Home Wreckers
City Moves to Demolish Dilapidated House That Residents Call Home
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His wish may soon come true. The one-story house next door, where two sisters have lived for nearly 50 years, is about to be torn down by the city. It's an unprecedented move against an owner-occupied single-family home in Seattle.
"It's the place that I've called home my entire life," says the younger sister, tearfully. She's a pretty multiracial woman in her late 40s, with long dark hair. "We're not ready to say goodbye."
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But the city says they have to say goodbye. The house has been declared "unfit for human habitation," according to inspectors, due to years of disrepair that have left the house with a collapsing roof, water damage in the floors and ceilings, rotted wood, and broken plumbing (pictures in the city file document the extensive problems). Neighbors have been complaining for years.
The "unfit" designation means the city's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU) can order repairs or demolition. Since the cost to repair the house is roughly 85 percent of the value of the home ($99,000 to repair the house, and $117,000 to replace it, according to city estimates), the dwelling isn't worth saving, the city says. DCLU has given the sisters two options: Sell the property to someone willing to demolish (one man has already offered $60,000, which the sisters have turned down), or let the city do the demolition and give the women the estimated $19,000 wrecking bill. The sisters were supposed to list the property for sale by July 5 or face the wrecking ball.
"This all seems like a nightmare," says the younger sister, who now works in customer service after being unemployed for a year. The women have requested anonymity, citing embarrassment over the whole situation. There are issues beyond the repairs that would be embarrassing--such as a police report in the DCLU file. The police entered the house in January 2002, supposedly to conduct a welfare check on the older sister, who has health problems. Inside, the officers took detailed notes on the house--extensive piles of clutter, no running water, and a strong moldy smell--and one of the cops deemed it "the worst condition... I have ever seen, as a police officer, and in my whole life." The notes and photos were turned over to DCLU.
The sisters have resisted selling the house, instead looking into their legal options; a lawyer is seeking a restraining order to prevent demolition, possibly on the basis that police shouldn't have entered the home without a warrant, and the city should have tried harder to help the sisters make repairs. The women are citing other issues as they fight for their home: They'd like a loan, but say the city's legal fees pending against their property (for the demolition, and for an earlier case involving an old car in the driveway) are hampering them. Moreover, they say city departments have dissuaded them from doing repairs or looking into loan programs. Lastly, the woman say they've felt discriminated against due to their health, financial problems, and minority status.
But the DCLU officials say it's the home's unsafe condition that prompted them to ask a judge for permission to tear the house down--something they could do in about two weeks. What's more, according to the case file, DCLU inspectors and officials have given the women multiple opportunities to make repairs, including a 2002 offer of time to get the roof fixed or the water turned on before the city sought demolition.
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