KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A recent roof collapse at a brick building on 33rd and Woodland landed it on Kansas City's dangerous buildings list, which includes hundreds of damaged and dilapidated structures around the city.
After taking a closer look at the building Tuesday morning, city inspectors determined termites ate through a truss, causing the collapse.
"When you're up there with a 50-foot high roof, you can't tell if it's termites up there or not," Keith Goode, who owns 3301 Woodland, said of the building.
Goode told us he plans to make the needed repairs, but his property is the latest of 350 on the dangerous buildings list.
Willie Morrow lives next to another one on Michigan Avenue.
This house at 3528 Michigan Avenue has sat on Kansas City's dangerous building list for more than two years.
"You name it, it's in there. Possums, raccoons, rats," Morrow said of the creatures living inside the abandoned home next door.
Morrow said he has called to complain about the house at least 30 times. It has been on the list for more than two years. Others have been there for much longer, like 1480 E 77th Street, for which a case was opened in 2007.
"They do have rights as a property owner, and we can't just walk up and knock it down," John Baccala of KCMO Neighborhoods and Housing Services explained.
According to Baccala, owners can use legal avenues to keep the city off their property, and the overall demolition process takes time.
This home at 6817 Bellefontaine Ave. has been on the dangerous buildings list since 2012.
The city has been able to demolish many dangerous buildings through a two-year $10 million initiative that started in May of 2016. At that time there were 800 structures up for demolition.
As for the 350 properties currently on the dangerous building list, Baccala said only six remain where no action has been taken.
"You can't ever really get ahead of this situation. As soon as we take two down, inevitably another one shows up somewhere," he said.
You can find a full map of dangerous buildings, including their case statuses, at thislink.
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