Neighbors nervous, annoyed over squatters in abandoned Seattle home

There’s little worse than noisy, annoying neighbors – especially when they’re dealing drugs and fighting at all times of the night. Even more disturbing is when they aren’t even supposed to be there.

Paul and Kathy Humphries are among a number of residents in North Seattle’s Pinehurst neighborhood near Northgate who’ve been dealing with one such nightmare. A home across the street from the Humphries has become a magnet for homeless squatters and widespread problems.

“[The owner of the home] got sick, his wife moved away, and then he couldn’t keep up the payments and the bank foreclosed on the property and kicked him out,” Paul said.

That was more than three years ago. Since then, the house has sat empty.

They’ve seen plenty of drug dealing going on, evidenced by the number of hypodermic needles strewn about the property.

Residents have noticed crime has increased in the neighborhood, from car prowls to home burglaries.

“I’ve been finding neighbor’s mail in the street for the last few weeks. Usually, it’s like credit card offers are ripped open and things like that. And next to the house on the side there’s a giant pile of trash,” Paul said.

What’s most troubling for the couple is that since the city finally boarded the house up, the squatters set up camps around the property and on the front porch – looking directly across the street at their house.

Last week, when they left their house to walk the dog, they said a couple of squatters were keeping a close eye on them from the abandoned house.

“And I made sure to look at them so that they knew I could recognize them if anything happened and then we got two blocks away and got paranoid so I went back home and they watched me walk all the way back to the house. It’s creepy,” Kathy said.

The Humphries and a number of other neighbors have called police repeatedly, and complained to the city. But they’ve learned the house is caught in a longstanding legal limbo, and there’s little anyone can do.

Bryan Stevens, with the Department of Planning and Development, said it turns out the owner has paid just enough money to keep Bank of America from actually foreclosing on the house. So technically, it’s still private property even though the owner long abandoned it.

“We do not have the authority to remove those individuals from the porch and neither do the police,” Stevens said. “They need to have the owner’s permission or some sort of validation from the owner that these people are actually trespassing on the owner’s property without their permission,” Stevens said.

Neighbors said the Seattle Police community officer working on the case has been tireless in trying to convince the property owner to cooperate, but so far he has resisted.

Stevens said DPD has referred the case to the City Attorney’s office, which had been working with the bank to resolve the problem and clean and board up the house before the owner reclaimed it from foreclosure.

The city has been regularly inspecting the property and issuing citations and fines to the owner for the last three years. He now owes at least $500,000. The City Attorney is now working to either reach a deal with the property owner or take him to court.

The city is dealing with a number of other foreclosed or troubled properties as well. Recently, officials announced efforts to take over several from a notorious Seattle slumlord near Roosevelt High School, and turn them into a park.

But it’s not that simple. As Paul and Kathy have learned the hard way, there’s no quick solution.

“It’s just not a good situation,” Kathy said. “Now our hope is just to keep putting pressure on the city and if enough people complain, maybe they’ll do something.”