Say a homeowner or bank or landlord discovers somebody occupying their property without authorization. They could call the police, though officers might not come. Police tend to shy away from tenancy disputes, leaving them to the civil courts. The property owner could go ahead and file an eviction lawsuit, but that can drag on for months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Or they can call Jacobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a fee, Jacobs will surveil the place and force out the people inside of it using a complex concoction of homespun arms and militarized tactics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jacobs\u2019 team will often complete a job in a matter of days by boarding up the joint and moving in temporarily themselves, to make sure the squatters don\u2019t return. But if they do, Jacobs is prepared for battle.<\/p>\n
ASAP Squatter Removal is not alone. There\u2019s a cottage industry<\/a> in California that helps property owners force out squatters. There\u2019s Squatter Squad<\/a>, based in Southern California, and a handful of other companies, most established over the past couple of years.<\/p>\n But ASAP\u2019s materials might be the most eye-catching \u2014 photographs peppering its website<\/a> depict what the company describes as \u201cdangerous squatters\u201d holding shotguns and rifles, including a boy who looks to be about 5 years old. These images appear to be variously sourced from a gun rights documentary<\/a>, stock image websites<\/a>, and articles about encampment residents<\/a> in Los Angeles and the Sinaloa Cartel<\/a> in Mexico. Jacobs markets his company as the only squatter removal business with a Yelp account<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jacobs reached out to The Oaklandside several months ago to publicize his business. We spoke with him in depth over multiple interviews, talked to one of his contractors, and spoke with a client who hired ASAP Squatter Removal to kick out uninvited residents in West Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n We were able to confirm a recent job Jacobs took in Oakland, and videos he posts<\/a> show him and some of his contractors working at other properties. However, he declined to share proof of some of the squatter removals he\u2019s been responsible for and other statements, saying he signs non-disclosure agreements with clients and that his lawyer advised against sharing anything about legal proceedings. And few public records about his company exist; ASAP Squatter Removal isn\u2019t registered with the California Secretary of State, though Jacobs says this is in the works.<\/p>\n While we have ongoing questions about some details of Jacobs\u2019 business, the mere existence of ASAP Squatter Removal demonstrates the intense pressures in the East Bay\u2019s housing landscape \u2014 and points to an industry that\u2019s quietly growing in response.\u00a0<\/p>\n The East Bay\u2019s housing crunch is a breeding ground for tension The Bay Area has been buckling under an affordability crisis and housing shortage for over a decade. Oakland\u2019s homelessness numbers are at record levels, with an estimated 5,500 people lacking housing in the city. The growth in the unhoused population follows generations of underbuilding and discriminatory housing policies in the region, as well as the rising use<\/a> of highly addictive drugs and a broken mental healthcare system.<\/p>\n Yet, in spite of all the people in need of housing, thousands<\/a> of units sit vacant in the city, sometimes for years or longer, due to abandonment, family disputes, or speculation.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s impossible to know how many people are living without permission in these properties. But it\u2019s not unreasonable to assume that the long tradition of squatting<\/a> in Oakland \u2014 see: punk houses \u2014 has expanded as homes have become more unaffordable and other pressures have worsened.\u00a0<\/p>\n To Jacobs, his work is righteous. He views squatting as theft, and his job as returning property to its rightful owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d much rather make a squatter homeless than have a landlord lose property,\u201d he said in an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n In California, squatters can pursue ownership of a building after five years, far more quickly than in most other states, and the formal eviction process can be expensive and lengthy. Oakland\u2019s understaffed police department is often slow to respond or doesn\u2019t at all, in Jacobs\u2019 experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n We asked the Oakland Police Department how they handle calls about squatters.