The abandoned homes in areas such as Detroit and Stockton are hurting neighborhoods–badly.
But they’re helping some poor, remarkably enough.
There is a bright spot for some of these abandoned houses.
Many of these homes, usually foreclosures, experience transients moving in, stealing power, tearing apart walls for copper plumbing and setting fires to make drugs or heat the home. Police are struggling in many neighborhoods to keep this under control (Source: Yahoo Real Estate). There is a consistent problem with crimes and thefts in foreclosed homes. In the past, these thieves would steal from the outside of the home; now they steal from inside, too–with little repercussion. Even the local humane society shelters are over capacity with pets left behind.
However, there is a bright side here–finally.
Some charities, such as Habitat for Humanity, are buying the homes, fixing up the abandoned properties and taking advantage of the low-prices for the homes–basically shells by the time they’re robbed and stripped of valuable wiring and plumbing. Charities are now starting to get these shells for rock-bottom prices and using volunteer labor to turn them into housing for the poor.
Dani
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 8:13 pm and is filed under Avoiding Foreclosure, Foreclosure, foreclosure scam, foreclosure crime, abandoned homes, habitat for humanity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
