Elderly, Singles and Empty Nesters!

I am a member on the app “Nextdoor”, so I receive notifications on certain topics from certain individuals. One topic came up, which was very disturbing–> It was from an older lady, I’ll call her Ms. H. (to respect her privacy).

Ms. H. thought she was doing a solid by helping someone out that she thought was in dire need. She allowed this individual to stay in a spare bedroom of her home “without a written agreement”. This certain individual “con artist/squatter” took that and use that to her advantage, but a disadvantage for Ms. H. Not only didn’t the squatter pay rent, utilities, clean up, etc. as promised, she started stealing valuable items, breaking things, not obeying house rules, and on and on. She also decided to bring in a male companion. She barricaded the bedroom door so no one, including Ms. H. could get in or out. When the squatter(s) wanted to leave the house for any reason, her and her companion would climb in and out of the bedroom window.

Police was notified, but there was nothing they could do, it was a court situation at this point. APS (Adult Protective Services) was also notified, they helped Ms. H. get an eviction notice in place, but that did not deter the squatters from coming and going.

It’s more to the story, but my question is –> How can we stop this from happening? Things like this makes it hard to help others in need. The Elderly, Single People and Empty Nesters, might be will to help, because of kind hearts, loneliness, or something else. The reason doesn’t matter, what matter is being able to help someone in need with out being taken advantage of; something needs to change and change expeditiously!