COLUMBUS, Ga. – Abandoned homes in the Columbus area attract bugs, rats, and even homeless people. There are more than 100 homes on the City of Columbus’ demolition list. Jeannie Brinson lives next to one of those homes on Meritas Drive.
“It scares me. How can I sleep? I don’t know who is going in here and why they’re in there. You hear noises all night,” said Brinson.
She says homeless people are staying in the vacant homes. For example, this homeless man, 60-year-old Wayne Parmer, was found in a vacant home last October. The coroner says he died from cardiac arrest. Exactly who is in charge of fixing the problem? Director of Inspections and Codes John Hudgison explains the process.
“We want the property owner to take care of it because it is in all intents and purposes their property so we want them to do it and we will assist them in any way we can,” said Hudgison.
If you live near an abandoned home. Here’s what you can do. Call the Citizens Services Office. Property maintenance inspectors will do an initial inspection. The owner is then notified and a hearing is held. Next, the property owner gets a letter.
“That owner has 45 days to comply with the complaints to either say hey we’re going to repair it or no we’re going to demolish it,” said Hudgison. “You’ve got family members or next of kin or people that live here that don’t live here. We’ve got a couple properties that’s owners are in Texas so, trying to get that person in to get the information to them to let them know this process is started.”
Next comes the demolition hearing, which is the fourth Wednesday of every month.
“We give them another letter depending on the assessment that we’ve done on the property. If it’s over 50 percent, we tell them that we suggest that you get it torn down. And if it’s under 50 percent, that if you have plans to rehab it you know we’d like to hear that so, we know that the process is moving forward,” said Hudgison.
The city’s demolition contractor prices the job.
“They do asbestos samples. They check the property out. They give us a cost of what it will cost for them to tear it down and dispose of it properly,” said Hudgison.
If the property owner hasn’t done anything, it goes to city council.
“We’ve met some of them on site and told us they were going to do things and we come back 30 days later and they haven’t done it so, we’re to the point where we take it to council and get approval from council to demolish the buildings,” said Hudgison.
The property owner will get billed from the city if city’s contractor demolishes the house.
One homeowner has hired a private contractor to clean the home out and tear it down, instead of the city having to pay thousands of dollars to tear the home down.
“This property is basically unsound property, which is a danger to the neighborhood,” said Teresa Young.
Hudgison says inspectors come out every 30 days to check on this property, as well as all of the properties on their list until they look like this.
“We don’t consider a case closed until it is raised to the ground. There is grass growing in the lot,” said Hudgison.
Brinson is anxiously waiting for this house to be raised to the ground.
“It makes us seem like we are slum people. We got businesses over here,” said Brinson.
Dora Davo owns a car repair shop across the street.
“It’s sad to see how it is right now because thirty years ago we lived there and we moved out. To see it everyday going down is worse and worse. We’d rather see it demolished,” said Davo.
Hudgison says the whole process usually costs between $6,000 to $8,000. He says they get 15 to 20 calls a day about vacant homes, but most of those homes are already on their list.
It is illegal for people to enter an abandoned home, but Columbus Police say they don’t get too many calls about it.
Resource: http://wrbl.com
“It scares me. How can I sleep? I don’t know who is going in here and why they’re in there. You hear noises all night,” said Brinson.
She says homeless people are staying in the vacant homes. For example, this homeless man, 60-year-old Wayne Parmer, was found in a vacant home last October. The coroner says he died from cardiac arrest. Exactly who is in charge of fixing the problem? Director of Inspections and Codes John Hudgison explains the process.
“We want the property owner to take care of it because it is in all intents and purposes their property so we want them to do it and we will assist them in any way we can,” said Hudgison.
If you live near an abandoned home. Here’s what you can do. Call the Citizens Services Office. Property maintenance inspectors will do an initial inspection. The owner is then notified and a hearing is held. Next, the property owner gets a letter.
“That owner has 45 days to comply with the complaints to either say hey we’re going to repair it or no we’re going to demolish it,” said Hudgison. “You’ve got family members or next of kin or people that live here that don’t live here. We’ve got a couple properties that’s owners are in Texas so, trying to get that person in to get the information to them to let them know this process is started.”
Next comes the demolition hearing, which is the fourth Wednesday of every month.
“We give them another letter depending on the assessment that we’ve done on the property. If it’s over 50 percent, we tell them that we suggest that you get it torn down. And if it’s under 50 percent, that if you have plans to rehab it you know we’d like to hear that so, we know that the process is moving forward,” said Hudgison.
The city’s demolition contractor prices the job.
“They do asbestos samples. They check the property out. They give us a cost of what it will cost for them to tear it down and dispose of it properly,” said Hudgison.
If the property owner hasn’t done anything, it goes to city council.
“We’ve met some of them on site and told us they were going to do things and we come back 30 days later and they haven’t done it so, we’re to the point where we take it to council and get approval from council to demolish the buildings,” said Hudgison.
The property owner will get billed from the city if city’s contractor demolishes the house.
One homeowner has hired a private contractor to clean the home out and tear it down, instead of the city having to pay thousands of dollars to tear the home down.
“This property is basically unsound property, which is a danger to the neighborhood,” said Teresa Young.
Hudgison says inspectors come out every 30 days to check on this property, as well as all of the properties on their list until they look like this.
“We don’t consider a case closed until it is raised to the ground. There is grass growing in the lot,” said Hudgison.
Brinson is anxiously waiting for this house to be raised to the ground.
“It makes us seem like we are slum people. We got businesses over here,” said Brinson.
Dora Davo owns a car repair shop across the street.
“It’s sad to see how it is right now because thirty years ago we lived there and we moved out. To see it everyday going down is worse and worse. We’d rather see it demolished,” said Davo.
Hudgison says the whole process usually costs between $6,000 to $8,000. He says they get 15 to 20 calls a day about vacant homes, but most of those homes are already on their list.
It is illegal for people to enter an abandoned home, but Columbus Police say they don’t get too many calls about it.
Resource: http://wrbl.com
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