Not-So-Sweet Home Repels Helpers Agency Saves Couple From Filth, But Contractors Say The Place Still Stinks

The mustard-colored house on Hayden Street was gutted. Belongings and carpeting were trashed. Walls were scrubbed with ammonia and painted. It was fumigated twice.

It still stinks and always will, said one worker who refused to give his name. Another said it was like working in a sewer.

Pocatello city officials asked the elderly, disabled couple who own it to leave on March 21 after responding to a complaint and finding a house with decaying floorboards, full of rotten food and infested with mice and roaches.

The city and Pocatello Neighborhood Housing Services went to work on the house, and the owners returned Wednesday.

But most of the contractors who worked on the project expressed disgust that public funds were used to cosmetically rehabilitate a house that is unhealthy and unsound.

Roaches still scrambled through the kitchen last week as a contractor installed a new cabinet and sink. The house was sprayed again, but the contractor said eggs are inside the walls and eliminating them would take ripping the walls out.

On Tuesday, carpets were installed over floor that still had scraps of old carpet stuck to it.

Heidi Larsen of Pocatello Neighborhood Housing Services said the agency made the best of a bad situation. When one of the carpet installers suggested the house be torn down, she told him, “Then they would be homeless.”

Larsen said she felt the rehab, which was a test project to see if the community could come to the rescue of its neediest residents, was successful.

“They needed help and nobody would help them,” she said.

The couple was qualified for public assistance from seven different agencies, Larsen said, but did not know of its availability or how to apply.

Carpet, furniture and other donations to the project came from area businesses and a local church. Contractors donated labor.

Larsen said the entire rehab cost about $5,000. She said the wife is anxious to get back home.

“She’s very excited about moving back in,” Larsen said. “She said this time she’s going to keep it spotless. If she doesn’t, we’ll have someone come in and she’ll have to pay for it.”