In this case, there are two wrinkles in the story that make it not representative of the average situation: * COVID created an extremely unusual circumstance a

In this case, there are two wrinkles in the story that make it not representative of the average situation: * COVID created an extremely unusual circumstance around residency law, one that we are not likely to see again in our lifetimes pending another virulent pandemic * The house (unless I misunderstood a detail of your story) wasn't stolen from its rightful owner... The rightful owner died. It's flow through the probate process was disrupted. But people have all kinds of opinions about how we will property in this country and you can definitely turn your head and squint and say "The only crime committed here is a dead woman's will was not respected, and a living person other than the one she would have chosen ended up with the house." Still, it does suck that the house went up to auction because fundamentally the people with the most claim to it can no longer afford to pay the state to maintain the right to that claim.