A woman escaped her Germantown home shortly before it partially collapsed Wednesday afternoon after her family and neighbors say they had raised concerns about the property for about two years.
The home partially collapsed along East Coulter Street at around 3 p.m. The homeowner exclusively told NBC10 that her daughter pulled her out of the house about 20 minutes before the collapse.
“I started putting her things in bags and told her we have to go,” the homeowner’s daughter said.
Asked whether her mother believed there was an urgent need to leave, she replied, “Right.”
Piles of brick were left scattered on the ground after the collapse, and a large hole exposed the inside of the home. Licenses and Inspections put up a fence around the property, preventing anyone from going inside.
The homeowner, her family and neighbors said they had been seeking help for about two years.
“We’ve contacted different city agencies just recently. L&I has come out. On her own got an engineer, actually a contractor and they never came back and never finished the job. Actually two of them took her money and never came back to finish the job,” the homeowner’s daughter said.
She said the family contacted Councilmember Cindy Bass’ office, the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation and other agencies.
They also contacted Licenses and Inspections, which issued the homeowner a violation for an unsafe building on Sept. 14, according to city records.
“L&I was here on the 14th and issued her a violation, but they never told her to leave the home and I asked them it’s not safe. I said it’s not a safe structure, shouldn’t she leave? They said they said they can’t tell her what to do,” the daughter said.
The woman had lived in the home for 36 years. Her home will likely be demolished by the city.
The family said the problems began after a neighboring property was demolished by the city in 2013. That property is now an empty lot owned by the Philadelphia Land Bank, according to city records.
“What originally occurred was this property next door was demolished by the city 2013. Ever since then it stated to crack and pull down the structure of her home until eventually you can see what happened,” the daughter said.
NBC10 reached out to Bass’ office, PHDC and the mayor’s office. All three said they were looking into the situation and would respond about what they believed happened.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.