<\/p>\n \u201cOur officers will respond to investigate the nature of the call,\u201d OPD said in a statement. \u201cIf our officers determine this is a landlord-tenant issue, the case will be referred to the Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office for further investigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The sheriff\u2019s office gets involved once an eviction case has moved through court and resulted in a ruling supporting the landlord. Then, the sheriff will issue the tenant a notice, giving them at least five days to leave or obtain more time from a judge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are bound to follow California law and cannot intervene unless directed by a valid court order,\u201d sheriff spokesperson Sgt. Roberto Morales told us. \u201cWe urge property owners to rely on legal processes to avoid unintended consequences and ensure fairness for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Association of Los Angeles, has blogged<\/a> about the increasing use of \u201cvigilante squatter removers\u201d among landlords, writing that the phenomenon is a reaction to law enforcement\u2019s reluctance.\u00a0<\/p>\n This approach is \u201cfar less costly and much faster than the court system,\u201d he wrote, but noted that squatter removal is dangerous for both the squatters and the removers.<\/p>\n In a series of text messages, Jacobs wrote that the poor treatment of property owners whose buildings have been occupied is a real estate injustice scandal akin to: \u201cBlack codes, Jim Crow Segregation, deed restrictions, HOLC residential security maps, the California Alien Land Laws, Dawes Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and many more!\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cEvery one of these laws I just mentioned were in effect less than 100 years ago and they all make me sick to my stomach. Real estate laws in the US have a deep history of injustice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Insisting he uses only legal tactics in his squatter-ousting endeavors, Jacobs can rattle off a number of criminal and property laws he employs to his advantage, and others that burden property owners. He claims the targets of his operations are increasingly sophisticated criminals who may not even sleep at a given property but instead use it for illicit activity like drug dealing.<\/p>\n I\u2019d much rather make a squatter homeless than have a landlord lose property. \u201cThe work we do is constantly changing,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cIt used to be that squatting was more of a homeless activity. Then it became more like organized crime. I\u2019m kicking out a whole lot of gangs.\u201d Oakland is the center of the \u201cepidemic,\u201d he said. OPD did not respond to questions about the extent of squatting in the city.<\/p>\n The Oaklandside has reported on cases where people occupying a building without permission have caused extensive property damage, like squatters who tagged, started a fire at<\/a>, and flooded a new condo building almost ready to open in Adam\u2019s Point. But many people working in the housing field and living in precarious circumstances say assertions like Jacobs\u2019 dramatically mischaracterize most people who squat and misrepresent their motives.\u00a0<\/p>\n For housing attorneys and a former squatter we spoke with, companies like Jacobs\u2019 are symptoms of a dysfunctional system where property is treated as a profit-producing commodity instead of a shelter a person is entitled to.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only reason why businesses like this could exist,\u201d said Tobias Damm-Luhr, staff attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center<\/a>, is because \u201cpeople hoard land and housing. They create these artificial scarcities such that people who don\u2019t have a home or any other option are forced to try to live in places where they have no legal right to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Surveillance and a quick removal on Adeline Street About $250,000 in, Todd Pigott had completed the rehab of a duplex in West Oakland last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The project was one of hundreds of \u201cfix and flips\u201d his company has reported completing across the country. The place looked great, and Pigott was ready to list it.<\/p>\n Then, a person and three dogs moved into the bottom unit.<\/p>\n Pigott is used to occasional squatters. His company, ZINC Financial, is a private lender focused on distressed real estate. For years, California\u2019s law worked fine for him, he said. If there were people living in a house he was renovating, he\u2019d file an unlawful detainer \u2014 an eviction lawsuit \u2014 win the case, have the sheriffs come remove the occupants, and move on. It could cost about $1,000, but that was a relatively small business expense. <\/p>\n The COVID eviction ban, which lasted from 2020 to 2023 in Oakland, made the vast majority of evictions illegal. Landlords typically couldn\u2019t issue eviction notices or get court orders to kick people out. However, evictions of squatters \u2014 called forcible detainers, not unlawful detainers \u2014 were still permitted, tenant and municipal attorneys told us.<\/p>\n When he noticed someone living at the Adeline Street property, Pigott called the police \u2014 11 times, according to him. \u201cNobody responded,\u201d he said. \u201cAgain and again.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s when he turned to the internet and found ASAP Squatter Removal. He said he was \u201cextremely skeptical,\u201d but took a chance and reached out to Jacobs.