HOUSTON—For many area residents, they are a common nightmare: abandoned homes with overgrown weeds, broken windows, junk cars and trouble with a capital “T.”
Trouble, because such places are magnets for drug dealing and prostitution, or squatters that can end up breaking into your own home.
Local government is supposed to track down the owners of these problem properties and make them pay, but what happens when the owners turn out to be “local government?”
That’s what Investigative Reporter Jeremy Rogalski found when he analyzed violation records for local blight laws: hundreds of such troubled properties in the hands of the City of Houston and Harris County.
Case in point: An elderly woman in the Third Ward who asked us to withhold her name for fear of reprisal:
“You’re scared to sit outside, you’re afraid to do anything,” she said.
Why? Because just steps from her home is a haven for local criminals. We found an abandoned building littered with liquor bottles, some doubling as drug-cooking devices. A quick tour inside revealed soiled mattresses, condoms and the smell of human waste.
In fact, Houston Police made 28 arrests there for drugs, prostitution and other crimes in a year and a half period alone. They even discovered a number of felony fugitives hiding out there.
And where was the owner during all of this? It turns out, right under our proverbial noses: Harris County is listed as the property owner during this time.
But this is just one story among many uncovered by the 11 News Defenders. Tune in at 10 p.m. as Investigative Reporter Jeremy Rogalski confronts city and county officials about foot dragging and finger-pointing that may have ended up putting you in peril.
