Flophouse ordered to clean up by City of Prince George

Photo: City of Prince George

The City of Prince George has ordered the owner of a dilapidated mobile home that has been the subject of dozens of RCMP calls to clean up their act.

On Monday, council ordered the owner to demolish the damaged mobile home, and clean up derelict vehicles, discarded appliances, tarps and other trash littering the yard. The owner was given until April 30 to complete the clean up the site, or the city will do the work and bill the owner to recover the costs – if they don't pay, the bill will be applied to their property taxes.

"This is one of the worst properties I've seen, and I have seen a lot of bad properties in my career," said the city's manager of bylaw services Charlotte Peters – a former RCMP sergeant in the city. "Having this property abandoned is a good opportunity to remediate this property, because we don't have to evict anybody."

Peters said the property was a "flophouse" or "crackhouse," and bylaw officers suspected that at some points people were living in a pair of derelict campers on the site – two of 17 derelict vehicles on the property. Several of the residents were identified by the RCMP as being frequent offenders in the city, she said.

Since August, 2020, the RCMP had been called to the property 45 times – roughly once a week, city director of community services and public safety Adam Davey wrote in a report to city council. The complaints ranged from noise complaints to drug activity and dangerous dog complaints.

"The residents of this property had some large, very dangerous pit bulls," Peters said. "We weren't able to remedy that situation."

The dogs were allowed to run loose and charged at postal workers on multiple occasions, resulting in Canada Post cancelling mail service to the neighbourhood in August, Peters said. Eventually Animal Control Officers investigated the situation, and mail delivery was restored in the area in mid-December.

In addition to the RCMP calls to the house, bylaw officers were on the scene at least 17 times since May 2020. And since August 2020, firefighters were there five times – four times to respond to drug overdoses and once because the residents were burning copper wire in the yard.

On Feb. 4, the RCMP informed bylaw officers the home was abandoned and left unsecured. Bylaw officers issued an order to board the property up, but despite at least six attempts to contact the owner, he has not responded.

City crews boarded up the mobile home, but the problems have continued. Peters said she interviewed a long-time neighbour, and that person said that people, vehicles and trailers continue to come and go from the property at all hours of the day.