Just found the print version of the story above. It’s a bit sympathetic towards the derelict absentee landlord, but it is what it is:
I hope on the video version they show this landlord running away from the interview and locking herself in her car, then coming back and then running away and then coming back and then running away repeatedly…. Because I missed all of that when I was working, & that would be the entertaining portion of the story.
She doesn't know exactly when the trailer showed up on the lot. It has a licence plate on it, and Thomas-Cameron said she's reached out to both the City of Regina and police to see if anything can be done to the person who dumped it there.
We can say that the trailer showed up last fall before it snowed, and it’s May of the following year at this point. That means she didn’t show up with respect to her property for at least half a year this time around and only because she had to.
"For those that live here, it's frustrating," said Ron Rider, who said he's lived in the neighbourhood for 15 years.
He called the Regina Fire Department when the fire started in the house on Thomas-Cameron's property, before it was knocked down. Before that, as many as 18 people were living in the house and six more in its garage at one point, he said. After it was torn down, the lot was covered with tall weeds.
Derelict homes and lots are essentially an invitation for squatters to take over, making the area unsafe for nearby homeowners and leading to crime like property theft, he said.
View attachment 22164
"If you mowed it, if you maintained it, people avoided it. They wouldn't even walk on the grass when it was short. They avoid things that are maintained," he said.
Rider thinks the city is moving in the right direction with respect to the bylaw enforcement it's doing, like boarding up vacant properties, but more needs to be done.
"We do have the infrastructure in place to police this, but … there has to be some teeth with respect to this, so that property owners do maintain their properties," he said.
"They may not live in this neighbourhood, but we do."
View attachment 22165