• Font Size    

In Case You Missed It ...

RAW VIDEO: 100-Mile Police Chase
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Dallas Powerless Against Some Squatters

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Jun 30, 2008 5:34 pm US/Central

Dallas Powerless Against Some Squatters

Reporting
Steve Pickett
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― People living in one Dallas neighborhood say they're being overwhelmed by squatters.

But when they turned to the city for help to clean up a house, they say they were surprised by the response.

The house is on Quinn Street in southeast Dallas.  It has no running water and no electricity. 

Even so, neighbor Geneva Samford says people are living there.  Samford says they're squatters: people who settle on someone else's land without permission to do so.

"A lot of people," said Mary Cole, another neighbor.  "So many drug heads." 

Samford says the squatters have brought a lot of problems with them.  "The odor and the noise at night, and now the rats."

Rats and raw sewage.

The smell is overwhelming.

But the city can do little about it.  When we were there on Monday, Dallas City Code Inspectors found a woman inside.  We saw two others.

The city's hands are tied because it's not illegal in Dallas to live in a house without running water or electricity.  Until the city can find the owner of the house, the people living inside can't be forced out.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Here's What's Hot On CBS11TV.COM:

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Stations Group of Texas L.P. All Rights Reserved.