Hammond Code Enforcement seeks out illegal housing
Marissa O' Donley
Issue date: 11/23/09 Section: News
During these troublesome economic times, illegal housing cropped up all over NWI, especially in Hammond.
Illegal houses are buildings that have been "cut up," or changed, to have more rooms than intended. An example of illegal housing is making an attic or basement into one or more bedrooms.
It is not unheard of for a neighborhood to be overrun by illegal houses - when one house is "cut up," more tend to follow suit. Crime and parking issues can arise when such situations occur, making the area unstable.
Less than a year ago, Hammond merged several of their departments to form the Code Enforcement Division. This was done in hopes of achieving higher performance in housing-related jobs.
Under the CED, Building Commissioner Kurt Koch taught his employees building codes and what to look for in houses being searched. The trained personnels' average grades were around 91 percent in terms of inspections.
One of the building codes concerns ceiling height. The minimum height is seven feet. However, there are many basement and attic apartments that do not conform to this regulation, posing health and safety hazards.
Another code is fire seperation, meaning it must take one hour for fire to spread from one room into the next.
Illegal apartments do not follow the CED's above stated regulations. Hammond has been forced to crack down on these dwellings for the safety of the people involved.
CED Commissioner Kelly Kearney mentioned a case where a house went up in flames, causing three adults to die. In the basement apartment, a TV kept under the staircase caught fire. There were only block windows and firefighters had to use sledge hammers to get through them. Firefighters were unable to stop the fire and rescue the victims due to inadequate entry points.
Another case involved a family of eight living in a basement without a proper shower or toilet in a home infested with fleas.
As for how many of these houses are in existence, Koch stated there are likely dozens near the PUC campus and at least a hundred of them city-wide.
It is through the joint effort of the CED with the fire and police departments many of these houses are being found and dealt with. Citizens can also help by reporting any they suspect may be an illegal house.
In an article published in The (NWI) Times in Oct., Building Commissioner Jim Callahan was quoted as saying, "A telltale sign of an illegal housing unit is if unusually large amounts of trash are collected from the home on a daily basis."
When asked where those evicted from these homes can go, Koch said there are some shelters happy to help, though most are not able to aid families as a whole.
There had been talk of the city creating a program to aid these individuals, however, it is considered their responsibility to find homes.
Illegal houses are buildings that have been "cut up," or changed, to have more rooms than intended. An example of illegal housing is making an attic or basement into one or more bedrooms.
It is not unheard of for a neighborhood to be overrun by illegal houses - when one house is "cut up," more tend to follow suit. Crime and parking issues can arise when such situations occur, making the area unstable.
Less than a year ago, Hammond merged several of their departments to form the Code Enforcement Division. This was done in hopes of achieving higher performance in housing-related jobs.
Under the CED, Building Commissioner Kurt Koch taught his employees building codes and what to look for in houses being searched. The trained personnels' average grades were around 91 percent in terms of inspections.
One of the building codes concerns ceiling height. The minimum height is seven feet. However, there are many basement and attic apartments that do not conform to this regulation, posing health and safety hazards.
Another code is fire seperation, meaning it must take one hour for fire to spread from one room into the next.
Illegal apartments do not follow the CED's above stated regulations. Hammond has been forced to crack down on these dwellings for the safety of the people involved.
CED Commissioner Kelly Kearney mentioned a case where a house went up in flames, causing three adults to die. In the basement apartment, a TV kept under the staircase caught fire. There were only block windows and firefighters had to use sledge hammers to get through them. Firefighters were unable to stop the fire and rescue the victims due to inadequate entry points.
Another case involved a family of eight living in a basement without a proper shower or toilet in a home infested with fleas.
As for how many of these houses are in existence, Koch stated there are likely dozens near the PUC campus and at least a hundred of them city-wide.
It is through the joint effort of the CED with the fire and police departments many of these houses are being found and dealt with. Citizens can also help by reporting any they suspect may be an illegal house.
In an article published in The (NWI) Times in Oct., Building Commissioner Jim Callahan was quoted as saying, "A telltale sign of an illegal housing unit is if unusually large amounts of trash are collected from the home on a daily basis."
When asked where those evicted from these homes can go, Koch said there are some shelters happy to help, though most are not able to aid families as a whole.
There had been talk of the city creating a program to aid these individuals, however, it is considered their responsibility to find homes.
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