Meet A Homeless Man Who Pays Property Taxes
From his home of six years on Cleveland’s West Side, he looks after the elderly lady next door. He shares vegetables from his backyard garden with anyone in need and keeps his two dogs well fed and fenced in.
The 58-year-old puts his trash in a city-supplied garbage can and clears snow so visitors and the mail carrier can get to the front door. He calls the police at the first sign of trouble and pays property taxes.
Mr. Hayes’ life would be unremarkable except for one big thing.
He’s a squatter.
Homeless and suffering from mental illness, Mr. Hayes moved into the abandoned cottage-size house on this dead-end street in January 2008. The unsecured house sat behind a much larger house, since demolished by the city. He sought refuge here after moving out, or being evicted from, boarding houses and cheap apartments he says were full of drugs and noise.
He’s survived on a pioneer’s spirit, which he likens to that displayed by the characters in Willa Cather’s famous frontier novel, “My Antonia.” …
He asked the Cleveland Water Department last summer to restart service to the house and send him the bill. The department turned him down but official Jason Wood encouraged him to seek legal rights to the house.
“Unfortunately, unless and until the property owner authorizes you to reside at the property, CWD is unable to provide the services requested,” Wood wrote in an email to Mr. Hayes. “One option might be to reach out to the county prosecutor or the county land bank to secure, if possible, authorization (in the form of ownership or as a tenant) to reside at the property.” …
Cuyahoga County property records show the house is owned by Urban Investments Group Inc., a company that has bought many houses in Cleveland presumably with the goal of reselling them for a profit. The company, whose leaders are nearly impossible to track down, owes tens of thousands in back taxes and penalties on its properties. The company owes $27,000 alone on the house Mr. Hayes is living in. Considering the house is of questionable worth, the chances of the company claiming the house are slim.
In 2011, Mr. Hayes decided to start paying down the tax bill. He took $200 from his disability check and traveled downtown to the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Office. There, he gave a clerk the property’s parcel number — though which the county tracks houses — and turned over the money. The clerk asked few questions and applied the money to the outstanding debt. Mr. Hayes later arranged to have future tax bills sent to his house. He pays $200 dollars to the county twice a year.
At his home, I reviewed the tax bills – which indeed list Mr. Hayes name – and his receipts. The online property records reflect the payments he’s made.
I asked Mr. Hayes why he is paying taxes.
“I’m not looking for a free ride,” he said. “I want to show how abandoned properties can be used to solve homelessness.”
He may in fact be on to something. The entire inspirational – and thought-provoking story – is here. (Hat tip: Crooks & Liars)
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By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.