A month before the foreclosure sale of her rental home is complete, Jennifer Grant, a 34-year-old single mother, is looking high and low for public assistance that will get her and six relatives through a difficult time.
In October 2008, the family signed a lease and paid a deposit on a Visalia home. Grant dutifully paid the rent every month for a year. Then a notice on the door informed her that the house had gone into foreclosure and had been sold.
Grant's family — three generations living under one roof — will be out on the street Dec. 1. With Section 8 assistance bringing in only $444 a month, Grant — who has a 10-year-old daughter — is afraid the options will be few.
Rents are out of reach, she said.
"[People] keep on talking about this money that is set aside to keep people from becoming homeless," she said. "But I've called every charity in the county, and no one knows anything about it. If nothing happens soon, I'm looking at being homeless."
Property owners face problems of their own and, as properties are abandoned, so does the city of Visalia.
Problem properties
A few years ago, code-enforcement officials began to step up enforcement when Visalia landlords refused to maintain their properties. Frequent offenders — or those whose properties had severe problems — were placed on a rental-inspection list.
Other problems, such as frequent police calls, also could land a property owner on the list.
"Often, those complexes weren't exactly the prime property in the neighborhood," said Ricardo Noguera, Visalia's community development director.
The city beefed up its code-enforcement division and started neighborhood cleanups and other preservation efforts. Landlords who didn't comply with abatement orders could have liens placed on their properties.
"It rarely ever got to that point, but it got their attention," Noguera said. "Most of the landlords would take steps to solve the problem, like hiring an on-site manager."
The strategy worked, Noguera said. Complaints against landlords have dropped off in recent years.
But the investors who owned many of the city's apartment complexes have fallen on hard times, leaving behind empty housing units. City officials struggle to keep the complexes from falling into disrepair.
Visalia has an estimated 1,800 foreclosed properties, city officials say. The state Department of Consumer Affairs estimates that 22 percent of properties repossessed by lenders since 2007 are occupied by renters.
Renters surprised
In many cases, renters have no idea that the properties in which they live are in jeopardy until notices of sale are posted on the doors. Until this spring, some of those tenants were given 60 days to find a new place to live. A federal law passed in May, however, extends that notice to 90 days — under certain circumstances.
Once tenants move out, the city is left with vacant properties that can sit idle for months, or even years.
Squatters in abandoned homes are an ongoing concern. Tracy Robertshaw, the city's code enforcement manager, has seen instances of burglary, vandalism and even arson.
"There have been three cases where people have set debris fires in the middle of living rooms to keep themselves warm," she said.
But now that the colder temperatures are beginning and the county's homeless are being evicted from areas along the St. Johns River, such activity figures to be repeated.
"The city is going to be paying attention," Robertshaw said.
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