ORLANDO, Fla. – People living in West Lakes say they see dozens of homes in their community just like this one. A home that’s boarded up and left to sit for years, unattended. That’s what neighbors call a zombie home.
“There’s always more than one home, if not close together,” said Darren May, a West Lakes resident. “You might see one good house, then you’ll see three houses torn down.”
May says he’s seen several homes like this — boarded up and abandoned — since he moved to West Lakes nine months ago.
Zombie homes are houses where the owner has already moved out and the property is either foreclosed or stuck in the foreclosure process, sitting empty and neglected. Neighbors say those conditions can attract squatters and illegal activity.
“They’re just taking up space,” May said. “Somebody’s probably paying property tax on it. It could be used to help either a kid coming out of foster care find stability, or even somebody coming out of jail looking for a second chance.”
The West Lakes Partnership is raising money to buy these homes and flip them into affordable single-family houses for low- to moderate-income families. According to the organization, there were 25 zombie homes in the neighborhood as of June.
So far, the group has flipped four of those homes.
The organization says it plans to flip four more homes over the next two years. Three of those properties will be torn down and rebuilt as new homes for families.