Camden's ugliest house lives on and on

Camden's ugliest abandoned house is still there, as ugly as ever.

Four months after a high-profile protest and promises by politicians to have it razed, the building on North 27th Street - winner of an "ugliest house" contest by a community group - is a reminder of the difficulty of progress in the nation's poorest city.

"Thinking about Camden's capacity to govern itself, this is a perfect example of how the capacity is still not there," concluded Brother Jerry Hudson of Camden Churches Organized for People, which organized the competition.

Over the summer, CCOP challenged residents to pick one of 13 abandoned homes as the city's worst eyesore. The fire-charred two-story structure off a commercial strip in North Camden won the designation and was ironically marked with a poster of a blue ribbon.

The poster is still there. So are the trash piled five feet high inside the house, the unhinged front doors, and the graffiti-tagged exterior.

The house outlasted Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, who said at the ugliest-house crowning in August that she would try to have it demolished by the time she stepped down.

Before her term ended Thursday, she said she was monitoring the situation. But Camden relies on state tax money and grants for most of its budget, so it can't proceed with demolitions at will.

Over the years, as the city waited for funding, at least three city departments were involved in fielding complaints and boarding up the house, according to CCOP's research.

In October, the city finally was awarded a $500,000 federal grant, which will cover most of the cost of demolishing 34 buildings, said Pat Keating, director of the city's Department of Public Works.

But to raze this structure, which is 125 years old, officials need approval from the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office. Then the house will come down, Keating said.

Hudson of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, who has helped tackle the bureaucratic process, laughed last week when asked when he thought the house would finally be demolished.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know if it ever will be. It may just rot," he said. "I'd hate to even guess when it will come down."

The contest was conceived after St. Anthony of Padua leaders complained about an abandoned home next to the church on River Avenue. That was more than three years ago; the derelict building is still there.

"That's how come there's so much apathy from the public, because whenever anyone tries to do anything, they're just met with roadblock after roadblock," Hudson said. "People just give up."

Most residential blocks in Camden contain abandoned buildings despite a 2002 law that put the city under state control and guaranteed that all "unsafe structures" would be demolished. About 1,500 buildings deemed "unsafe" or an "eminent hazard" dot the landscape, and money for demolitions is hard to come by. Knocking one building down can cost $20,000.

The buildings are not just a public nuisance, attracting trash, rodents, bugs, drug users, and prostitutes. They also threaten the physical stability and lower the value of surrounding properties, which are often well-kept.

Perhaps most significant, say residents, is that they're ugly.

"Why would you want to move to Camden?" Hudson asked. "Until you improve the infrastructure of Camden, you're not going to have people moving in, you're not going to have businesses moving in."

CCOP has developed a flowchart to keep track of the ugliest house's status. Even if the chart ends with a demolition, the group has three more problems: a trio of houses next to the ugliest house also are abandoned, boarded up, and ready for the bulldozer.