New neighbors R renters that is a care home and I need some help! (Allentown: for sale)

[Luvmydoxiegirls]

I live in a nice neighborhood in Whitehall. It is very quiet. The homes are all ranch homes with either families or the elderly who built them in 1960. Most of these are owned, but there are a few rentals. Recently 4 houses up from me, the nice old man died and someone bought his house and they put it up for rent. Everyone knows that LV rent is high, but he had it listed for $1500 a mo. I was concerned that more than 1 family would move in. It stayed vacant for a year. That was the least of my worries, it turned out. The new tenants are some sort of half way house or care home. There is a caregiver and at least two girls there with mental problems. One girl was screaming and running up the busy highway and a neighbor ran to catch her and got punched for his efforts. She has screamed at 1:30am and the cops have been called twice. The other girl refused to get out of the street so another neighbor could leave our development. None of us want this in our development. How do we know these girls aren't dangerous?

I called the township to complain and they told me that they can have up to 5 unrelated people living in the house and it doesn't matter how many times the police come out. It is legal, even if they are a nuisance. The owner of the property wants to buy more homes in my neighborhood as they come up for sale and rent them out. One of these is bad enough, we can't have a whole development full!

My husband and I want to live in our home till they take us out in a body bag. I'm thinking of going around the neighborhood and getting a petition and going to the township meeting to see if anything can be done. Is there anyone out there who knows if there is help?

[karen_s]

It cannot hurt to draw attention to the issue and it will be better if your neighborhood presents a united front. A few years back, a group home went into one of our local houses after they purchased it from an estate, similar to your situation. However, they went before planning commission/zoning to get approvals and the residents taken into this home were all adults with developmental delays. To my knowledge, there has not been one issue at that home and the neighbors are very pleased.

I suggest a petition and also handling this house like you would if a drug dealer moved into the neighborhood and you needed evidence: Have all the neighbors watch for any signs of activity, noise ordinance violations, etc., at this home. Keep a very detailed log with dates and times and what is going on. Call the police nonemergency line for anything they are doing that disturbs the neighbors - Trespassing, screaming, standing in the road, etc. Obviously continue to call 911 for more serious issues.

I understand that according to the building codes that five unrelated people may live together, but if these adults are placed here in this home and the owner is looking to buy more homes, it sounds like this is a for-profit venture and the owner is making money from it. I am not sure about the legalities with purely residential zoning and business use and whether or not the owner would need some kind of zoning variance, but perhaps you should consult a lawyer from your area as well to find this out. Maybe it is a permitted use in your particular neighborhood and that is why he/she wants to buy more homes there.

I wish you lots of luck!

[alexiskai]

You seem to be conflating the landlord, who wants to increase their holdings in the neighborhood, and the tenant, which is the care home whose patients you object to. They're not the same people - there's no reason to think that if the landlord purchases and rents additional homes that those homes would automatically become care facilities. If you want to put pressure on the care home operator, make sure you do it in a targeted way that doesn't automatically blame the landlord for something that isn't their fault.

[Luvmydoxiegirls]

Here is my issue. I don't want my property value going down due to this home. If the people living there are nice and don't cause problems, great. The landlord owns a diner nearby and is not from America and there is talk that he does not pay taxes here. Weather this is true or not, I can't say. I would think you really can't get away with that, but I'm not an accountant.

Everyone knows what happens to neighborhoods that become full of rentals, the property values go down, so if he wants to buy homes and rent them out, let him to go to a depressed neighborhood like Allentown and do it and fill it with whatever he wants.

I appreciate everyone's advice. The next door neighbor and I have already discussed a petition and she is keeping a log of the nuisance activity that happens over there. I'm sure the landlord is getting more money for this property than he would from just normal renters. There has to be some sort of HUD subsidy. The problem being that funding is gone for our local State mental home and now people with these disorders are having to live in our neighborhoods. Some of them are dangerous. Some just annoying and some will just ruin your retirement.

[CHAIN5]

We have a similar place not far from us. Initially there was one guy who would knock on doors and give the owners pictures, iirc. He also liked to stand at one neighbor's window and peep in. I think the police were called, but I think what moved the guy out was the neighbors complaining both to the landlord and to the people in charge of the halfway tenants.

Sorry I don't remember the details better.

This house seems to switch out people periodically, everyone who came after that guy seems to be quiet. Though sometimes there seems to be too many cars on the street.