 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
A D.C. foreclosure inspector made a disturbing discovery at a home he thought was abandoned with no water, gas, or electricity: an elderly woman living inside.
The yard is overgrown, the windows broken and an old refrigerator props up the front door. "I'm 72. I was about 13 when my dad bought the house. It's been in my family all that time," Eva Rusk said.
After inheriting it in 2001, she got behind on the mortgage. On the brink of foreclosure, a buyer took it off her hands and then rented it to her. But she said he also went into foreclosure a couple years ago. Though she rarely ventures outdoors, she did so to tell ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 reporter Stephen Tschida about her life in limbo without basic comforts.
"I don't have water. I don't have electricity. I don't have anything. I put candles out and go to bed early. I mean, during the day, it's fine. We have, you know, flush the toilets with big buckets of water."
"Most people think it's abandoned, but it's not," neighbor Barbara Scott said. Rusk said some neighbors who know she lives in the home give her water and other assistance. "I feel for her, I really do, cause she has health conditions and everything."
But some neighbors said Rusk has a son who also stays with her occassionally. They said the house continues to decay and Rusk's living conditions pull the entire neighborhood down. "An eyesore, no question about it," neighbor Pedro Richmond said.
Meanwhile, Rusk said she received a notice that a judge would make a ruling about the property in the months ahead. She just wonders how the decision will affect her future. "We might wind up on the streets. We don't know. We don't know. You know, it's hard thinking that maybe we will, you know, be on the streets."
The foreclosure inspector informed the city of Rusk's situation. A representative of the Office on Aging is looking into the matter and determining what action should be taken.
ABC 7 News to leave comments on news stories.