Abandoned housing

[micropolitan guy]

Off on a tangent here, inspired by watching "Midlife Stockman," "Bargain Block," "The Wire" and other shows that frequently show blocks of abandoned housing in this country.

I despair at abandoned housing, I view it as such a failure when so many people in this country need affordable housing. Yes, I know the problem is far more complex than, "Just rehab abandoned housing and move families in," but there has to be some kind of a solution to match A (abandoned housing) with B (people who need affordable housing).

I see those houses (many of them beautiful at one point) on TV and think, it was not always so, they were once homes (there's a difference). In my imagination homes are living, breathing things. Families lived there, they celebrated birthdays, proms, anniversaries, etc., there. Those homes that now sit empty were full of life and laughter and tears and joy and hugs, not just deteriorating, abandoned buildings with trash strewn all about.

Kids played baseball, football, kick the can, over the line, capture the flag and other games in those overgrown back yards. Dads played catch with their children. Parents sat with their friends on the patios and porches and talked about their hopes and dreams. Dads washed their cars every weekend in the driveway.

Those houses were a dream come true for some guy on a European or Pacific or Korean or Vietnamese battlefield, just praying he could return to the US safely and start a family and start a life. They were a dream for the woman working for the "Arsenal of Democracy" while their husband, boyfriend, son or brother was away at war. They often were the first homes for families taking advantage of GI Bill housing benefits and starting to live the American dream.

Girls had their first kiss on the front steps of those abandoned homes, after being dropped off after a date. Children were conceived inside; some family members died inside. Kids parked their bikes in the driveway at night afer riding around the neighborhood, parents stood on the front steps and watched their children head off to school every morning. The father/mother could come home after a hard day of work, sit in the living room, crack open a beer and listen to a baseball game on the radio or turn on the TV.

Those forlorn mailboxes once held the college acceptance letters that changed lives, or the draft notices that, unfortunately, ultimately ended some. They held letters filled with news from grandparents, sisters, brothers, etc., who may have moved away. Sometimes, young men left those houses behind, headed off for military service and never returned.

The houses had soul, life, vitality and were part of the urban fabric and neighborhoods that helped mold millions of lives.

Sorry for the rant. I had a hard time falling asleep last night, and this just started percolating in my brain. It just kills me to see once-inhabited homes empty, abandoned and falling apart. A always wonder, "What ever happened for this to happen to such a nice home?'

 

[Songbird]

I took many long walks around Trenton and photographed a lot of heartbreaking visuals such as this one in 2011.

Still basically looks like that. It's one of the reasons Trenton is still Trenton.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

We have a semi-abandoned house across the street slightly to the right of our house.

Nobody has lived there since even before we bought our place in 2001. The elderly neighbors who had been living across from us a couple of doors down from the abandoned place said it had been empty for years.

The house is maybe 800 square feet. It was built in the 1800s, but is falling apart from decades of neglect. The back wall of the place has collapsed.

And the crazy thing is that there's actual ownership of the place. There are two stories that the old couple told us. One is that the man who lived there died, and one of the kids wanted to preserve the place as he had died as a memorial. Which really makes a crappy memorial. The other story is that the place is owned by family members who don't get along and refuse to agree on selling the place. I'm inclined to think that parts of both stories are true.

Years ago, there were some abandoned rusty cars and a pickup truck in the weedy area that serves as the driveway. One day, a flatbed truck and a crane came by and picked the vehicles up and put them on the truck. That was an amusing way for my toddler son to spend an afternoon.

At least once, the place was going to go to auction for non-payment of taxes, but the family paid the back taxes before the place could be sold.

Every few years, a family member comes by and cleans the place up a little as the village orders them to do so. One time, my wife went over to politely talk about the place and a woman told her to mind her own business.

For years, our neighbor next to us on our side would park an extra vehicle in their weedy driveway. My mother would do so too sometimes. But every so often, one of the family members will come by, string a heavy metal chain across the driveway; and put a no trespassing sign up. Once I a while, one of the adult sons of our next door neighbor will get fed up, cut the chain and park his truck there until the chain is put back up.

We're all like, you don't use this ****ing place anyways; you disappear for years at a time; we all have to look at this ****ty eyesore every day so why do you care if we park there once in a while. But it is what it is.

At least it's quiet.

 

[waterytart]

Cue Twilight Zone music.

 

[John]

There is a house near me that was once a lovely 4BR (I'm guessing) with a big front yard. Now, it looks like nobody has lived there for at least five years. My wife and I are new-ish to the neighborhood and don't know what happened, but it appears the owners passed away and whoever inherited it can't or won't do anything with it. The land alone is probably worth $500K. Nuts.

 

[micropolitan guy]

One abandoned house can be a blight on an entire city block.

 

[Turtle Wexler]

It's not even just blight anymore.

I recently lived in a metro area that often ends up in the news on housing topics. In the area serviced by the local public elementary school (so maybe 300 houses?) there were dozens of single-family houses that were not being used as residences.

What I mean by that: Many were bought by investors and are being used as short-term rentals. Several were bought for use as "group homes" (halfway houses, disabled adults, foster youth homes, etc.).

But at least 20 had been bought by some company under a shady LLC with the intention of sitting vacant. No disrepair, monthly landscaping upkeep, etc. But not flipped/sold, not rented, not used, just empty. It was entirely to choke supply and raise prices.

You drive through the area and it doesn't look "bad" at all ... but they're about to close that elementary school because the neighborhood homes no longer have children in them, for a bunch of reasons.

 

[Gym Beam]

Off on a tangent here, inspired by watching "Midlife Stockman," "Bargain Block," "The Wire" and other shows that frequently show blocks of abandoned housing in this country.

