Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/11/a-man-toured-an-open-house-and-moved-in-with-4-kids-two-days-later-without-buying-the-home.html
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Just want to remind people that we’re in the midst of a massive homelessness crisis. I can’t say I blame someone with 4 kids for taking an opportunity to get a roof over their head when for far too many people renting or owning a home is just… out or reach. 
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I don’t know the circumstances of either the squatter or the seller, but it’s worth remembering that most people trying to sell a home won’t be able to afford a new home either if they can’t get any money for their old house.
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“intent to damage”?
“destruction of property”?
“contributing to the delinquency of a minor”?
Those charges seem like a stretch.
I mean, it was never going to work, but it seems like he was trying to live there with his kids.
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If the police had done their usual “it’s a civil matter” handwashing, then the house could have been tied up for months before the squatter was evicted.
In the meanwhile, a new place has to be paid for, and bridging loans could be tolling daily.
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He got into the house somehow and it seems unlikely he had his own key.
I think “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” might be legalese for when someone decides to do Bring Your Kids to Work Day while they’re actively committing crimes.
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Not if the suspect isn’t White, sadly.
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Yeah, that was very much my read on the story. I wasn’t left with a feeling of a hardened criminal or the creating squatter, more like a person with few options taking the least bad.
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That only works in situations where the person was there legally, like a tenant who isn’t paying rent. Or a long term guest who is no longer welcome. This sounds like a simple case of trespass, not squatting. And @1000YearBan @Melizmatic are correct, the other charges are a stretch, and have probably been added to add as much as possible to the charges, which is much more likely to be done when the defendant isn’t white.
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Stafford County is a “stretch” suburb of Washington, DC. I moved from NoVA last year in large part because it is so expensive to live near DC.
And being homeless is now a criminal act.
Darned if he does and darned if he doesn’t. 
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Sure, but that charge, in the context of trying to put a roof over their heads, seems malicious.
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