Abandoned homes leave Marmora Street residents fed-up

Propane tanks litter the property of an abandoned home on Marmora Street in London, Ont. on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. (Bryan Bicknell / CTV London)

Residents in a Hamilton Road neighbourhood just west of Rectory Street say they're frustrated with abandoned houses on their street.

They sat three vacant homes next to one another on Marmora Street are attracting drug users and squatters - and potentially hazardous trash.

Brittany Hegy lives on Marmora and says "We've had junkies and addicts breaking into the houses all the time, cops here all the time to remove them. They've stolen electricity from the neighbours to live in the houses. They wander streets all hours of night, sometimes I just don't want my children outside because they're around."

The homes appear unkempt from the front and back with broken windows, garbage and refuse piled up - including about a dozen propane tanks.

Neighbour Ken Wallis says he has to watch out every time he walks to the corner store.

"There was like two or three of them sitting on the front porch there shooting up, they had needles and left them laying there. And the house next to it I had two guys almost rob me there back a couple months ago. They hid in the bushes and they jumped out, but I heard them coming."

Neighbours say they've contacted the city numerous times and the grass was cut in June, but that's the last time anything was done.

Ward Councillor Bud Polhill says the three properties have been thorn in their side for the last few years, but there's only so much they can legally do.

"All we can do is warn people, tell them to clean it up, and if they don't clean it up we just send in a clean-up crew in and clean up the mess and bill them on their tax bill and that's as much as we can do."

After calls to London's bylaw enforcement office Friday from CTV News and Polhill, CTV News has learned the city is sending a cleanup crew to the properties on Monday.