DEARBORN — City officials and neighbors are being forced to watch as a historic Ford neighborhood home crumbles while the city waits to gain ownership.
“It is horrifically, disgustingly awful,” said Collette Cullen, who owns the house just behind the vacant site at 22668 Nona.
She has peeked in the windows and can see the mold and animal feces inside.
On hot days, the smell permeates the neighborhood, Cullen said.
The home has been vacant for years. Taxes have not been paid since 2007, and the last official owner, Harriet Layman, is dead, said Nick Siroskey, Dearborn’s director of residential services.
Apparently the heirs do not want the home or a will was never probated, he said.
The house did not have a mortgage or anyone else to step in and push for ownership.
So Dearborn can only wait for Wayne County to finally foreclose and take ownership for back taxes.
“They don’t manage properties. They auction them off,” Siroskey said of the county.
If Wayne County claims ownership this year, as it may, then Dearborn could try to buy the property this summer and might get ownership in October, Siroskey said.
“It’s a very long, tedious process,” he said.
Waiting for tax foreclosure
In theory, Wayne County could have foreclosed last year, but didn’t, probably because it could not determine where to send the required legal notifications, Siroskey said.
The address was listed in December foreclosure notices the county published in the Free Press.
Once the county forecloses, it usually gives the state and local municipality first dibs at a property. Dearborn would need to pay any back taxes and penalties. Siroskey estimated about $25,000 is owed for the house.
“Some of these taxes are owed to the city of Dearborn,” he noted. The city has also put liens on the house for the work it has done.
City has
worked on house
In the meantime, the city is doing what little it can to try to minimize the damage in case the home can be saved. Workers put a brown tarp on the roof and fixed a gutter.
“This was a minimal cost in a neighborhood with historic homes,” Siroskey said.
After a neighbor complained about the smell this spring, Siroskey went to the city’s legal department, and they were got a search warrant to enter the house.
Noxious odors are an ordinance issue and give the city power to act.
“The house is in bad condition,” Siroskey said. “There’s mold, water damage and ceilings collapsing throughout the house.” However, the noxious odor was gone.
“The inspectors did not find any evidence of any recent animal activity,” Siroskey added. The feces present in the home clearly had been there awhile.
Without compelling reason to act, the city could not try to fix anything inside a home it does not yet own.
“There’s nothing we could find to justify abating the interior,” he said.
If the smell returns during the summer heat, the city could try again.
Fixing the inside of someone else’s house would be an oddity for the city.
Neighborhood group involved
Dearborn is looking to the Ford Homes Historic District Neighborhood Association for what happens once it gets possession.
“We’ve been investigating what we’d have to do to save the house,” said Association President Gary Henderson.
Some neighbors feel strongly the home should be saved and others just want it to come down.
Houses in the district were built starting in 1919 by a development company owned mostly by Clara Ford and her son, Edsel. The intention was to make comfortable homes for some of the 500 workers at Ford’s tractor plant.
The home at 22668 Nona is two stories, and visibly neglected. Tattered notices droop from the front door, and bushes nearly cover the steps leading to the entrance. A recycling bin with a weathered notice still sits on the front curb, possibly a resident there since the city delivered them last July.
However, the lawn is mowed and the only visible sign of true decay is the plastic tarp tightly bound to the roof.
Henderson said the decision about saving the house will come down to how much it would cost to repair it. Homes in the area are selling for much less than they used to, he noted. Similar-sized homes for sale in the neighborhood are listed for between $109,000 and $160,000.
“It’s problematic to make a business case (for restoration) in this economy,” he said.
Revitalizing home would be costly
Dearborn could not fix the house on its own because the federal money it has for such work targets the poorer northeastern section of town, Siroskey said.
Dearborn has bought about 400 homes over the last several years. The average tax sale cost was $17,000, and most homes were then demolished. Often, the empty lots are sold back to neighbors.
“The city has taken the worst homes off the marketplace,” he said.
That could be the fate for the home on Nona Street.
“I’m hopeful that someone would come and fix the house,” he said. But each month that passes makes that less likely to happen, and the lower home values may be the final nail in the coffin.
“It’s probably a six-digit fix,” Siroskey said.
“I can understand the neighbors are frustrated,” Henderson said, “We’re sort of stuck right now until ownership is resolved.” Cullen, though, is tired of waiting. She has watched her cat use the property as a litter box and drag home rats from the site. The stench on hot, humid days permeates the neighborhood.
“I get migraines, and I get sick from it,” Cullen said.
She proudly lives in a Ford Historic home and understands why some want to be patient and try to preserve the sight, but she disagrees.
“I don’t have a problem with blight, but I have a huge problem with a house making me sick,” she said.
Katie Hetrick covers education and other issues. She can be reached at katie_hetrick@hotmail.com.
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