Owner forced out of house authorities call ‘chronic drug nuisance’

After months of warnings, York Hoskins was forced to vacate his home near the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Authorities call the place a “chronic drug nuisance,” though Hoskins insists he never set out to run a drug house.

Since 2013, reports of drug deals and overdoses, car thefts and assaults have plagued the house at 4112 W. Wellesley Ave., prompting more than 60 visits from Spokane police. Neighbors said the house has been a hotbed of suspicious activity, with vehicles stopping by at all hours and many loud fights taking place inside. A search of the home July 2 turned up black tar heroin, pipes, syringes and a burnt spoon.

City workers boarded up the one-story home Monday morning under a legal maneuver designed to protect law-abiding residents from neighbors who repeatedly fail to curb illegal activity on their property.

Hoskins sold most of his belongings at a yard sale over the weekend and now is looking for a new place to live. He and his visitors are barred from the property for one year.

Hoskins, a 66-year-old Vietnam War veteran, admits to using heroin and may face charges for it. But he said many of the crimes on his property happened without his knowledge or were beyond his control. And sometimes, he was the victim: On two occasions late last year, Hoskins reported his car stolen by a young woman he was allowing to stay in the home.

“I don’t sell drugs. I never sold a drug out of here,” he said, standing on his brown front lawn. “I let some people stay a while, who weren’t good people, and I didn’t know it.”

Through a process called abatement, the city placed a lien on Hoskins’ home for the cost of dealing with drug problems and code violations. He can return to his home in a year if the bank doesn’t foreclose on it.

Matthew Folsom, the assistant city attorney who handled Hoskins’ case, said the city abates about four nuisance homes each year. He said it’s a necessary tool for houses that attract criminal activity despite frequent visits from law enforcement.

Where drugs are involved, the story is often similar, Folsom said: “The owner of the property falls into drug addiction, and then they invite over other people with the same drug addiction.”

Spokane police Lt. Alan Arnzen said his department gave Hoskins plenty of chances to fix the problems at his home by kicking out the troublemakers and seeking professional help. But an uptick in the number of 911 calls in the first half of 2015 made it clear the pattern would persist, he said.

“We try to work with the homeowners. We try to push them in the right direction, get them some help,” Arnzen said. “This is the last thing we want, to kick somebody out of their house.”

Hoskins said he bought the Wellesley house 12 years ago after his wife died at their home in Springdale, Washington. Before that, he spent 10 years working on a railroad in Auburn, Washington, and Tacoma. He also did time in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla for drug-related charges, he said. He has a long criminal history in several Washington counties.

According to court records, neighbors complained of loud music that kept them awake at night, witnessed prostitution and drug deals regularly, and felt threatened by young people who often visited Hoskins’ house. One neighbor reported finding a bag of heroin on her lawn.

Dennis Poole, who lives around the corner, said of all the houses in the neighborhood, Hoskins’ was “most frequently visited by government agencies.”

Another neighbor recalled a woman once stabbed her boyfriend at the house.

Hoskins said he’s had post-traumatic stress and paranoid schizophrenia since the war. He said he’s been off his medications for more than a month because he doesn’t like going to the Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center two blocks away. He turned to heroin years ago for “pain management,” as court records put it.

About 72 percent of homeless veterans have substance abuse or mental health problems, said Dr. Quinn Bastian, chief of behavioral health services for the VA center. About 1,300 of them rely on services the center provides to address homelessness.

Hoskins said he’s not sure where he’ll go or if he’ll return to his home in a year. But it’s a relief to get away from the mess, he said.

“It’s a good thing, actually – to leave.”