I’m showing property I am extremely heightened at this point going, ‘Is anyone in here?’ It’s time and the worry and the stress and the anxiety of actually thinking there could be a chance that there’s someone in these houses,” Swetz said.
To keep her and her agents safe, Swetz said she is taking extra security measures.
“Automatic lights, doing some sort of camera system, if there is an alarm set it every single time, that kind of thing,” she said.
Swetz acknowledges that this is a complicated issue with no simple fix, but she says it’s important to stand up for homeowners and the community — and she wants to be involved in finding a solution.
“To help people that are innocent that don’t want people in their houses that they pay for and that they you know we pay taxes obviously to keep crime down and have these problems hopefully figured out,” Swetz said. “What are we going to do? I don’t have a solution but I definitely want to be a part of it”
Director of the Room At The Inn John Trapp said the issue goes beyond vacant homes for sales.
“[We] don’t have enough shelter beds, so that’s part of it. We sometimes turn people away because we are full, and then there’s mental-health and substance-abuse issues that prevent people coming in,” Trapp said. “Some people had medical bills or an eviction and they just need a little hand up,”
Swetz said the people she has called the cops on were written trespassing citations. In Missouri, trespassing can be classified as a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the circumstances like causing damage or ignoring warnings. Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson said if someone enters a property without permission they can face a serious charge.
“At a minimum, it’s Trespassing in the First Degree, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $500 fine. If the person damages the property or steals anything inside—which includes using utilities like water or electricity—the charge can be elevated to felony Burglary, which carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Any illegal drug possession would result in separate charges as well,” Johnson said in an email Thursday.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office said the issue is mostly located in Columbia city limits, though the county occasionally does see issues.
In an email Thursday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said, “The homeless population does occasionally impact non-incorporated areas of the county, but is predominantly a Columbia issue. With that said, we haven’t really seen an uptick in BCSO calls for service for issues specific to homelessness.”