Neighborhood Nuisance: Abandoned home on Pearl St attracting rodents and squatters

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Charline Smith has lived in her North Toledo home for 7 years. As long as she has been there, the property next door has been vacant.

Smith says the home attracts crime.

“I have been calling the city of Toledo countless times complaining about people going in the house,” Smith says. “I actually had one guy go in the back of the house one time. I asked him did he live here, and he told me to get my butt back in my house. And just people in and out of the house, stripping the house. I called the cops when they were stripping the aluminum off the house.”

Smith found out from the City of Toledo that the property owners are dead. Although the owners are no longer alive, Smith says the structure needs to be maintained.

She says rats and rodents live inside the home, creating a hazard for her family.

“I have small children, I’m afraid for them to play in the backyard ‘cause we smell the dead rodents when they are dead in the backyard. It’s just too much,” Smith says. “The grass grows taller than me. Me and my children are unable to enjoy my backyard because of the grass.”

The city of Toledo says the property is one of the many on the long list of buildings in Toledo waiting to be demolished. Representatives say the building could be gone by summer if plans for American Rescue Plan Act funds are approved.

“I would like it demolished because there is nothing you can do with it. There is a hold in the roof in the back of the house. There is no fixing the house. It needs to be torn down,” Smith says.

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