Several homes in Rockland are being condemned, and it has nothing to do with our recent storms.
With a statewide housing crisis, it’s hard to watch these homes get boarded up.
The most recent condemnation is a house on Purchase Street.
The city said it has no heat, no hot water and several electrical issues.
Rockland’s Code Enforcement Department said seven houses have been condemned since the start of last year.
“Wow, I didn’t realize there were so many houses that were being looked at here by the city, but I’m really glad they’re taking care of them,” said Catherine LeRoy, who lives next door to that Purchase Street home. “Especially now since there’s this housing shortage. Hopefully, some of these houses can be fixed.”
“It just kept getting worse and worse, needed a lot of repair,” said Gary Gamege, who lives near another condemned home on Lawn Avenue. “It’s a crying shame.”
Kaitlin Callahan is just a couple months into her first term on the Rockland City Council and is eager to address the area’s housing challenges.
“This is Rockland taking care of something that has been going on for a long period of time,” she said. “By no means, nor does the code office want to take away housing, especially in this climate. But we have a responsibility to make sure that people’s housing is adequate and safe.”
Callahan also said in some cases the condemned buildings were neglected by the owners renting them out.
“Our homeowners and landlords should be providing adequate housing if they’re renting. And I think that has been one of the issues that these houses are not being taken care of because property owners for some of them were not living in them,” Callahan said.
To encourage that, she’s considering a rental registry.
It would require properties to be inspected on a more regular basis.
Currently, most homes are only required to be inspected when they are sold to a new owner.
“If you have a property and you want to rent it, they would go in to do a complete inspection,” Callahan said. “And that would also ensure that the rentals that we are offering are adequate and are safe.”
