City Struggles to Upkeep Homes on Bank Foreclosures Listings

City workers of District Heights in Maryland are being kept busy by the growing number of homes on bank owned foreclosure listings. The city has taken over the task of ensuring that foreclosed homes will not become blights to neighborhoods.

According to Brian Edwards, public works supervisor at District Heights, as many as six employees and about two hours are needed to deal with waist-high grass on one home on bank foreclosure listings.

However, city employees have no choice but to make time to ensure that these foreclosed properties will not become menace to the community. The maintenance of foreclosure properties in the city was taken over by code enforcement departments and public works in the central area municipality.

But the city is having difficulty getting in touch with banks or individuals who own the homes on bank foreclosure listings or maintain regular services.

According to John Lamarre, city code inspector, his office issued citations of dead tree limbs on streets, trash and high grass on 33 foreclosed homes since May. The city has an estimated 135 townhouses and 1,597 single-family properties.

Edwards said the city’s public works has trimmed and cut almost 21 lawns since last month. On the other hand, Lamarre said that grasses on properties that public works had first attended to are now taller or waist-high and needed attention again.

Edwards explained that public works designates one day a week for the maintenance of abandoned, vacant and foreclosed homes. He claimed that the extra attention provided on foreclosure properties are using up the time that usually should be spent on mowing common area lawns in the city, collecting litter and street cleaning.

He added that members of code enforcements tried to get in touch with property owners and gave them a 72-hour ultimatum to get their properties in shape before the city takes over. Bank-owned properties in the city are estimated to be around 27.

Lamarre pointed out that some banks are receptive towards the campaign and requested the city to send them the bill for the total costs of maintenance. However, some banks also opted to ignore the city’s notification.

Meanwhile, to help ease the burden of maintaining homes on bank foreclosure listings, the District Heights Commissioners approved the hiring of four young people to work part-time to maintain the abandoned and foreclosed homes.

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