This issue has really blown up all of a sudden. I was completely unaware of how insane the situation had gotten, until just a few days ago.
Here's a good short Stossel video describing the problem and a solution.
In short, the police in several major cities are protecting the "rights" of violent home invaders to stay in the homes they've invaded. All the invader has to do is claim to have a lease. The police aren't even allowed to ask to see the lease. In some places, the invader is protected even if they don't claim to have a lease.
As if that weren't sick enough, the actual homeowners have been arrested for locking the invaders out. It seems obvious to me that the presumption needs to be on the side of the property owner. If they do wrongfully evict a real tenant, then the owner should face civil consequences.
If left unchecked, this is going to go to a dark place. People will not tolerate having their homes taken over by criminals. People are already resorting to vigilante services to reclaim their homes. I'm sure this will only accelerate the mass exodus we've been seeing from these cities, which will cause a death spiral for what used to be the most productive places on Earth.
How does this end? I just don't see any political will for a correction in those places.
Sats to @Bell_curve for mentioning this a couple of weeks ago, before I knew about it.