Floyd Squires, who gained a Teflon reputation for his ability to evade decades of legal attempts by the city of Eureka, his tenants and neighbors to hold him responsible for unsafe conditions and pervasive problems at many of his properties, has died. He was 76.
The cause of his death on Sept. 18 was cardiac arrest in connection with a choking incident, according to his death certificate.
Long known for owning a multitude of rundown apartment complexes and homes across a region beset by a shortage of low-income housing, Squires also gained a reputation for taking in tenants no one else would, including those with histories of evictions and bad credit.
The city of Eureka was embroiled in prolonged legal battles with Squires and his wife Betty over code violations that culminated in its January of 2011 filing of a receivership case in an attempt to wrest control over nearly 30 properties within city limits away from Squires and his wife in order to bring the units up to standard.
In the end, several were condemned by the city, including the Blue Heron Lodge on Broadway, where Kentucky Fried Chicken now stands.
In a series of twists and turns stemming from that case, which the Squireses and the city settled in December of 2020, the couple filed for bankruptcy in 2017, which ended up seeing many of their properties sold off to pay off creditors, although some reverted back to the couple after they were determined to be in such bad condition that the agent overseeing the Squireses’ estate during the proceeding found it would not be beneficial to proceed with the sales.
According to the bankruptcy case docket, the estate continues to be liquidated. Floyd Squires last filed a document in the case Sept. 2 about title issues he needed cleared up to close escrow on some of those reverted properties.
It’s unclear what happens next with the case, in which Betty Squires is also named as a debtor, or with the properties that the couple retained.
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This article appears in The Wall.
He is all the proof you need that Humboldt hates poor people. The story of the people who rented from him are just like mine here. Oh you finally have an affordable place to live? Here comes the county to make sure it isnt. Does anyone remember the South Jetty. This county will make anything up just to make sure the homeless have to pay more and stay homeless. This isnt a free country anymore if you dont play HOA with the county they just get to seize your shit.
I never rented directly from the Squires, but have known many that did. Some of the place were not so bad but the the bad ones were really bad. So I could tell lots stories. The one example I will share is a story about an apt. I have a friend that is a County Mental Health client that lived in Squires rental. The two years he was there the stove had two working burners and a oven that would not work. He moved to a better place. A few years later, I happened to meet a woman that lived in the same apt. Yes, the same stove with two working burners and a oven that would not work. But now the apt. was in much worse condition. the door would not even lock and her stuff was always stolen. I had a door knob that did work and went over and installed it. Then was told I had to remove it and put the original back on. She was not there much longer.
theres an unusualy high population of homeless in eureka .i lived there for 20 years ,and was homeless for about 5 of those years.i lived in two of there apartments . while in eureka . i also worked closely .with betty , floyd ,and ed i think that was the main matianences guys name ,no ones going to like this but then they dont like the truth , theres nothing i can do about that .i will be back shortly as i want to tell the truth correctly so i dont want to report this hastily.i feel its inportant to do this correctly . one thing i will say now .i hope you all are not mistreating. betty now that shes alone . floyd had a very strong will .and dominated all near him .not all were as complicit. as they may have seemed . you simply whent along . he gave no other choice . shes a victom to . respect that fact .
thomas again . i thought about it ,and i said all the inportant stuff . so im done . thank you for hearing me .. youre friend thomas .
faulty news site
floyd did some hainouse stuff. and i know were he hid alot of valuable stuff. id go back and get it but its all curesed worked for them 4 years .
best to just walk away .
i used to make him so mad whole bald area would turn purple .
by doing things like fixing broken step were old people lived .had to start comming back after work .
. interesting job .ed was cool tho .