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m outside of my element,\u201d Pigott said, recalling their first conversation. \u201cI\u2019m a father and a president of a finance company, and here I am with someone who\u2019s talking about Tier 3 body armor and close-quarters combat training. I don\u2019t really play in this arena. I walk my dog, ride my bike, go home, and hug my wife. But I\u2019m desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n He entered into a five-day agreement for surveillance and \u201csentry services\u201d for $12,500, according to a contract and invoice we reviewed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAm I ever going to see this again?\u201d Pigott remembers thinking about the large chunk of change. (In other places, Jacobs lists smaller fees for some of his services, like $700 for four days of surveillance, and referenced a much larger \u201c$120,000 contract\u201d with 24 crew members in an interview.)<\/p>\n Jacobs and his crew, Pigott said, surveilled the property as planned, eventually entering it. They \u201cgot the people out,\u201d put their belongings outside, boarded up the building, and kept watch for a few more days to make sure nobody re-entered, according to the owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacobs\u2019 approach, he raved, was \u201cvery professional and very methodical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A contractor who worked for Jacobs on this and reportedly about 20 other projects, an Iraq War veteran named Arthur Gutierrez, said the woman in the building moved out as soon as they told her to. But once someone else reportedly tried to break in, Jacobs had Gutierrez move in and live on the property for 90 days, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gutierrez started working for Jacobs after a mutual connection told him the company was looking for contractors with a background in the military. Based in the South Bay, Gutierrez said he hadn\u2019t worked in a couple of years as he was dealing with PTSD, and was feeling a \u201cvoid.\u201d The squatter gig was up his alley, and he was immediately hooked, excited about helping, in his view, \u201cto lay the foreground for a whole new industry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI understand that the homeless population is tremendously high and the amount of vacant homes per homeless person is ridiculously high too,\u201d he said. \u201cAre they wrong for just trying to survive and have basic shelter? No. But I think it falls back onto society and lawmakers and politicians for not addressing it and providing a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacobs said he worked in property management for a number of years after studying business in college. He managed apartment complexes and frequently had to deal with squatters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a learning curve process,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cHow can I get people out, and how can I do this legally? I ended up getting pretty good at it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He began offering squatter removal services on the side, which he did for several years until he quit his job and turned the squatter work into a full-time enterprise. He says he\u2019s built up a clientele of both individual property owners and corporate landlords, and claims to have about three dozen contractors he calls on to help with the properties \u2014 both residential and commercial sites. He\u2019s filmed some of his team members in videos he posts, installing boards on windows.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Jacobs takes on a job, he and his contractors sign temporary leases with the property owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n This move is his secret weapon.<\/p>\n Jacobs is a big fan of California\u2019s \u201ccastle doctrine<\/a>.\u201d The state law says someone has no duty to retreat in defending themselves against an intruder in their home. They can legally use force, even deadly force, to protect themselves \u2014 so long as the force used is proportionate<\/a> to the threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Without the castle doctrine, \u201cI\u2019d be out of business,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cIt\u2019s saved my ass.\u201d Because he always signs a lease for the properties where he\u2019s working, the home is legally \u201chis,\u201d Jacobs asserts. And as a legal occupant, he can enter it and use force to defend against \u201cintruders\u201d \u2014 squatters.<\/p>\n Flash Shelton, a prominent figure in the industry who goes by the moniker Squatter Hunter and has a TV show on A&E, also uses and encourages<\/a> the strategy of becoming a legal tenant at a property.\u00a0<\/p>\n By leasing up at the property, Jacobs is \u201cturning the tables, very appropriately and sophisticatedly,\u201d Pigott said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Asked how he contends with the fact that his work can lead to people getting harmed, Jacobs fervently justified his approach, saying he only uses force in self-defense.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not gun-happy. Why do police do their jobs and put their lives on the line? Somebody has to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in what you do,\u201d he continued, \u201cis life worth living?