Boarded windows greet visitors at the home at 3104 E. 30th St., where it sits partway up a sloping road in the East Lake area of Chattanooga.
Beyond a small, stone retaining wall, a red sign stapled to the front door warns visitors that the building is unsafe, and a yellow sign with the city seal states the house is scheduled to be demolished. Inside, holes are opening in the ceiling, exposing the wood above. Paint peels away from the walls, cobwebs hang in the gloom and the bathroom floor appears to be sinking.
Citing health and safety concerns, the city condemned the building and ordered it be demolished, a decision officials have successfully defended in Hamilton County Chancery Court. However, the home’s owner, Carl Ditto, believes the house is not beyond saving, arguing officials shouldn’t be so quick to destroy a structure that could play a small role in addressing the city’s dearth of housing options.
Numbers available on Chattanooga’s public data-sharing website, ChattaData.org, show the city has demolished 120 structures since July 1, 2019. City spokesperson Kevin Roig said in an email that the city has taken 36 properties to a demolition hearing since July 1 of last year, five of those being commercial buildings and the remainder residential. Of those, 25 have been demolished — either by the city or property owner — and 11 are being rehabilitated.
Chattanooga’s chief housing officer, Nicole Heyman, said in a phone interview Friday that if a property has degraded enough that the city has recommended demolition, the amount of money it would take to repair it is likely more than the cost of starting over from scratch.