SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — It’s a countywide problem Team 10 has been following for months. Vacant homes, sometimes turned into squatter houses, others party houses.
It’s a crisis that has led to vandalism, fires, and now the death of a 12-year-old in National City.
This house on Cotton in the Chollas View neighborhood of San Diego is vacant and a mess, inhabited by squatters who would not answer the door when we trudged through the piled-up trash to knock on every door.
RELATED: Crews clean up North Park squatter home following 911 calls, lawsuit & fire
Across the Street, neighbor Noah Hamm assures us they are there - a constant nuisance, ruining the quality of life in this quiet Central San Diego middle-class neighborhood.
This abandoned house on Cotton is just one of 75 thousand vacant houses in San Diego county, according to Axios.
RELATED: Frustrations continue for North Park neighbors upset about squatter house
The city says it worked as quickly as possible, the mayor's office telling Team 10 in a statement today: "There are legal limitations to what the City can do to private property without giving owners ample opportunity to abate. These procedures are there to protect people's rights. Code Enforcement and the City Attorney's Nuisance Abatement Unit worked as quickly as they could within the legal confines to get it addressed."
