Ramblings About Trashy Rat Neighbors

[Naturally]

This isn't a racist post. Those people across the street from me are white, like me.

We live in the oldest part of this small town, where most houses are older well kept homes.

But when I look out my living room window, the view is of trash.

A woman about 10yrs younger than me lives in the house with her adopted granddaughter.
To the right of and behind the house is a storage shed. Four people LIVE in that storage shed.
The woman's daughter, her husband and two young boys.

The woman's daughter had a child when she was in high school and the woman adopted the baby.
The woman's daughter then married right after high school and has had the two boys.
The youngest boy is about 6 now and STILL often runs around over there completely naked.

The woman will not allow her daughter and daughter's husband and boys to live in the house.
So the daughter and crew LIVE in the dang storage shed that has no running water or facilities.
An extension cord from the house provides power.

Neither the daughter nor her husband have ever worked.
Well, he has worked very intermittently and usually fired after only a week or two.
The husband was crippled in one hip by disease or accident when a child and now draws benefits for it.
He gets a bottle of pain meds each month and sells/deals some of them ... among other drugs.
I wouldn't say they are "drug dealers", but they sell drugs when they have them, for subsistence.
They actually have little money and apparently are hoarders.

Not only do they hoard and create trash, they "hoard" domestic animals.
There is a colony of free roaming cats over there and there are several litters each year.
They have two dogs that free roam. One just had a litter of two pups and still nursing.
AND they have another dog which they claim is a wolf hybrid (HA) ... they keep in the yard on a chain.
The woman in the house has emphatically informed me that cats have a RIGHT to roam free.

The daughter and husband are 30ish but never seemed to have advanced mentally or emotionally beyond teenagers.
I have nothing to do with or speak with them at all. Trying to help them is a lost cause.
Trying to speak with them leads to verbal abuse and threats of violence.

I would report the yard to the city in hopes they could do something about the appearances but am reluctant to do so.
I'm sure those people would figure I reported them and I worry about vandalism to my property in retaliation from them, their friends and family.

Other than taking some action that would likely land me in prison, I just don't know what to do. I hope they go away soon.

Yes, four people, including two children, LIVE in the shed pictured below ...

 

[Robb.hisself]

This isn't a racist post. Those people across the street from me are white, like me.

We live in the oldest part of this small town, where most houses are older well kept homes.

But when I look out my living room window, the view is of trash.

A woman about 10yrs younger than me lives in the house with her adopted granddaughter.
To the right of and behind the house is a storage shed. Four people LIVE in that storage shed.
The woman's daughter, her husband and two young boys.

The woman's daughter had a child when she was in high school and the woman adopted the baby.
The woman's daughter then married right after high school and has had the two boys.
The youngest boy is about 6 now and STILL often runs around over there completely naked.

The woman will not allow her daughter and daughter's husband and boys to live in the house.
So the daughter and crew LIVE in the dang storage shed that has no running water or facilities.
An extension cord from the house provides power.

Neither the daughter nor her husband have ever worked.
Well, he has worked very intermittently and usually fired after only a week or two.
The husband was crippled in one hip by disease or accident when a child and now draws benefits for it.
He gets a bottle of pain meds each month and sells/deals some of them ... among other drugs.
I wouldn't say they are "drug dealers", but they sell drugs when they have them, for subsistence.
They actually have little money and apparently are hoarders.

Not only do they hoard and create trash, they "hoard" domestic animals.
There is a colony of free roaming cats over there and there are several litters each year.
They have two dogs that free roam. One just had a litter of two pups and still nursing.
AND they have another dog which they claim is a wolf hybrid (HA) ... they keep in the yard on a chain.
The woman in the house has emphatically informed me that cats have a RIGHT to roam free.

The daughter and husband are 30ish but never seemed to have advanced mentally or emotionally beyond teenagers.
I have nothing to do with or speak with them at all. Trying to help them is a lost cause.
Trying to speak with them leads to verbal abuse and threats of violence.

I would report the yard to the city in hopes they could do something about the appearances but am reluctant to do so.
I'm sure those people would figure I reported them and I worry about vandalism to my property in retaliation from them, their friends and family.

Other than taking some action that would likely land me in prison, I just don't know what to do. I hope they go away soon.

Yes, four people, including two children, LIVE in the shed pictured below ...

Life is hard for many people. There are thousands of homeless people in my location. And, I feel sorry for them. However, and fortunately, I don't have to look at them and their situations across the street from me. I feel sorry for you that you do. When life is hard it is hard on many. I wish there were easy answers.

 

[Remy]

With the mans disability, they can't qualify for an apartment. Clearly there are issues going on beyond physical disability. I understand your reluctance and I feel very bad for you.

 

[Myrtle]

I would be reluctant to get involved with this too but ……

Surely social services wouldn’t let children live in a shed without a bathroom if they knew would they? There could be anything in there.

