Casper police chief asks lawmakers for help in evicting ‘squatters’ from vacant homes
CHEYENNE — There’s a growing problem of unhoused individuals moving into vacant properties in Casper, according to Police Chief Keith McPheeters.
McPheeters approached lawmakers on the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, asking for state help to expedite the eviction process for unlawful residency. He said Wyoming’s growing homeless population is outpacing the availability of shelters, and many homeless people are starting to move into vacant homes.
“The homeless population, especially in Wyoming, tends to be a little bit migratory,” McPheeters said. “There’s a vast number of them that we’ve never seen before. They just showed up in their migratory travels.”
The Casper police chief said he wanted to be sensitive to the issue of homelessness, but added there seemed to be an underground network of individuals who can “sniff out” homes left vacant by the owner.
“They can smell it from miles away,” he said. “And once they find them, they invade those properties.”
When the owner returns to their house to find dozens of people living in it, wearing their clothes and eating their food, they’ll often produce a fraudulent lease agreement to claim their residency is legal, McPheeters said. This turns into a months-long eviction process in the courts, leaving the owners in distress. Not to mention these individuals, whom McPheeters referred to as “squatters,” may cause tens of thousands of dollars in property damage.
Committee co-Chair Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, said there’s already several statutes in place that address property damage and conspiracy.
“Why can’t the existing statutes be applied to some of these circumstances?” Washut said.
McPheeters said that criminal intent under these circumstances is hard to prove in court. It’s difficult to differentiate between actual intent to destroy the property and general negligence.
Absentee property owners “just don’t give a crap anymore,” he said, and these vacant properties become a “crime haven.” This not only threatens public safety, it also prevents the city from building additional structures, including homeless shelters.
“We’ve done pretty much everything we can, even at great expense to us,” McPheeters said. “But it’s not just about Casper. I want to reiterate, this is happening across our state.”
Casper City Councilman Kyle Gamroth said the city has been approached by several members of the community who have found themselves in this position. They’ve essentially been locked out of their own homes, he said, and “tied up in these legal woes for months.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Gamroth said. “And so we’re just looking for justice, in regard to those folks.”
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen said legal systems are backlogged by the number of criminal cases currently being processed. He said his office has seven assistant district attorneys handling more than 100 felonies.
“When the chief discusses these issues of squatting and property damage, he’s absolutely right. It’s a tremendous problem. It’s a growing problem,” Itzen said. “But you also couple it with what we’re currently facing, and it becomes almost an unmanageable problem.”
Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, raised the point that any new state laws addressing this problem could potentially make life difficult for legal renters. The root of the issue, she said, is the growing homeless crisis, not to mention the housing crisis, in Wyoming.
“Part of the other concern that I have is this is solving a symptom of a very difficult disease,” Provenza said. “I hear your testimony, but also, throwing people in jail who are homeless is not something I’m very excited to do.”
The committee did not take any action on the issue, but tabled the topic for its next meeting in September.
