Last week, KSHB ran a story about how the number of vacant lots in Kansas City, MO have doubled in the past year -- from 4,000 abandoned properties to 8,000. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone as according to Forbes Magazine, the Kansas City Metro area has the highest housing vacancy rates in the country - -and KCMO has bore much of the burnt of that.
One photographer in Detroit took advantage of their abandoned houses to take some photos of what they call "Feral Houses". (Hat Tip: PSFK). This is a more back-to-nature version of the 100 Abandoned Houses project from Detroit earlier this year.
Feral and abandoned houses are not something just for kinda cool pictures. They are actually devestating to neighborhoods. They run down property values. They providing safe havens for drugs, prostitution, gangs and other criminal activity. And they undermine neighborhood watch programs because in many neighborhoods on Kansas City's east side, the number of abandoned homes outnumber those with residents. And nothing is less safe than being in a neighborhood with no one around...
Here's a look at some photos of Kansas City's own Feral houses:
That's a great term for the condition of these houses. I can imagine they we're actually great homes in their day. Houses with garages slung underneath the foundation have always been interesting to me - one of the reasons I like the houses along state line between 45th and 39th, stretching east towards the West Plaza area.
Posted by: Bob | September 15, 2009 at 11:40 AM