Dec 6, 2019 2 min read

A Canonsburg family was displaced Wednesday afternoon when their home was deemed uninhabitable.

The Red Cross stepped in to help the two adults and two children who were living in the two story house, at 327 Ridge Ave. One of the adults is the homeowner.

“We’ve provided resources for food, shelter and clothing,” said Lisa Landis, communications director for the Red Cross.

Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome said the walls of the house were “bowing out” and the second floor of the house was not structurally sound. If someone were to walk around on the second floor, he said, they’d possibly fall through it.

“It’d be coming down,” he said.

The house was in violation of multiple sections of the International Property Maintenance Code, primarily for “unsafe conditions,” according to Canonsburg’s code enforcement officer Josh Smith.

He said the family was issued a temporary occupancy permit in September, with the understanding those violations would need to be fixed. That permit expired in October.

On Wednesday, borough officials conducted an inspection at the house and deemed it unsafe for occupancy because of “imminent collapse,” Smith said. They posted a “Keep Out” notice on the door, put caution tape around the house to keep people out and shut off the gas and electricity.

The future of the house – renovations or demolition – will be up to the owner, Smith said.

“We’re going to work with the owner as much as we can,” Smith said.

The house sold to the family last year for $19,500, according to Washington County property records. The building and property were assessed this year for a total of $55,900.

Rhome said the borough would like to help the family any way they can and said he was looking into ways to connect them with community organizations and resources.

Landis said the Red Cross doesn’t set up separate funds for isolated incidents like this. She said people can donate to its disaster relief fund at redcross.org/donate, but it wouldn’t go directly to this particular family.