Squalor, crime follow wave of foreclosures

Thieves also have looted some empty homes, stripping them of electrical appliances or valuable copper wiring and pipes that can be sold as scrap, he said.

Banks aren't watching foreclosed properties closely, said Modesto, Calif., Police Chief Roy Wasden.

"As it gets colder, (squatters) will start building fires in these structures and it's quite dangerous," he said.

Franklin Reserve resident Susan McDonald said two of the homes on her block were turned into indoor marijuana farms. Both caught fire last summer after the pot growers tapped into the city's electric grid with faulty wiring.

But McDonald, who has lived in the community for three years and is president of the residents' association, jokes that they make better neighbors than some.

"The pot growers, they mow their lawns, they take out their garbage," said McDonald, an executive at a local bank. "There's been gang activity. Things have really been changing the last few years."

Crime reports in Franklin Reserve rose 45 percent in May, to 100 from 69 in the same month last year, but record-keeping changed when Elk Grove created its own police force in August 2006, said Officer Chris Trim, spokesman for the Elk Grove Police Department

To deter crime, the community policing unit is charged with working with code enforcement officers on problems such as unkempt homes and patrol officers swing past vacant homes as part of their normal duties. But there has been no increase in police budget, overtime or staff as a result of the empty homes.

Meanwhile, the neighbors are doing what they can. One Sunday last month, two dozen church members gathered their lawn mowers and weed trimmers and cleaned up 27 vacant homes.

"We had weeds that were almost eye-level high," said Steve Steele, pastor of the Tree of Life Community Church. "If no one was home, we just kind of did it good Samaritan style."

In Shaker Heights near Cleveland, neighbors of the planned community of $1 million Tudor homes can report a foreclosed or vacant house, and the address goes on a police watch list. Of 13,000 housing units in Shaker Heights, 330 are under surveillance by patrol cars and undercover officers, police Chief Walter Ugrinic said.

RealtyTrac reported that Ohio is fifth in the nation with one foreclosure filing for every 107 households.

The city repairs vacant homes if recalcitrant owners won't, bills the owner and, if unpaid, a lien is filed. So far this year, the city has spent $800,000 to fix up 44 properties, up from $500,000 in 2006. Typical repairs include fixing roofs and painting, with an emphasis on problems visible from the street.

Additionally, before a house is sold, it must pass a housing inspection, which includes a repair-cost escrow requirement created in 2000.

This encourages owners of vacant or foreclosed properties to make repairs, said Kamla Lewis, director of neighborhood revitalization.

"Our goal is that when you drive through, you shouldn't be able to tell right away which of the houses are vacant and foreclosed," Lewis said.

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