 

[oldaunt]

Yep. Child protective serices

 

[Naturally]

I would be reluctant to get involved with this too but ……

Surely social services wouldn’t let children live in a shed without a bathroom if they knew would they? There could be anything in there.

Those people lie without flinching as part of "normal" conversation. It's second nature to them. And can be very charming as they lie.
Lying to them is just a necessary survival coping mechanism. It's what they do.
They would talk their way out of any social service concern. Probably even saying they live in the house ... which is a lie.

 

[Myrtle]

Those people lie without flinching as part of "normal" conversation. It's second nature to them. And can be very charming as they lie.
Lying to them is just a necessary survival coping mechanism. It's what they do.
They would talk their way out of any social service concern. Probably even saying they live in the house ... which is a lie.

I get that. We lived in a trashy neighborhood for awhile and I mean trash. It looked a lot like your pictures. We used to say once anything entered that property it never left, it just ended up in the yard. We were the ones that moved out as soon as we could get together a down payment on a house.

I hope they do move out. It’s just the kids I would worry about.

 

[Naturally]

The woman in the house doesn't get along with her daughters husband.
He has stolen things from her in the past as well as verbally abused her.
That's why the woman won't let them live in the house.
But she can't have her daughter living on the street, so they are allowed to live in the shed.

Thing is though, she would NEVER express that to social services.

 

[Naturally]

I get that. We lived in a trashy neighborhood for awhile and I mean trash. It looked a lot like your pictures. We used to say once anything entered that property it never left, it just ended up in the yard. We were the ones that moved out as soon as we could get together a down payment on a house.

I hope they do move out. It’s just the kids I would worry about.

Well, I'm not moving. They are the only ones like that in the whole neighborhood.
Houses on both sides and behind them are nice. Well, so is this one across the street from them
Unfortunately they just happen to be across the street from me.

 

[oldaunt]

Invite a friendly policeman or social worker over for coffee at an "appropriate" time of day.....

 

[Della]

Wow. How can the older woman let her grandchildren live like that? She could let the little boys live with her and the parents stay in the shed. In fact if the couple divorced then the mother would be eligible for a pretty nice apartment because of the two boys. Then they would have to leave all the animals behind. Just thinking out loud.

The kids must be in first grade. you could call their school and suggest they call family services. I think you're smart to stay out of it. I watch "Fear Thy Neighbor," so many tragedies begin with one neighbor calling the cops on the other.

What a shame you have to look at that. The unsanitary conditions and the rats they attract may not respect your property line.

 

[hearlady]

It is really hard when you take care of your property and others trash theirs.
If you live in a neighborhood without covenants there's not much you can do, although your situation looks like the Health Dept and/or CPS may need to be involved.

 

[Naturally]

Invite a friendly policeman or social worker over for coffee at an "appropriate" time of day.....

I have spoken to two police officers about them on different occasions. I think they've seen worse. When I mentioned the threats of physical violence and verbal abuse, one said I could file a restraining order. When I mentioned the children, living circumstances and minor drug dealing, I got pretty much no reaction.

Wow. How can the older woman let her grandchildren live like that? She could let the little boys live with her and the parents stay in the shed. In fact if the couple divorced then the mother would be eligible for a pretty nice apartment because of the two boys. Then they would have to leave all the animals behind. Just thinking out loud.

The kids must be in first grade. you could call their school and suggest they call family services. I think you're smart to stay out of it. I watch "Fear Thy Neighbor," so many tragedies begin with one neighbor calling the cops on the other.

What a shame you have to look at that. The unsanitary conditions and the rats they attract may not respect your property line.

The woman probably doesn't trust the grandchildren either. The daughter would be lost without her husband. She just doesn't cope. She is mentally and emotionally incapable. They have separated for a day or two in the past and she is just cast into a hopeless funk. These are just dysfunctional people from the top down and to the core. Only good thing about the cat colony is they do keep varmint populations down, but at the expense of every small native bird and animal population around.

It is really hard when you take care of your property and others trash theirs.
If you live in a neighborhood without covenants there's not much you can do, although your situation looks like the Health Dept and/or CPS may need to be involved.

It's hard to look at every day and hear the occasional screaming, hollering and cussing going on for any reason or none at all. Agencies could become involved but unless they lived there with them, it would do little good ... if any either way. Those folks are clinical. Ignorant, couldn't care less, lying trash. And anything I reported to those agencies would mostly be a he said, she said type thing once they listened to those people and their charming lies. For sure I would likely be blamed by them for the additional "difficulties" wrought on them and brought to suffer in some manner of retaliation.

 

[oldaunt]

Don't think I could do nothing and watch children suffer

 

[Jules]

Does that woman own the property? If not, perhaps you could buy it (anonymously) and evict them.

I’m glad you have your dogs.

 

[dobielvr]

How good are you at setting fires.....jk.

 

[Naturally]

Don't think I could do nothing and watch children suffer

They aren't getting beatings and don't go to bed/sleep hungry I don't think.
That said, the apple may not fall far from the tree in the long run.

