Monroe's Blighted Houses

Some neighbors in Monroe are speaking out tonight. They say the blighted, abandoned houses that fill their neighborhood are drug houses -- and a hot-bed for illegal activity. But now we're seeing some progress tearing down these eyesores. The city of Monroe was recently awarded a million dollar grant to help tear down eyesores and dangerous abandoned homes. But the grant is only targeted to very specific areas. So this is leaving some residents wondering when their streets are going to be cleaned up.

Claudia Collins has been living on south 3rd street for 12 years. and for the past 10 years, she's had to look at a group of ugly, blighted houses. One of those houses was torn down by the city yesterday. But neighbors tell me it took years, and they want more action more quickly.

A million bucks from the Louisiana Neighborhood Stabilization program will be helping soon to tear down more than a dozen blighted houses in Monroe. But here's the catch, that money is earmarked for other neighborhoods, so it's no help right now to Claudia. But NBC 10 News did call Monroe's Code Enforcement Office. They say they're aware of the problems on Claudia's street. They're working on it. And they hope to tear down about 40 houses by the end of the year.