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Next door to Jeffrey Cash's tidy East Oakland bungalow sits a boarded-up foreclosed house that has been vacant for months, attracting locals who shoot dice in the driveway, smoke crack on the porch and dump debris in the yard, he said. "I call the cops on a regular basis, but it is an ongoing battle," he said. "It's a part-time job making sure it doesn't become more of an eyesore than it already is." Last week, someone hurled a brick through Cash's front window - he thinks in retaliation for his frequent contacts with the police. His situation is emblematic...

Kenyans live in squalor as government spends millions on ministries By Mike Pflanz in Eldoret Last Updated: 1:59AM BST 01/05/2008 More than 150,000 Kenyans are trapped in tented camps and fear a resurgence of tribal violence, even as their "unity" government prepares to lavish hundreds of millions of pounds on new ministries. The church in Kiambaa, where 18 people died in January According to the finance ministry, the expanded coalition needs an extra £125 million a month for nine new departments, in addition to the soaring cost of paying for its 93 ministers and their perks. The new government is...

Tito's widow is left to a life of squalor By Kate Connolly in Belgrade (Filed: 27/02/2006) Choked in ivy, its balconies and pillars crumbling, the once imposing villa looks as if it were abandoned years ago. A curtain twitches. A dark-haired woman wearing sunglasses peers out before whipping it back. She lives in just two rooms of the spacious property and one of those has a hole in the ceiling. The others are uninhabitable due to damp, mould and broken windows. There has been no heating for 25 years. Water has to be heated on a stove. Many elderly Belgrade...

Does someone have a right to live in squalor? Under New Hampshire law, the answer is yes — but only to a point. Two recent cases, in which town officials took action against homeowners in Warner and Andover, have garnered front-page headlines, and led some to ask why someone didn't step in earlier. But the reality is that New Hampshire's laws allow folks to pretty much live as they choose, so long as their lifestyle doesn't threaten their own health or that of others. Elliott Berry is a housing expert at New Hampshire Legal Assistance, which has represented homeowners in...

Mother arrested after five children found living in squalor (9/10/03 – LEAGUE CITY, TX) — League City police arrested a mother of five after her children were found living in deplorable conditions. Twenty-nine-year-old Brandy Crider is charged with five counts of endangering a child. Police were tipped off by the children's father, who suspected they were living in a filthy apartment. Police investigated and found he was right. They discovered spoiled food, animal feces and drug paraphernalia all over the apartment. Despite the conditions, police were surprised to find how well the children were doing. Sgt. Glenn McCann of...