JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Following a legislative committee meeting on homelessness, a Jackson man claims the homeless have taken over the home he was renting.

The Broadmoor resident said he couldn’t get the squatters to leave, so he had to leave.

“I let them stay one night and they brought the whole crew. There’s like five of them,” Rickey Myers said.

On Friday, he was trying to move out of his Windemere Terrace rental home after he said it had been overrun by the homeless. The first was a friend he had invited.

“Phillip Frye asked if he could move in with me because he and his friend got involved,” Myers said. “Then I said you can come stay a few nights. That’s it. That’s all I could do. They ended up moving, staying and bringing a whole crew of them.”

According to Myers, he tried to get people to leave for four years. He said they argued with him, destroyed the house and fought with him while he was taking his things.

No one answered the door, but someone looked in the window while Myers was packing.

“There are five of them,” said the tenant. “The law will not do anything to them. (The law) won’t help me make them go away or anything without kicking them out. I have no evacuation money. They want to charge $100 per person to evict them. I don’t have it.”

Myers’ landlord did not want to be identified or speak on camera, but said everything his tenant said was not true.

According to the property owner, the people had been living there for some time and he believed they were related to Myers. He said Myers’ name is on the lease, but a third-party organization pays the rent.

The unnamed landlord said he offered to come to the residence while Myers obtained possession, but the tenant declined. The owner has not decided at this time what he will do with the people still on the property.

“I have to get away. I’ve been beaten since I’ve been here,” Myers said.

The 55-year-old was able to recover some items and said he and his dog, Macy, were moving out of town.

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