By Faraz Javed, Jon Austin
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DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit residents living in the Collingwood and Wildemere neighborhood have spent years dealing with a blighted abandoned house — and now the city is promising action.
Julie Day, 77, lives next door to the property with her grandchildren. She says the house has been a source of fear and frustration since 2018, when ownership changed through tax foreclosure.
“This is the front door. The grass – the weeds – grow up the steps. So you can tell there’s nobody coming here for any reason. Because the porch is caved in,” Day said.
The side door of the home sits open, and Day and her neighbor Gina Peoples say people have been going in and out.
“And people are going in and out of there. They’re taking things out,” Peoples said. “It’s an environment for crime and criminals to hide out.”
Day says one squatter appeared to have mental health issues.
“We had one squatter one time, and you could tell he had mental problems because he would be in there talking to himself. And you’d think there’s other people in there,” Day said.
The neighbors also describe large rodents entering Day’s home through the backyard.
“Huge. Long, got a hump in it,” Peoples said.
Day says she tried to manage the property herself for years, even mowing the grass — but says that effort worked against her.
“We call the city. I was cutting the grass for years myself. And I was complaining to the city. But they told me, as long as you cut the grass, they’re not going to get any fines,” Day said.
Attempts to reach the current owner of the home were unsuccessful. A call to the owner’s number returned a message that the voicemail was full.
After neighbors reached out to 7 News Detroit for help, I took their concerns directly to the city. Keith Butler, the District 5 manager for the Detroit Department of Neighborhoods, responded in person.
“Obviously, with the houses being privately owned, go through BC, our building and safety department, to make sure that the owner is ticketed correctly. We’re going to work with our special team to get anything boarded up that needs to be boarded up, working with any occupants that’s not supposed to be occupying the home as well. And then we’ll work with our blight remediation team to clear as much of the blight and overgrowth and that sort of thing from the property immediately,” Butler said.
Butler said the owner has already been ticketed multiple times and has paid those fines. He also confirmed the house is on the city’s demolition list.
“So the house is also on the demolition list,” Butler said.
Butler said residents should expect to see movement quickly.
“Yeah, so you’ll start seeing some movement in the next 24 to 48 hours,” Butler said.
Butler added that similar steps are being taken to address a blighted property next to Peoples’ home as well.
“I understand what it looks like for a community to be hit really hard, but also what it looks like for a community to bounce back. And so we’re seeing that all over the city. And I love to be boots on the ground and right on the front lines to make sure that this is happening,” Butler said.
For Detroit residents facing similar issues, Butler says the city’s website is the first place to start.
“You can put your address right on the city’s website. It’ll tell you who your district managers are, who your BC inspector is, who your MPOs are. Those 3 people or three groups of people are the people that’s in the neighborhoods every day combating blight and other issues,” Butler said.
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