An Atlanta property owner says a group of squatters is blocking his efforts to build affordable housing on a nine-acre site.
David Morris said he is having trouble removing the group from his property after the city issued a moratorium on evictions.
“We won’t build until all the tenants are out,” Morris said. Fox 5 Atlanta.
“Here, start cleaning up this place.”
Morris, who now lives in California, said about 10 years ago he agreed to let four people live rent-free on land owned by his former nonprofit, the Lakewood Environmental Arts Foundation, if they agreed to manage the land. Told.
But when we closed our nonprofit during the pandemic, we realized there were far more people on the premises than four.
“The people who were living on the land began to have other people and friends living on the land,” Morris explained.
“When I tried to file for eviction, the city of Atlanta said, ‘Sorry, we’re currently suspending evictions.'”
The situation became even more dire last year during mass protests against law enforcement training facilities, when he said “the entire medical staff” of the Stop Cop City movement He said they were camping on the property.
“There were about 30 campers and the police came in and pulled them out of their tents,” Morris said.
But eight squatters remain, and he is trying to evict them through Georgia’s court system.
In the meantime, Mr Morris said he had been contacted by local authorities and told to clean up the property, which had been left in disrepair by squatters.
“It’s frustrating that we have to spend so much money,” he told FOX 5.
“I spent $10,000 picking up vagrant trash,” he claimed.
At least one brazen squatter also tried to file a $190,000 counterclaim against Morris to stay on the land, but the claim was dismissed because the plaintiff failed to appear in court, he said.
Mr Morris was last week issued with a writ of possession, which landlords must obtain if they wish to end a squatter’s rights to a property.
He said he plans to use legal documents to evict the squatters, erecting fences and posting “no trespassing” signs.
