Like many renters in Baltimore, Madison was trying to get her landlord to make repairs and having no success.

Then things went from bad to worse.

“Suddenly a new owner was trying to quickly evict us by calling us ‘squatters,’” explained Madison, a Public Justice Center client.

That new owner, a foreclosure sale purchaser, wanted to evict Madison and flip the home for a quick sale.

“All I wanted was for the owner to fix the heat and other serious problems so that our daughter will be safe, but they ignored us,” the young mother told us. “We paid the rent, but the house was still sold at foreclosure.”

Madison is not alone.

Increasing foreclosures in recent months – from speculative rental mortgages, the Trump Administration’s continuing war on federal workers (who are disproportionately Black women) and soaring rents and home prices – are putting more of our neighbors at risk of homelessness.

Now, more than ever, policies that support safe, stable homes for all Maryland families are really important.

That’s why we at the Women’s Law Center of Maryland and Public Justice Center are so appalled to see how far some lawmakers’ priorities have diverged from our clients’ housing needs.

Unlicensed landlords, property flippers, abusive partners and scam artists falsely accuse families of being “squatters” to obtain a quicker eviction.

We see unlicensed landlords, property flippers, abusive partners and scam artists preying on vulnerable residents like Madison. They falsely accuse families of being “squatters” to obtain a quicker eviction and avoid the landlord-tenant court processes that would give both sides a fair hearing.

But instead of discussing ways to keep people in their homes, politicians, real estate interests and conservative media are calling for us to short-circuit court processes for eviction whenever someone accuses (often falsely) a resident of being a “squatter.”

Agenda-driven “crisis”

The fact is, this exaggerated drumbeat around squatting prioritizes profits over people and their housing security.

Are there true bad-actor squatters? Sure. But anyone who breaks and enters into a home can already be arrested and prosecuted under current criminal law.

Moreover, Maryland already has acted to create a swifter process for removing people who have no right to live in a property, including situations that involve squatters.

In 2025, lawmakers crafted a compromise for an expedited “wrongful detainer” process to ensure swift resolution – balancing the need to hear both sides with speed. Wrongful detainer happens when uninvited guests or former owners overstay their welcome.

This law went into effect on October 1, 2025, creating what is now one of the state’s fastest court processes.

Maryland already acted, last year, to create a swifter process for removing people who have no right to live in a property, including situations involving squatters.

Despite passage of this new law, however, Marylanders continue to be bombarded by Sinclair-aligned media (Fox 45, The Baltimore Sun, WJLA) and agenda-driven think tanks that have flooded the public conversation with exaggerated claims. Before the expedited process law even took effect they began urging lawmakers to go further.

By our count, Sinclair-aligned media churned out 16 stories on this issue in 2025 alone.

A typical example is Fox 45’s report last June on “Maryland’s Squatter Crisis” featuring conservative columnist (and Baltimore Sun minority share owner) Armstrong Williams declaring “it’s decimating the real estate market.”

Turns out, this hyped-up story line is part of national campaign.

• Red States Are Suddenly Cracking Down on Squatters Despite No Evidence of a Crisis (Rolling Stone, 8/11/25)

In August, Rolling Stone reported that the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has successfully advanced laws to strip residents of due process in at least 10 states recently, including Maryland. The industry-backed group is fueling a national panic disconnected from reality.

And now the Trump Administration is getting in on the act, citing a desire to “enforce prohibitions on urban squatting” and other propaganda as one of its justifications for deploying the National Guard to D.C., Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles.

Victimizing the Vulnerable

The reality that we observe is far different. We’ve seen abusers who have legal title to a property misuse the court process intended to evict “squatters” – using it to instead evict former partners who are survivors of domestic violence.

We’ve seen proposals that would provide property-owning abusers with a new, lightly-regulated process that, ironically, mirrors an emergency protective order, allowing the abusive party to evict anyone who they claim is squatting.

Antwanette, a Public Justice Center client who had lived in her Baltimore City home for seven years, was accused of squatting when a new owner (an unlicensed landlord) bought the property.

By law, the new owner stepped into the shoes of the prior landlord, but still filed a wrongful detainer to evict her. Legal representation prevented her from losing her home, but the property flipper faced no consequences for attempting an unlawful eviction.

The “Evict First/Ask Questions Later” laws passed in other states demonstrate the real-world dangers of stripping residents of the due process rights that ultimately protected Antwanette.

In Pensacola, a family was evicted with 15 minutes’ notice under new legislation pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis.

In Pensacola, Florida, a family was evicted with only 15 minutes’ notice under new legislation pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The sheriff acted on a fraudulent owner’s claim, evicting senior residents and allowing the sale of their belongings, including a wedding ring.

In short, the Evict First legislation in Florida and similar states has created a pathway for unscrupulous landlords, property flippers, and abusers to circumvent residents’ rights and evict people at will.

If Sinclair-aligned media, corporate property owners and other bad actors have their way, Maryland will be next.

And, Black and brown women and their families who are already disproportionately evicted due to centuries of racist housing policy will be the first persons thrown on the street because of these unconstitutional measures.

What’s Fair and Effective

While the White House may believe following the U.S. Constitution is optional, we are calling on our State’s legislators to remember their duty to uphold it along with the laws of this state.

Instead of decimating the right to a fair eviction hearing in the upcoming legislative session, policymakers should focus on solutions that support families:

Strengthen fair housing laws, increase eviction prevention funds, pass “good cause” eviction legislation and spur affordable housing production.

The documented success of programs based on the “Housing First” approach demonstrates that keeping people in their homes is both humane and effective, whereas ideological evict-first/ask questions later policies put families at risk.

Property owners and tenants have rights, which is why the decision to evict someone is too important to be made without both sides having a fair chance to be heard first.

We urge lawmakers to stand with renting families, survivors of domestic violence and other vulnerable people to uphold the constitutional right to allow both sides to be heard before any eviction. Reject the politics of fear  that is driving these harsh Evict First bills.

• Khalilah M. Harris is executive director of the Public Justice Center (news@publicjustice.org). Hon. Katie Curran O’Malley is the chief executive officer of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland.