Alicia Campbell stayed in a hotel for two and a half months after her Chicago Heights home burned down last fall. An abandoned home on 155th St. and Lowe Ave. caught fire, the blaze spreading to other homes, Campbell’s included. She has homeowner’s insurance, but it’s not enough to help her financially.
Now, she and other displaced Chicago Heights residents are pressing county leaders to help demolish abandoned homes across the Southland.
“The house next to my neighbor’s house was a shell, and the city knew it was a shell. It had been that way for over 10 years,” Campbell said to the county board at its regular meeting Jan. 16. “It’s not our responsibility to inform the city; code enforcement and other entities should be doing their job and addressing properties like that,” Campbell said. “That house should have been gone.”…