\u201d<\/p>\n Guns versus swords <\/p>\n Jacobs treats many of his tactics as trade secrets, for obvious reasons. He doesn\u2019t want the people he uses them against to know what to expect. But he\u2019s happy to give hints about the unconventional strategies he employs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the only company that uses swords \u2014 we love swords,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s a photo<\/a> on the ASAP Squatter Removal website of Jacobs, long hair tied back and eyebrows furrowed in concentration, wielding a sword in one gloved hand and grasping a grenade with another.\u00a0<\/p>\n In several videos he\u2019s posted, he carries what he calls a spear \u2014 two blades attached to the end of a titanium golf club.<\/p>\n The old-school weaponry is a \u201cless-lethal\u201d approach, Jacobs explained, and one that his opponents rarely know how to defend themselves against. \u201cI\u2019m recently training all my cadets in melee weapons.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also uses shotguns and assault rifles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of gear we use too,\u201d Jacobs added. \u201cBody armor is number one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And military gas masks. Why? Because he also uses smokescreens and tear gas.<\/p>\n Then there are the long-range acoustic devices, which are traditionally used to communicate across large distances.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can annoy them at night,\u201d Jacobs said about blasting extremely high-decibel sound into buildings. \u201cThey can potentially cause short-term psychosis. That\u2019s a great tactic for getting people out of the house safely.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes, according to Jacobs, ASAP Squatter Removal will get hired for a surveillance-only gig. In those cases, he said, his crew will often go undercover \u2014 say, as a guy jogging by the house who will stop to \u201cflirt with the squatter\u201d to acquire intel.<\/p>\n \u201cOne time I was dressed up as a homeless meth addict\u201d in front of a squat, Jacobs recalled, \u201cand a guy came up to me and asked me to watch their place for a few hours. I was like, \u2018Hell yeah.\u2019 Next, I\u2019m in there boarding up the property, throwing their stuff out.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacobs said he warns all the people he hires on contract about the dangers inherent to the work, and has them wear body cameras. The job application online<\/a> leads with a cautionary note: \u201cEvery job comes with real risks \u2014 you could get injured, killed, or arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI constantly tell my guys, \u2018Hey, try and make sure you\u2019re not gonna kill someone,\u2019\u201d Jacobs said. Castle doctrine or no, \u201cyou\u2019re going to get arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacobs has a bone to pick with how the police, courts, and California as a whole handle squatters. The state should strive for a system like Florida\u2019s, he said. A recent law there<\/a> requires sheriffs to immediately remove illegal occupants reported by landlords, instead of compelling property owners to pursue a longer eviction process.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Alameda County, a property owner can file an eviction lawsuit after giving notice to a tenant or occupant. If the occupant fails to quickly file an answer to the lawsuit, the landlord wins by default. If they do respond, the case continues, often for months. The vast majority of lawsuits are settled out of court, but in cases that go to trial and result in a landlord\u2019s victory, sheriffs will carry out an eviction.<\/p>\n Jacobs feels this lengthy exercise makes money for the government but is less effective than his brute-force move-ins.<\/p>\n \u201cI really disdain our legal system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A longtime tenant attorney we interviewed has a different view. Peter Selawsky of the Eviction Defense Center<\/a> in Oakland said the system can be sluggish, but it\u2019s designed to support landlords in removing tenants or squatters who shouldn\u2019t be living at their property. Despite the bureaucratic procedures that frustrate both sides, eviction court actually goes much faster than other civil processes, Selawsky noted, including because tenants don\u2019t usually have the right to counter-sue the landlord.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople\u2019s frustration with the legal system doesn\u2019t mean the other side in their case doesn\u2019t have legal rights,\u201d Selawsky said. \u201cIt\u2019s a system designed to give landlords their property back. The idea that they can\u2019t even have that, and have to resort to some sort of vigilante justice outside the system, from the perspective of tenants and their advocates, it\u2019s outrageous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s up to the court, Selwasky said, to determine who is a tenant and who is a \u201csquatter.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes Jacobs\u2019 ire is also turned on the property owners \u2014\u00a0especially those who try to trick him into forcing out rightful tenants.