After more than a year of working with the Southwest Police Precinct and reporting to Seattle's Department of Planning and Development (DPD), Mike Dady has grown tired of complaining about the vacant homes in his north Delridge neighborhood.

"These houses sit there and cause nothing but problems," said Dady at a Delridge District Council meeting on March 19. "They are not providing shelter in any safe or sane way."

He's not alone in his frustration. A number of neighbors see the abandoned, run-down homes in their neighborhood as a drain on the local community.

"It takes energy out of our neighborhood," said Dady. "It takes away the quality of life."

But finally, it seems that some city officials are listening to the neighborhood's complaints. This Friday, April 3, Seattle City Council members Sally Clark and Tim Burgess, Stella Chao, director of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, and Diane Sugimara, director of the planning department will be joining Dady on a tour of the properties.

Dady said the issue became a major problem after the housing boom from 2005 to 2007. During these years, he said many properties were purchased for the development of town homes or other multifamily units. Now, many of those projects are on hold and the vacant houses resting on the properties are stagnant.

Sugimura says she has been concerned for some time now that declining property values might result in an abundance of foreclosures and abandoned homes.

“When housing market is good people fix up their houses, my assumption is that a vacant house is less attractive in a down market,” said Sugimura.

According to residents in the area, these vacant house tend to attract vagrants camping out or become dumping grounds for abandoned items and stolen cars. But besides being an eyesore in the community, residents also report incidents of drug dealing and other illegal activities on such properties.

“There’s a very strong correlation between abandoned buildings and homes and incidents of crime,” says Burgess, chair of the Public Safety, Human Services & Education committee. “ The city has a very clear role to play in making sure our neighborhoods are clean and safe, and I'm not sure we're there yet.”

Many of the vacant homes in Delridge are not owned by West Seattle residents. In fact, one dilapidated home right next door to Dady is owned by a bank in Florida.

Lieutenant Steve Paulsen said the Southwest Precinct is working to address the issue. They are communicating with the owner of the home at 3804 S.W. 23rd Ave. Officers frequently visit the property to clear out anyone camping on the property and have issued a no trespassing order.

Like many of these problem properties, the home on 23rd Avenue is boarded up, but Dady said that is only a temporary solution, and that plywood and wire is often torn down.

Both Paulsen and Ron Angeles, a neighborhood district coordinator for the city, agree that the best thing residents in north Delridge can do is report all incidents to the planning department and police.

"The north Delridge community Is taking an active role in making their neighborhood a better place to live," said Lt. Steve Paulsen. "Getting very involved in holding people accountable that are not taking responsibility for their properties with city organizations."

Dady has done just that, with moderate success. But he recognizes that a number of cultural and language barriers in his community might prevent residents from doing the same. He added that those who rent in the community might be uncomfortable with the situation caused by these homes, but they don't have enough invested in the community to do anything about it.

A long term solution to the problem could come with a change in Seattle’s Vacant Housing Code.

"The issue is on their radar now," said Dady. "Unless the city council changes (the code) nothing else is going to change very much."