Hyattsville's Vacant Houses: Foreclosure, Abandonment, Devastation Leave Homes in City Untended

Editor's Note: This is part one of a series on vacant homes in Hyattsville. After seeing dozens of "For Sale" signs and indications of uninhabited homes, Patch decided to give a general overview of how these vacancies are affecting Hyattsville.

When you travel down the streets of Hyattsville, you pass all kinds of residences from war era and Victorian stand-alones, to modern row houses and apartments.

But, between the tailored front yards and bustling front porches of some blocks, stand the vacant structures, slowly falling victim to the elements and abuse.

Although the city has no official tally of homes without occupants, it’s clear that empty houses along with their overgrown properties and abandoned structures are a problem in need of acknowledgment—either by the government or its citizens.

Most recently, residents in Ward 3 petitioned the Hyattsville City Council Sept. 26 to acknowledge the problem and do something about it. The council agreed to look into the situation on Oct. 3.

Neighbors of the abandoned house at 4000 Oliver Street said the property is an eyesore and an easy target for vandals.

“There’s never any lights on,” said Thomas Wright, who worked on the petition, just after it was taken to the council. “Until recently, the front steps were covered in what looked like rubble and gravel and trash. Somebody showed up to shovel it last week, but we’re worried that there will be vandalism or graffiti or people squatting there.”

What About Willoughby

If you’ve lived in Hyattsville long enough, you might remember the Willoughby house at 42nd Place and Jefferson Street.

During the summer of 1997, then councilman Douglas Dudrow (Ward 1) and Hyattsville residents David Levy and William Haynes protested at a business owned by Thomas and Irene Willoughby, the owners of the house, which at the time had a collapsing porch and had received dozens of notices from code enforcement officials. It had been vacant for seven years, according to a report by the Gazette.

The three protestors held signs at the Willoughby’s day care in Mount Rainier, at the Hyattsville house, which is a rental house, and at the couple’s house in College Park, the report indicates.

Many of the needed repairs were made by 2000, and a libel lawsuit that the Willoughbys brought against Dudrow, Levy and Haynes was dismissed, the Gazette article states.

Much Ado

Hyattsville Councilman Tim Hunt (Ward 3) said while there are vacant houses all around the city not all of them can be considered dangerous detriments. He added that compiling a list of the vacant homes could benefit the city.

Officers from the drive around looking for violations, including things like failure to keep grass cut to 10 inches, failure to keep sidewalks clean and failure to remove animal waste.

“Typically, what’ll happens is that someone will get a warning, and they have a specific amount of time to comply,” Hunt said. “If they don’t comply, they get a fine.”

In January 2011 at the corner of Queensbury and Queens Chapel after it became a citizen hazard.

The house, at 3901 Queensbury Road, has sat vacant for years, said city spokeswoman Abby Sandel.

Last year after a snowstorm, the house's roof fell in.

Hyattsville initially contacted Prince George's County to determine the course of action they should take. Eventually, after receiving approval from Prince George’s County District Court and going through a county permitting process, the city got permission to demolish the house. The demolition costs became a lien against the property, Sandel said then.

Reasons Why

A house on Crittenden Street along where the road curves into 40th Place was vacated after a Prince George’s County storm drain project left the property it sits on in shambles, said neighbor Chris Currie in .

There are many reasons why houses are left vacant—whether they are tended to or not. Sometimes homeowners die without immediate provisions for their property and the house sits vacant during probate.

It’s not illegal to abandon a house, as long as homeowners pay the required taxes associated with it. And, especially in the current American down economy, many people have lost their homes due to bank foreclosure.

The neighborhoods of West Hyattsville seem to have been hit hard by this trend of house vacancies. In this series of articles, Hyattsville Patch is using four houses as examples of how empty homes can affect the areas surrounding them.