The Foreclosed Nightmare of Cleveland

cleveland-foreclosures

The foreclosed nightmare of Cleveland is staring the country in the face as it stands unresolved and menacing. Today OVV (an art term) now denotes open-vacant-vandalized houses – blights that have popped up similar to prairie dogs. These units are either boarded up or un-boarded but sure targets for squatters and vandals. The city authorities are failing to keep up with shifting trespassers. Sometimes they block the front entrance with a piece of ply to make a show of being boarded up. A neighbour once called up the police when she saw smoke coming out of an apparently empty house. Later it was found that some youth were cooking inside.

In Hosmer Street one fourth of the houses were abandoned. Some are piled with sticks and branches. In another abandoned house stealthy footsteps could be heard. The vagrants however do not carry guns. They are wary of the fact that this could lead to a more serious prison term. There are rules even for OVV’s!

Finding piles of timber is serious matter as it leads to outbreaks of fire. So far in one ward there had been 60 fires in a year. The squatters either light it to keep themselves warm or many kids playing pranks. The city officials want desperately that these houses should just disappear. Many feel that the houses should be razed to the ground. These are either too old or inhabitable. There is hardly any resale value of these units. It is calculated one million Repo houses are dotting the country. Each house stands derelict for about eight months at the least. The time period of languish is slowly growing. One service company offered to give for free some foreclosed houses but the city wanted demolition charges. The deal never came through.

In last summer $3.9 billion had been apportioned by the Congress as emergency funds for the cities to enable them to acquire and refurbish foreclosed units. More money is also flowing in under new stimulus package. The venture has been named Neighborhood Stabilization Program. But Cleveland and few other cities had to argue convincingly to prove to Congress that in their cities stabilization meant pulling down the units and not repairing them. Recently Cleveland has taken the decision to use $25.5 million that has been allotted to demolish 1,700 houses. This clearing up will allow for giving the city a new image.