EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — What Megan Harris thought would be a dream fixer-upper in Downtown El Paso became what she calls a \u201chouse of horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t promise your safety,\u201d Harris warned visitors before stepping inside the historic home. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to enter at your own risk. It\u2019s always an event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris bought the property about a year ago, hoping to restore the 19th-century house. Since then, she said, the home has been plagued by vandalism, squatting and repeated safety threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of vandalism in here,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have people that will squat the property. As you can see all around, there\u2019s just trash thrown all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside and around the home, trash is scattered throughout — including human waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust be careful where you\u2019re walking,\u201d Harris said while touring the property. \u201cThey just go to the bathroom anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the backyard, discarded cups, plates and debris blanket the ground. But Harris said the trash is only part of the problem.<\/p>\n
About a week before ABC-7 visited the home, Harris posted a video to social media describing what she said has been ongoing harassment and threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the time, I can only get on here because I\u2019m being chased by somebody telling me they\u2019re going to kill me because they\u2019re on drugs,\u201d Harris said in the video. \u201cThis is what my property has come to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following that post, Harris received some help. A local pastor and volunteers assisted with hauling away trash, and the El Paso Police Department helped remove mattresses and debris from the property. Code enforcement also conducted a cleanup, loading multiple truckloads of trash.<\/p>\n
Despite that assistance, Harris said she needs more help from the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like the city to come and clean up the trash,\u201d she said. \u201cI would like them to figure out a solution on how they\u2019re going to solve this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
City officials said their ability to intervene is limited. Steve Alvarado, director of El Paso\u2019s Code Enforcement Department, said cleanup on private property is generally the owner\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes in situations like this, the city will do a courtesy cleanup just to help out the homeowner,\u201d Alvarado said.<\/p>\n
He said the city could take further action if the situation qualifies as illegal dumping typically involving large amounts of trash dumped at one time but that requires suspect information such as vehicle descriptions or license plates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a little tricky,\u201d Alvarado said.<\/p>\n
Harris said most of the activity on her property involves homeless individuals rather than illegal dumpers. She filed multiple police reports, which ABC-7 obtained through an open records request. The reports include criminal trespassing and burglary offenses.<\/p>\n
Harris said some encounters have been life-threatening.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times they let them out the next day, and then they\u2019re right back here,\u201d she said. \u201cThe guy who kept trying to kill me would just come right back to threaten us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of that, Harris announces herself loudly every time she enters the home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t, you surprise them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could be a dangerous situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
While walking through the house, Harris pointed out areas where people had recently been sleeping. Upstairs, she noticed new items on the staircase.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone\u2019s been in here,\u201d she said. \u201cThey climb up the roof to get in. Somebody just urinated in the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the tour continued, an El Paso police officer arrived to check the property after noticing an open door. Harris thanked the officer, saying frequent police visits have led to close relationships with some officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve become like family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Harris estimates she has spent thousands of dollars each month maintaining the property, on top of her initial investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey cost so much every single month just to have this house,\u201d she said. \u201cThe problems I have to deal with it\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Harris said she struggled with the idea of giving up. The house, built in 1870, remained in the same family for generations until she purchased it. She promised the family she would restore it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to be so proud of it,\u201d she said she told them. \u201cOnce I finish it, we\u2019re going to break bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Harris said she\u2019s nearing a breaking point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m almost tempted to just throw my cards and let go,\u201d she said. \u201cLet somebody else come and do whatever they\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, Harris plans to sell the home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — What Megan Harris thought would be a dream fixer-upper in Downtown El Paso…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-283073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}