Foreclosed Houses Are Being Targeted By Squatters in St. Paul

Squatters in St. Paul are targeting foreclosed houses. It has become a serious problem. Rich Singerhouse is a supervisor from the inspector’s office of the city. He recounts going with his team and knocking on the door of a derelict property in Dayton Bluff locality of St. Paul after sweeping the back garden with flashlights. Once a week he and his colleagues makes surprise nightly visits to vacant reo houses to hone down on illegal occupants. In this particular house they peered into trash bins, looked around for vehicles and peered through windows for tell tale signs. After being assured they moved away.

In Minnesota there are over 20,000 reo homes that have gone through foreclosure in 2008. Like magnets they attract thieves and vagrants. It is not always the vagrants and anti-socials that target these houses but also those who are genuinely in need of shelter during these hard economic times. Steve Magner of St. Paul’s vacant building programme said, “Maybe it sounds mean or Grinch-ish but the fact remains that there’s a life- safety issue. We will fall on our swords for life safety.”

Recently there has been a fall in the number of empty foreclosed houses but the price of inspection and arranging for security and maintenance of the same remains high. The city officials have to see that the sidewalks are kept free from snow and the area is protected from accidents like explosions.

One particular night in December the team visited nine houses acting on the tips and information given by neighbours and code enforcement officers. In one house Singerhouse and his mates came upon a middle-aged man named Riley standing in the cold outside. He said that his son was the tenant of the house and that he was putting up there for the night. Singerhouse explained that the house is repeatedly rented out without permission. Riley was allowed to stay on for that night only. Except in the case of habitual offenders Singerhouse does not evict trespassers there and then. In the former case criminal action is taken and the house is boarded up.

The impromptu checks honed in mostly on renters who did not know that they were paying rents to swindlers who were not owners of the houses. Singerhouse explains to them that the house is an empty foreclosure one and the city has not given permission to anybody to rent it out.