SEATTLE — Starting Saturday, the City of Seattle says it will increase its inspections of vacant buildings.
A common complaint in the city is that vacant buildings are a blight on neighborhoods but also a haven for squatters.
The city says it will be doing more routine inspections to make sure issues are reduced. Inspections of will be increased from once a quarter to once a month.
The city says it monitored 100 vacant properties in a year and estimates the change will add 1,200 properties to the program.
Neighbors say vacant buildings become havens for squatters who damage property and even start fires, while the city tries to keep up.
"We are doing better at keeping vacant buildings from becoming reall,y really horrible. We see it -- it pops up, we fix it, it shifts to some other building,” said City of Seattle Code Compliance Director Faith Lumsden.
The city said it hired three new inspectors and raised inspection fees.
The city recommends vacant buildings be re-purposed into spaces for nonprofits or other ventures, much like how Mary's Place has operated some shelters.
Cox Media Group
