VANDERBURGH COUNTY, In. (WEHT) — Over the last week many people have expressed their concerns over abandoned homes that haven’t been touched in the last several years and now more people are speaking on a property in their neighborhood.
Vehicles filling the yard along with trash surrounding the residence and the home in bad condition by itself led many homeowners in Vanderburgh County wondering what will be done to a property on their street.
“Everybody around here is concerned about the situation. All those cars sitting around there, there’s 20 cars sitting down there and we’re just concerned that something go wrong,” Jack Carter, a neighbor said. “Someone goes down there and starts a fire or something, cars got gas in them. They blow up it’s really going to do some damage around this area.”
Carol Kennada who lives across the street from the residence says the cars are only one of the issues.
“It’s just like living across the street from a used car lot,” Kennada explained. “I mean the house is more or less totaled all these cars sitting around. The windows are busted, you’ve got animals.”
Kennada also worries about the safety of children who play along the street.
“With all the trash and people going back there and there’s kids in the neighborhood that kind of roam back there once in a while and kind of waited and it’s like it can’t take this long,” Kennada said. “I know I called and several of the other neighbors have called the county about trying to get this cleaned up.”
Carter says this also takes down property values which he says is a concern for other neighbors as well.
“The people next door to him up there wanted to sale their house, somebody come out and take a look at it, oh I don’t want to buy it with all that junk over there and everything,” Carter said.
The home owner of the home who tells us he had inherited house from his late father and is in process of trying to sell the home.
For others who may be in question about what they can do in a similar situation, Kelly Coures executive director for the department of metropolitan development says, if a resident feels codes are broken to a neighboring residence, that person can call code enforcement and have an inspector evaluate the house. If codes are broken the property can be flagged which will lead to more steps being taken to have the situation handled.