City can’t keep up with condemned homes in Pueblo
Daniel Harsh wakes up to it every single day: a burned out home, right across the street.
The home is an eyesore here on West 16th in Pueblo: burned walls, charred porch, ashy smell.
He and his neighbors want it gone — fixed — dealt with.
The squatters don’t seem to mind, though, judging by the piles of trash, clothes, and feasting flies.
“Nobody wants to take responsibility of it. It’s trashed. I just want something done to help remedy the problem,” said the exasperated neighbor.
The house caught fire in January, 2017, and not much has changed since. The homeowners haven’t responded to letters from Pueblo Regional Building. By all appearances, the home is destined for condemnation, unless the owners hurry and respond.
But, even if the home reaches condemnation, it likely will sit for an undetermined amount of time.
Why? The city just doesn’t have enough money to raze the number of condemned buildings in Pueblo.
To date, homes have been on the condemned list nearing ten years. But homes that catch fire — which are more frequent the last couple of years, due to trespassers — are structurally unsound and automatically become a priority for demolition.
In the majority of these cases, home insurance was non-existent.
“It’s all funding. It’s all funding-related,” said Sam Vigil, Engineering Manager for Pueblo Public Works. “If we had a pool of money, we could attack them all at once. Unfortunately, our pot of money is limited. We’re just trying to keep up with keeping them safe.”
It would take at least $500,000 to fix the current list of condemned homes in Pueblo; the Public Works Department has $200,000 at its disposal.
Managers, though, have to use the money wisely in anticipation of other vacant or condemned homes catching fire and posing a safety risk. Once a home is demolished, any given property likely stays a vacant lot: anyone who wants to build a new home on a demolished lot would have to not only buy the property, but the lien money it took to tear down the condemned home.
It all amounts to a costly — and unsightly — problem in Pueblo.
