What’s now a vacant lot was once a home that had fallen into disrepair and devolved into a makeshift junkyard and haven for squatters.
LAFAYETE, Ind. (WLFI) — In a case of legal limbo, a historic home became a scrapyard and squatter-house.
In the first of a multi-part series on the city’s crackdown on dilapidated properties, News 18 is sharing more about the local government’s unprecedented move to tear the house down.
“As far as we could tell, it was just a lot of the homeless around Lafayette that were squatting here, trying to find a place to get out of the weather, things like that,” says Daniel Galloway, who for four years has lived in an apartment adjacent to the home at 1913 Salem St.
What’s now a vacant lot was once a home that had fallen into disrepair and devolved into a makeshift junkyard and haven for squatters.
“There were always one or two, maybe three, regulars that you would see,” Galloway says. “But the names, the faces, they just were constantly changing.”
Legal Limbo
Public records show the property is owned by a late married couple. City officials say their sons never transferred the title.
The final straw before the city took the unprecedented step of an emergency demolition: a fire in February with more than a dozen people inside.
“It could have been up to 14 people,” says Dave Thomas, a fire inspector for Lafayette Fire Department.
“There was a generator in the rear of the house with extension cords,” Thomas continues. “Wood-burner stove. … I think we probably would have had a different situation if the fire had occurred at 2 a.m. or when people are asleep. With that situation, without electricity, don’t know if they had smoke alarms.”
Problem Property
The problem property cost taxpayers more than $20,000, including $16,000 to tear the house down and four city-organized clean-ups at $1,100 each.
“We were cleaning up garbage trucks-full of trash that has accumulated on the property,” says Jay Rosen, a code enforcement officer. “We’re not talking just one garbage truck. We’re talking, probably, at least two. … It became a huge pile of trash that needed to be cleaned up.”
Now, all that remains is an empty footprint — a home leveled and lives displaced.
“I just hope those people have somewhere they can go,” Galloway says.
In part two of this series, News 18 looks at two landlords who’ve become repeat offenders.
Click here to to report a problem property in your neighborhood.
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