Correction: A previous version of this story indicated the address was in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood.
Illandria Borel can see garbage spilling out into the alley from her next-door neighbour’s backyard.
“Broken furniture, bags of food, I don’t want to go too much closer,” she said.
Borel lives on Avenue G South in the Riversdale neighbourhood. She explained what you can see from the alley is only the tip of the iceberg compared to the amount of garbage and debris littering the yard.
“The smell is overwhelming,” she said. “There are bags of used adult dirty diapers there is garbage even clamshell packaged of eggs with used needles laying on them.”
Borel said she believes four to six adults are currently living in the home but hasn’t seen the renters put out the trash since May.
“The bins get filled up and then they get dump out people scrounging around, looking for stuff,” she said. “I feel sorry for the people that live there but it doesn’t give them an excuse as to why it’s like that.”
Borel said she called to file a complaint with the City of Saskatoon on June 12, but no one has cleaned up the mess.
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The Saskatoon Fire Department investigates complaints like Borel’s that fall under the city’s property maintenance and nuisance abatement bylaw.
The bylaw states: “it requires property owners in the City of Saskatoon to maintain houses, buildings, and yards to an acceptable standard. Property owners are responsible for ensuring yards are kept free and clean from garbage and debris, junked vehicles, and excessive growth and noxious weeds.”
Complaints are then investigated by the fire department based on priority and the date received.
Borel said the lack of response from the city has made her frustrated.
“We see this and we just feel horrible,” she said.
“There is nothing we can do no matter how hard we try, we call, we contact, we talk to the landlord and nothing ever seems to get done; it just feels like beating our heads against a brick wall.”
Global News spoke to the landlord on Tuesday. She said she is aware of the garbage and plans to clean it up, but she did not have a timeline for when the work would happen.
According to the city, if the work is not done, the city will clean it up and all the costs will be placed onto the homeowners’ property tax bill.
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