You leave a home empty while you travel, prepare it for sale or help an aging parent move.
asserted
parent → leave → sale
Then an unfamiliar car appears in the driveway.
asserted
car → appear → driveway
Someone gets inside.
asserted
Someone → get → ?
Before long, that person may even claim to have a lease.
uncertain
person → claim → lease
That kind of situation turned Flash Shelton into the man now known as the "Squatter Hunter."
asserted
kind → turn → Hunter
I recently sat down with Shelton on "The CyberGuy Report" podcast to talk about how his unusual line of work began and what homeowners can do before an unwanted occupant settles in.
asserted
occupant → sit → what
He stars in A&E's "Squatters," which follows him and his team as they help property owners reclaim homes from unauthorized occupants.
asserted
owners → star → occupants
What stood out during our conversation was how often his advice came back to technology.
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advice → stand → technology
A camera alert or alarm can give you something that becomes much harder to get later: evidence of when someone showed up and how they got inside.
asserted
they → give → something
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asserted
you → get → doctor
No technical experience is needed.
asserted
experience → need → ?
How protecting his mom created the Squatter Hunter
Shelton says none of this started as a business idea.
asserted
none → protect → idea
After his father died in 2019, he moved his mother in with him while preparing her vacant home for sale.
asserted
he → die → sale
Then seven people took over the property.
asserted
people → take → property
Shelton told me he was "just being a good son" and felt he had to protect his mother after the squatters took advantage of the empty house.
asserted
squatters → tell → house
He called the sheriff and says he was told there was little law enforcement could do because the situation had become a civil issue.
uncertain
situation → call → sheriff
Shelton knew almost nothing about squatting at the time, but he did not accept that answer.
asserted
he → know → answer
"I was like, screw that.
asserted
I → screw → that
I'm going to do something about it," he recalled.
asserted
he → go → it
He started researching how squatters operate and when occupancy claims can become harder to untangle.
uncertain
claims → research → ?
His mother, who owned the house, signed a legitimate lease giving Shelton the right to occupy the property.
asserted
who → own → property
Shelton says he wanted documentation showing he had permission to be there in case the squatters produced a fake lease of their own.
asserted
squatters → say → own
He then waited for the occupants to leave and entered the house using his key.
asserted
occupants → wait → key
Once inside, he started installing cameras and a security system.
asserted
he → start → cameras
His thinking, he said, was that "if they can take a house, I can take a house."
asserted
I → say → house
When some of the occupants returned, Shelton told them he had possession of the property and gave them until the end of the day to remove their furniture.
asserted
he → return → furniture
He says cars and trucks soon arrived and the house was cleared.
asserted
house → say → ?
Years later, that experience has turned into a full-time mission and an A&E series.
asserted
experience → turn → mission
Why squatting is getting more attention across the US
Squatting can create a serious and expensive problem for homeowners, even though there is no reliable nationwide count showing exactly how often it happens.
asserted
it → get → homeowners
Part of the challenge is how these cases are tracked.
asserted
cases → track → challenge
Squatting does not appear as its own category in national crime databases, and cases can be handled differently depending on whether authorities view them as trespassing, fraud or a landlord-tenant dispute.
asserted
authorities → appear → trespassing
That makes it difficult to put one national number on the problem.
asserted
it → make → problem
What we do know is that lawmakers across the country have been responding.
asserted
lawmakers → know → country
As of July 2026, the National Apartment Association reported that 28 states had enacted laws addressing squatting.
asserted
states → report → squatting
Another 25 states had introduced or considered legislation during 2026.
asserted
states → introduce → 2026
Those measures include faster removal procedures and new penalties for some forms of unauthorized occupancy.
asserted
measures → include → occupancy
There are also documented cases showing how disruptive squatting can become.
asserted
squatting → be → ?
A New York City Department of Investigation review found unauthorized occupants in 548 vacant NYCHA apartments.
asserted
review → find → apartments
Joint DOI and NYPD operations reclaimed 60 of those apartments and resulted in 81 arrests involving unauthorized occupants accused of criminal activity connected with the properties.
asserted
operations → reclaim → properties
So while there is no single number showing how many homes are affected nationwide, the growing legislative response and documented cases make one thing clear: unauthorized home takeovers are a real problem, and homeowners have good reason to think about prevention before a property sits empty.
asserted
property → be → prevention
…and 131 more, not listed.
The Aporia
