Atlanta’s Squatter Problem Is Vexing Wall Street Landlords
An estimated 1,200 homes are illegally occupied in the Atlanta metro area, an epicenter for institutional investors.
Sheriff's deputies supervise the removal of squatters’ belongings from a property in Ellenwood, Georgia, on Nov. 17.
Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/BloombergIn the biggest US market for institutional landlords, squatting in vacant rental homes has reached such extremes that owners offer intruders money to leave and many property managers won’t check on suspect houses alone.
A squatter last spring shot one of Matt Urbanski’s employees in the leg during a four-mile car chase through the Atlanta suburb of Lithonia. Urbanski, who runs a home cleaning and construction firm, had been trying to remove the man’s belongings from a house owned by rental industry giant Starwood Capital Group. They got into a scuffle, which escalated into a pursuit and gunfire.