Drug User: Dancy Terrace / 1930 Hubbard

[Gloria]

There are a lot of drug users in Springfield. Only some of them squat.

Some of them live in really nice houses. Let's hope code doesn't start condemning those

[Debbie Thompson]

I hear 'ya. I was talking about this one, but I hear 'ya.

[fsu813]

I agree. Let's try to come up with our own solutions. MCCD is no friend of Springfield.

You say you called in code to deem the house uninhabitable? What were you thinking? Another condemned house in Springfield. The druggie squatter that gets kicked out will just squat in another house, and meanwhile the carriage house can't be cleaned up and used by anyone else.

Why do we think that the way to deal with drug users is to get houses condemned, causing it to make them hard to sell or rehab, and ultimately too often dooming them to demolition?

It's time to find a different way to deal with this issue.

What was I thinking? That a known crackhead that attracts other crackheads & prostitutes is living in the carriage house behind 1930 without water or power. And that getting the carriage house deemed unlivable (not the house, the house is secured) would get the crackhead thrown out and the carriage house boarded up properly. Coinicidentally, this particular crackhead also broke into a vacant house near me last year. Eventually he'll learn that breaking into vacant houses, buying/selling crack, and having other crackhead & prostitute friends over isn't welcomed in this neighborhood, and he just may try his chances on elsewhere. Where residents don't care as much about crime, buying & selling crack, prostitution, and breaking into vacant homes.

if you'd like to help him out, you can try to convince him to check in to Gateway Dextox in downtown. From there, he can go to Gateway residential treatment facility for 3 to 6 months, then either to the Salvation Army adult rehabilitation center for another year, City Rescue Mission for another year, or the Sulzbacher Center for about 6 to 12 months. He'll get all the help he needs to get sober, access medical care, counseling, get job training, and become a productive member of society - if he chooses to.

[Debbie Thompson]

I am not condoning drug use. I am saying that getting a house condemned to move the drug user along is not the way to handle the situation.

[iloveionia]

I agree. Calling code enforcement is not the answer. We empower them too much. They have hurt our neighborhood and will continue to do so as long as we allow them too. Contacting owners and guerilla triage IMO is a better way to go. We put the power in ourselves, not in a corrupt system. Not everyone agrees: I've seen many a post in various public arenas that advocate tearing down houses to "solve" drugs, vagrancy, and homelessness.

That said, according to the most recent unsafe structure list from MCCD, this house/property is already condemned and has been for a number of years. However, the continued care requests will rack up nuisance and board-up fines resulting in liens on the property: scarring the title and in essence "totaling" it.

[Gloria]

Save the houses.

[markusic]

I think the point of some here is that no one has walked into a party in a very nice house here in Springfield, saw the owner doing a line of coke and called MCCD to have the house condemned to get rid of the coke head. But change a few things like the nice to abandoned, the coke to crack and the same person would lead the dart team.

As to squatting, some very nice people have taken over alleys illegally, are you seeing that fence across the alley and calling code on them?

MCCD can only make the houses pay for the sins of the people. As a community, we should have learned that by now and should be looking for a better way. Perhaps by trying to help rather than hinder. It is sometimes a slower process, but much more rewarding and a more permanent fix.

Stop, think and save the houses.

[movedsouth]

I agree that MCCD isn't a solution in this case. This is not a code problem, and could would only be contributing to the demise of this house. This is a problem for the owner of the house, and maybe JSO to solve. As for the squatter: Maybe Gloria can talk to him if she knows him? Breaking into houses and squatting isn't going to safe them. I understand someone (Doug?) is trying to contact the owner of the house.

[Debbie Thompson]

My point was to agree with Dan. I didn't realize this one house was already condemned, but I was speaking to the larger issue of calling in code on the houses to deal with what are human issues, and the problems that causes for our historic homes.

As Markusic said. Stop, Think, Save the Houses.