\u00a0<\/p>\n One time, a landlord illegally turned off her tenants\u2019 water and changed their locks, claiming they were squatters because she wanted them out, said Jacobs, who voided the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get hired by the client,\u201d he said, \u201cyou\u2019re only hearing one side of the story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A former squatter steps out of the shadows Christine Hernandez first squatted about a decade ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her family was forced to leave their Oakland home and set out to find a new rental. But this was the mid-2010s, and they were immediately confronted by the realities of the housing crisis, where East Bay rents had reached an astonishing apex. Even with two working parents, the family of six couldn\u2019t find anywhere affordable.<\/p>\n So they moved into an old abandoned drug house in Fruitvale. There was no plumbing or appliances; they installed them. The place was a wreck: they painted the walls and planted a garden.<\/p>\n During the family\u2019s tenure there, they linked up with Steven DeCaprio<\/a>, who specialized in helping people pursue adverse possession \u2014 a.k.a. squatters\u2019 rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under California law, squatters must take a number of steps to have a shot at legally claiming ownership of a property. The essential task is to openly occupy the property for five years and pay property taxes. In the meantime, they\u2019re never secure where they\u2019re staying. At one point, the bank sent a company to change the locks and shut off the water and power at the place Hernandez\u2019s family was living. They also let their dog loose.\u00a0<\/p>\n When we prioritize somebody\u2019s passive income over life, we have a problem. Hernandez, now the director of resident empowerment at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, never got ownership of the Fruitvale house and doesn\u2019t squat anymore. She lives in a big, communal Victorian<\/a> in East Oakland that\u2019s owned by a land trust and run cooperatively by tenants.<\/p>\n Hernandez has publicly shared<\/a> her family\u2019s squatting story often. That\u2019s an intentional choice.<\/p>\n \u201cThis narrative about \u2018all squatters are bad and engaged in illicit activity in properties\u2019 is why my family was willing to not do this in the shadows, but to come forward,\u201d Hernandez said during a recent interview. \u201cThere are so many people [squatting] who are unhoused, but they\u2019re just invisible. That\u2019s because you\u2019re fearful of CPS calls or other things that might compound the suffering and challenges you\u2019re already experiencing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t a romantic lifestyle. Her Fruitvale squat was in a high-crime area where a bullet flew through the window and almost hit her teenage daughter. But people living on the streets face a mortality rate<\/a> that\u2019s four times higher than housed people, for all sorts of reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we prioritize somebody\u2019s passive income over life,\u201d Hernandez said, referring to speculators and landlords, \u201cwe as a society have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n At last estimate, about two-thirds of Oakland\u2019s 5,500 homeless people were unsheltered, living in tents or vehicles, or even more dangerous circumstances.<\/p>\n The Moms 4 Housing movement<\/a> sought to shine a light on the dissonance between the homeless population and real estate speculation. A group of unhoused mothers took over an investor-owned property in West Oakland in 2019. After a forceful sheriff eviction and big protests, the city eventually facilitated the sale of the corporate-owned home to a local land trust.<\/p>\n![\"asap](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/asap-squatter-removal-10.jpg\")
James Jacobs, armed with a sword and a grenade, on the ASAP Squatter Removal website. Credit: Screenshot of asapsquatter.com. <\/p>\n
\n![\"09_Apartments_065_Middleton_230616\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/large-09_Apartments_065_Middleton_230616.jpg\")
In the wake of the pandemic and eviction moratorium, landlords are feeling resentful and tenants are feeling squeezed. Credit: Florence Middleton for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n
-James Jacobs<\/p>\n
\n![\"asap](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/asap-squatter-removal-8.jpg\")
A property owner hired Jacobs\u2019 team after a person broke into a house on Adeline Street that was ready to go on the market. Credit: Natalie Orenstein\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"no](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/no-address-ASAP-Squatter-Removal.jpg\")
The Adeline duplex is now on the market. Credit: Natalie Orenstein\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"Hayward](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/large-Hayward-Hall-of-Justice.jpg\")
All eviction cases in Alameda County are heard at the Hayward Hall of Justice. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20230119-172534.jpg\")
RCA, an infamous former punk squat later slated for redevelopment, is part of Oakland\u2019s long history of squatting. Credit: Amir Aziz<\/p>\n
-Christine Hernandez<\/p>\n