Southwest Florida Cops Call For Help On Local Foreclosure Problem

In Southwest Florida, The News Press reports:

• Collier County sheriff's officials say they need the help of the community - civic associations, property owners and banks - to clean up foreclosed, abandoned homes that are potential blights on neighborhoods and magnets for crime. Authorities face a similar situation in Lehigh Acres, where more than 220 houses under construction are abandoned and 623 foreclosures were filed in April. Juveniles and adults squat in the buildings, vandalize and steal construction materials, Lee County sheriff's Capt. Ed Tamayo said.

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• The result, if something isn't done, is the collapse of entire neighborhoods, he said. That's because abandoned homes, [Collier Undersheriff Kevin] Rambosk said, spawn crime, including vandalism, burglaries, thefts and indoor marijuana growing operations.

For more, see Foreclosed properties worry sheriffs' offices. neighborhood destruction from foreclosures zach