Does that woman own the property? If not, perhaps you could buy it (anonymously) and evict them.

I’m glad you have your dogs.

Yep, she owns the property.

 

[Dustbunny]

Ya know what struck me as funnier/odder than the mess?

The Welcome sign at the front.

 

[officerripley]

Around here sometimes it's illegal (sorta) for people to be living in a place without power or running water. In the house across the street from us lived an elderly lady and her 40ish drug dealer son. The old lady died, the son moved his girlfriend and a bunch of other losers into the house; the power was shut off (and they're on a well that runs on electricity so no water).

All of us in the neighborhood were constantly calling the cops on them. One call did result in the son being taken off to prison but the girlfriend and other losers remained; cops told us they couldn't evict the girlfriend since she had declared Squatter's Rights (yeah, it's still a thing in this state, I think it's officially called Adverse Property Possession or something).

My huzz said to the cops on one of their many visits to the place, "I don't see how they can be allowed to keep living there; they don't even have power or water." One cop looked at the other and said, "You know what? We can Red Tag 'em." In this county, cops can Red Tag a place, declaring it unfit to live. About 20 minutes later, someone from the county showed up, put the Red Tag up on the door, another cop was right on his heels and evicted the girlfriend and her loser friends.

Wonder if there'd be something like that in your area? Of course, that'd mean only the people in the shed would have to leave so I don't know. Sorry you're going through this anyway.

 

[Paladin1950]

This is nothing new. I lived in various places here in New York, and have seen quite a few houses like this. With trash all over the yard.

 

[Naturally]

Ya know what struck me as funnier/odder than the mess?

The Welcome sign at the front.

I'm sure that was picked up from some curb trash somewhere. The welcome banner hasn't been there but maybe a week and it looked used when they put it up. The woman in the house does what she can to hide where they live, allowing trees and shrubs to overgrow and putting up banners to help hide all the junk on the porch. Every few months, she digs up around the mailbox and plants stuff as if a pretty mailbox will negate everything else going on there on the property. They try to play it.

Around here sometimes it's illegal (sorta) for people to be living in a place without power or running water. In the house across the street from us lived an elderly lady and her 40ish drug dealer son. The old lady died, the son moved his girlfriend and a bunch of other losers into the house; the power was shut off (and they're on a well that runs on electricity so no water).

All of us in the neighborhood were constantly calling the cops on them. One call did result in the son being taken off to prison but the girlfriend and other losers remained; cops told us they couldn't evict the girlfriend since she had declared Squatter's Rights (yeah, it's still a thing in this state, I think it's officially called Adverse Property Possession or something).

My huzz said to the cops on one of their many visits to the place, "I don't see how they can be allowed to keep living there; they don't even have power or water." One cop looked at the other and said, "You know what? We can Red Tag 'em." In this county, cops can Red Tag a place, declaring it unfit to live. About 20 minutes later, someone from the county showed up, put the Red Tag up on the door, another cop was right on his heels and evicted the girlfriend and her loser friends.

Wonder if there'd be something like that in your area? Of course, that'd mean only the people in the shed would have to leave so I don't know. Sorry you're going through this anyway.

Thank you for sharing the dreadful similar experience. Thing is, I'm in it alone here. Others around don't seem to care about them over there or what they are or are not doing. Why I'm pretty sure if I got agencies involved, they might target me for retaliation.

 

[CarolfromTX]

Call Child Protective Services. This is neglect.

 

[oldaunt]

Even here in the wilds of Arkansas, that would NOT be allowed as a way to raise children. And living like that shed in even our small towns would be shut down, the kids taken and the parents charged. I also live alone, but I am belligerent enough to do it. I have rescued horses from better situations.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Naturally, I'm not sure where the Corner of Walk N Don't Walk is. But people living in a shed may not be up to code. You might want to check into they're violating building codes. And for the kids' sake, if it's not just your anger about their antics, but a real concern about the kids, I'd call child services.
Plus, you do know if they leave you'll still be looking at that abandoned dump for decades.

 

[Jeni]

There are i am sure many codes and regulations being broken ....
the question is who is enforcing any of it.... my guess is NO one .............people do not want to speak up because make a complaint and they know it was you... honestly if taxes not up to date they will condemn and hold up the codes and evict ........ but basic complaint nope
You hear the same thing of " we posted a flyer explaining the violations on the door" .... " they just need to be educated about the rules " nope they know it is iffy at best but know no one is going to check.

Great a flyer is another piece of trash to blow around ........

There is very little follow thru you have a better chance of alerting other ways ..........
whomever (private companies) who hold insurance on home if any is there and say "here is the liability". If insurance cancelled they alert any loan on the place.......
or if kids not in school or if in school ..........letting school know living in shed without water /electricity . so schools are the complainant.....
i have informed fire department of potential with people living in out building and running extension cords as fire hazard.... in case it was to catch fire and burn onto my property .....the fire department alerting city/ county was far more effective.