CLEVELAND — Gloria Allen and her family report they've been living with an imminent safety hazard next-door to their Cleveland Slavic Village home for more than a year, an abandoned home on the verge of collapse.
Allen told News 5 she and her surrounding neighbors on Rosewood Avenue have been dealing with the dilapidated vacant home for far too long, and said they've reported the home to the City of Cleveland several times with no results. Allen said falling debris from the house into her property is a weekly issue, and she's concerned a buckling wall will topple into her home.
“All this stuff fell and I have a brother who lives upstairs, he had to clean it up, he had a flat tire the other day, and I get flat tire all the time," Allen said. "When the snow comes I’m afraid it’s going to bring the house down further.”
Allen's daughter, Keturah Allen, told News 5 her family reported the home to Cleveland City Council member Kevin Bishop, but so far they haven't heard back from him.
We just want something to be done about it, it's a vacant property, people are taking shelter, animals are also taking shelter in it, Allen said. "It’s just putting us an the other families over here in danger."
“The shrapnel that’s falling, especially when it gets windy, it gets rainy and God forbid when snow comes again, everything starts to fall in the driveway. So I can’t imagine what the walls on the inside look like, or the roof considering how much of the roof has fallen in our driveway."
Slavic Village community activist Ed McDonald, who recorded drone video of the collapsing roof, told News he also tried to contact the City of Cleveland about the potentially dangerous vacant home. McDonald believes needed demolition of abandoned, condemned homes and structures have slowed down citywide this year, and he hopes the city will work toward improving demolition response time.
“This is crazy, that whole side of the house looks like its about to come down," McDonald said. "I contact 311 about this homes, I haven’t gotten any response, in two emails, I actually emailed again today to see if there is an update on this. I haven’t gotten anything, nothing from the council person, nothing from the city.”
“Things have actually slowed down, we’re being told there isn’t any demo funding, we’re being told there isn’t any funding as far even renovating these houses. What we need is action, before stuff like this happens where it falls in."
News 5 contacted Cleveland Director of Building and Housing Sally Martin O'Toole, and Cleveland Ward 2 Councilman Kevin Bishop about this case, and Martin responded immediately.
Martin quickly turned the collapsing home on Rosewood Avenue over to the city chief building official for emergency condemnation, and the process she said will get going within two weeks.
Martin also made it clear they will step-up demolitions citywide in the coming months with the resetting of its demotion bureau, $15 million in federal pandemic dollars committed to demolitions as we head into 2023. Martin said state demolition funding is on the way from the Ohio Department of Development, which should provide for 301 demolitions in the next several months.
Martin also stressed her department also has funding and a new plan to try and save more distressed homes and structures for renovation instead of just sending them to the backhoe or wrecking ball.
“We still definitely have a blight removal job to do in the city of Cleveland, we have still not finished the work," Martin said. "We want to be very thoughtful about how we undertake demolitions in the city, so we have restructured our demolition bureau. We also want to look at opportunities to save housing and preserve the fabric of neighborhoods, so that’s also a critical priority for us.”
Martin said the city took down 489 blighted homes and structures in 2021, and even though the city has only taken down 118 in the first nine months of 2022, she pledged the city will step up its efforts before the end of the year. Martin said 750 condemned or vacant homes and structures remain on the demolition waiting list.
Meanwhile, Keturah Allen is hoping the city will take down the hazardous home next-door as soon as possible.
"Does someone need to be injured, does something have to happen," Allen said. "It’s been here for so long and nothing’s been done about it, and we’ve been trying to get in contact to get it fixed.”