Watching this week's Midlife Stockman, I had almost the same thought -- why can't we house people in these abandoned structures? Surely it would be a better use of resources than shelters, etc., in many cases. Some really nice little neighborhoods blighted by these hovels.

 

[Here me roar]

In general we do a s***** job of converting abandoned or non-used buildings, whatever, into housing. And like someone said these LLC's buying up property to manipulate the market is a problem. It should be outlawed.

 

[MisterCreosote]

We had a house behind us that was torn down due to blight a few years ago.

The guy inherited it from his parents and it was paid off. But he still couldn’t afford any upkeep, to the point that the roof caved into his attic and he just threw a giant tarp up there whenever it rained.

There’s also a literal bamboo forest in the yard where all the neighborhood toughs go to smoke weed.

When they tore it down, all the critters that were living there flooded the rest of the neighborhood, so that was awesome.

It’s a decent plot that’s probably worth close to $500k for the land alone, but it has sat empty since the county tore the house down. Not sure why.

 

[wicked]

Boston is starting to repurpose its surplus office space downtown into residential. It’s badly needed. Rents here are jacked up, thanks to folks turning triple deckers into Airbnb rentals.

I think about how Detroit tore down swaths of abandoned buildings about 15 years ago. It was a shame but they needed to do it.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I drive through places near where I live, and every once in a while I see houses that were well-kept 15 years ago falling apart. I'm sure most of it is because the resident died and heirs let the place fall into neglect rather than sell the property.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

There's a pseudo abandoned house three doors down from us. I say pseudo because the owner - a former city director - still lives in town. He and his wife bought a bigger house across town about the time we bought our house 25 years ago. So while nobody lives there, he does come by once per week to mow and check on the place. I've approached him multiple times about buying it and he won't sell, won't even discuss it, because he wants to move back. His wife doesn't, so it sits empty.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Packard Plant Detroit Redevelopment Plans - RAW Detroit

Big news in Detroit about redevelopment of the Packard plant, which has been abandoned since the late 1950s.

Unlike previous plans, this one seems to have legitimate legs.

 

[micropolitan guy]

They will also be converting the abandoned, historic Higginbotham School near 8 Mile in the Oak Grove neighborhood into affordable housing and apartments.

 

[wicked]

Can someone in Michigan explain to me how a high-profile site like that sits undeveloped *for 70 years*?

I'm sure the environmental costs will be massive and that's one angle, but not even knocking it down for another auto plant? I don't follow the industry but surely there have been newer plants built in Detroit since then. I'm sure Detroit having no functional city government for years was another factor.

 

[micropolitan guy]

There are entire neighborhoods in Detroit that have emptied out over the years. One is Delray, down by the new Gordie Howe Bridge. Used to be home to about 20K, now 2K. Was Hungarian, but they all moved out.

It will be interesting to see if the bridge sparks redevelopment. I'm not sure how much of the land is owned by the bridge commission and is no longer residential/commercial. I'm sure truckers coming over from Canada (or leaving for Canada) would like a place to fuel up with cheaper US gas.

How about a Buc-ee's or a huge Flying J or Pilot or Marathon?

 

[dixiehack]

Buc-ee’s doesn’t service trucks. If you aren’t bringing them fuel or merch, they don’t want your rig on the property.

 

[WolvEagle]

I live in suburban Detroit and work in the city. Developers have had grand plans for the Packard plant over the years, but the cleanup/redevelopment costs have been way more than various developers can afford.

As far as Delray, Marathon has a refinery a few minutes from the new bridge, but it's one of the biggest polluters in one of the most polluted ZIP codes in the country. I'm not sure any truck stop operator would want to set up shop in Delray - the industrial belch and run-down area make it undesirable. If it happens, though, more power to them.

A twist to this discussion: There's an abandoned high school a couple towns over from where I live. It was built in the mid-50s and closed in the mid-80s. A couple charter schools have moved in and out, and it's owned by a church, but not used and on the edge of foreclosure. A few months back, I saw a presentation (as part of my job) by a nearby homeless shelter operator close to where my Dad used to work, and they said they need more rooms urgently. After the presentation, I suggested said abandoned high school in a low-income, but fairly well-maintained, neighborhood - it has everything they're looking for, presuming that the mechanicals/infrastructure are still good. And, it's in the same school district that the current shelter is in. I'm curious to see if anything comes of it.

 

[I Should Coco]

I live in suburban Detroit and work in the city. Developers have had grand plans for the Packard plant over the years, but the cleanup/redevelopment costs have been way more than various developers can afford.

As far as Delray, Marathon has a refinery a few minutes from the new bridge, but it's one of the biggest polluters in one of the most polluted ZIP codes in the country. I'm not sure any truck stop operator would want to set up shop in Delray - the industrial belch and run-down area make it undesirable. If it happens, though, more power to them.

A twist to this discussion: There's an abandoned high school a couple towns over from where I live. It was built in the mid-50s and closed in the mid-80s. A couple charter schools have moved in and out, and it's owned by a church, but not used and on the edge of foreclosure. A few months back, I saw a presentation (as part of my job) by a nearby homeless shelter operator close to where my Dad used to work, and they said they need more rooms urgently. After the presentation, I suggested said abandoned high school in a low-income, but fairly well-maintained, neighborhood - it has everything they're looking for, presuming that the mechanicals/infrastructure are still good. And, it's in the same school district that the current shelter is in. I'm curious to see if anything comes of it.

That would be interesting, @WolvEagle … usually they take old, abandoned motels for that purpose, since they’re basically small apartments anyway. But I could see that working with a pre-1970 school building, before they went to the wide-open floor plans.