NBC 4 Investigates: Crime & Abandoned Homes

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A gunshot victim, vacant homes and hope for revitalization are coming together in a Franklinton neighborhood.

Crimes are perpetuated by Columbus' vacant homes. On the city's west side, it is a problem with no easy solution.

"(The) problem in Franklinton is real estate values are so low, they don't support any new construction or any revitalization of existing homes," said Jim Sweeney, of the Franklinton Development Association.

So homes sit empty with more emptying all the time, NBC 4's Mike Bowersock reported.

"The market was so good that we let everybody qualify and then as soon as there's a downturn, it's like, 'Well, I have a $1,000 mortgage payment. What am I supposed to do?'" said C. Reggie Thomas, a Huntington Community Development Specialist.

But, there is hope.

Revitalization and federal stimulus money has been promised.

"You can own a house for $30,000, but it's probably going to need $70,000 worth of work. You can't really borrow $70,000 against a $30,000 structure," Sweeney said.

There is crime, and while it's not good, it could be a lot worse.

"Franklinton is a pretty safe area compared to what people believe it is. For instance, I would say and the statistics would show that areas like campus -- you have a much more likelihood of being assaulted than you do down in Franklinton," Sweeney said.

In the last week, there have been 71 reported crimes in Franklinton, while The Ohio State University campus area reported 87 crimes.

To people like Billy Joe Stafford, that is of little consequence.

"I'd love to see something done. I mean, truthfully, cause it's getting worse than what it has since I first moved here," said Billy Joe Stafford, who was shot while walking to a corner store.

So what is stopping the city and county from cleaning up the homes?

The county either owns or is trying to get possession of approximately 100 homes to tear down.

Getting to the point of demolition is an arduous journey through the court system.

It took nearly ten years for the county to get possession of a home on Makassar.

Neighbors said the home started to deteriorate in 1989, was abandoned and an owner started paying taxes on it. But as early as 2002, the county attempted to take possession.

"We have to take a property to sheriff sale and sometimes an investor will come in and buy the property site unseen because they think it's a good deal that they can buy a piece of property for its taxes and they think that it looks like the property on the auditor's web site, which doesn't look too bad," said Franklin County Treasurer Edward Leonard.

In the case of the home on Makassar, that's exactly what happened.

The buyer tried to back out of the deal, which added more months and years onto the process.

In the case of a home on Kilbourne, this month Blendon Township posted a notice to the owner, Ronald Bostic, stating that he has until July 26 to either tear down the home or improve it.

The county has attempted to contact Bostic for years to no avail.

Officials said that's very common in the case of blighted homes.

"Either the property owner's deceased and there's a couple generations removed from the original owner that's listed on the property, so tracking down heirs to initiate a foreclosure action can be difficult," Leonard said.

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