Help William and Arlene Reclaim Their Home from Squatters

We are raising funds to help William and Arlene, a couple in their 70s, who are facing a dire situation. They have been forced out of their Colorado Springs home by squatters and now need financial assistance to cover legal fees to evict them and return to their home of 50 years. Living on a fixed income, William and Arlene cannot afford the extravagant legal costs, while the squatters receive free legal aid. In addition to legal fees, their utilities are skyrocketing because the woman showers multiple times a day, they turn on faucets and the hose just to let water run, leave every light on in the house 24/7, and who knows what expenses there will be to restore any damage and ensure environmental safety due to various drugs used in the home.

The squatters have taken over their home, using utilities for free, and even set up a mushroom grow operation. William, who suffers from dementia, and Arlene, recovering from major heart surgeries, have been displaced and fear for their safety. Their daughters are fighting for them, but without professional legal assistance, the process will take months, and they cannot afford to wait.

Any support will help them regain their home and restore their sense of safety and security. Please consider donating to this urgent cause.

Below is the story from the daughter's point of view:

Our dad is a 76-year-old elderly man with dementia. He and our mom have owned their home for 50 years. Our mom has been staying with us after some major heart surgeries, so our dad has been alone at the house during this time. This homeless woman was living out of her car in the neighborhood, met our dad while he was on a walk with his dog, and she offered to do some household chores for him (wash dishes, laundry, etc.), to which he agreed. Chores turned into using his shower on occasion and then sleeping in a guest room of his home for what he understood to be only a number of days. She quickly took advantage of our dad and his compromised mental state and now has moved many of her belongings into his home, has moved two non-working automobiles onto his property, has moved her 15-year-old son and a cat into the house, and now a threatening and confrontational homeless man, her boyfriend, has moved in with her on the property. This man harasses our dad and our family and friends when asked to leave. He has provoked altercations with our dad on numerous occasions and gets into arguments with a number of unknown other groups of people that come by the property to seek him out.

Our dad is extremely uncomfortable having these people and their associates in his home and is fearful of his safety when at the house. He no longer feels he can safely be at his home of over 50 years and has been forced to stay with us. Now that our dad is not sleeping in the home, they have begun a mushroom grow operation in the middle of the living room. They spend their days living in the home as if it is their own, rummaging through drawers and cupboards, going through storage items, using all appliances, dishes, tools, food in the refrigerator and pantries, etc.

There was never an agreement by our dad, mom, or any of our family members with these people stating that they or any other occupants could take permanent residency in the home or on the property, but because they have stayed in the home for more than a few days, they have rights to the home and can do as they please. This isn't their first rodeo, and they have taken full advantage of the system and know the law is in their favor and seem to live confidently that they will have free housing and utilities for months through this process.

Since this nightmare began, we have contacted COS Police exhaustively for help. Cars on the property with illegal plates or no plates at all, underage drug use for hours on end, growing drugs in the home, fear of our parents' safety, weapons being intentionally flashed in front of security cameras, tampering with security cameras, you name it. Many times dispatch doesn't come at all; others it takes 24+ hours for an officer to come, and when they do, they speak to this woman and her boyfriend, and they are not given permission by them to enter the property, so they can't do anything. It doesn't matter if our parents give them permission as owners and residents of the home. These people have equal permission rights to the property!

Our parents can't afford an attorney as they live off of social security, but we've been told that unless we are the defendant, free legal services are not an option for us and we should seek out a lawyer. The going rate seems to be $400-$500 per hour with an $1800+ retainer. That is not an option for our family, so we have to navigate the process on our own. If there is anyone out there with information different from this, we would love to hear it! These people receive free legal services, court fees waived, all of their required paperwork through the process provided directly to them (we literally had to include blank paper copies of all of their required forms in the eviction paperwork we served them). Everything is served to them on a golden platter, basically giving them step-by-step instructions on how to drag out the process and live for free for as long as possible.

Our dad's dementia causes him to be easily agitated and unable to focus on or remember simple tasks or events when he is under stress. This situation has been an extreme stressor on his mental and physical health. Our mom is also fearful and very distraught that she is unable to safely go back to her home, and our entire family is just sick watching strangers live in our childhood home and go through our cherished family memories and items.

We feel so helpless, and each day that goes by and each new failed attempt to ask for help from law enforcement leaves us feeling less and less trust in the system's ability to keep our community safe. We just don't know what else to do, and just sitting around for months watching while our parents are scared to live in their home is unbearable, unfair, and absolutely unacceptable.