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Homeowners battle Ormond Beach squatters

By Janine Reyes
By Janine Reyes
A homeowner in Ormond Beach says the empty lots that border her family's home serve as a haven for the homeless who, she says, are now using her property too. It's a problem she says the neighborhood has battled for years.
She's done everything in her power to protect her house, even posting ‘No Trespassing’ in the window, because other sign she posted outside have been ripped down and ignored.  The problem is very close to home because the empty lots lead right up to her property line.
The peaceful waves along Ormond Beach offer a picture-perfect view from these empty lots along Rockefeller and Grandview streets.
It's a spot where Laura Wilson's dad chose to build his ideal getaway and now that he's passed on, it's where she comes to relax. 
But she never imagined she'd be sharing the property with people she believes are living in the lot next to hers.
That's when she snapped a picture of a shelter in the empty lots.
It's since been cleared but this summer she took photos of a man who, she says, didn't want to leave the overgrown property.
“They had about six liquor bottles out on the back porch,” Wilson said.
She says she also found a cellphone plugged into the porch outlet, and she believes the homeless made her father's house an extended part of their home.
“I mean they had set up a home and they were using the water and electric on the outside,” said Wilson
On Thursday, she says she collected this bag of trash from the parts of the property that border her dad's home.
Police have arrested people for trespassing on the property before. They don't think the homeless live in this lot but it is possible some people cut through the overgrown properties and use the back porch of the house as their own.
“If the owners would just take care of it, we wouldn't have the problem.” Wilson said.
The lot owner told us he's cleared the lot before, and he'll be back in two weeks to look at the lot himself.
Police said they came to look at the lot Friday and they will increase patrols there.

Cox Media Group

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