COVINGTON, Ky. — If you drive on W 20th Street in Covington, you may notice one home with an overgrown yard and panels falling off the side of the house. The house is vacant, and now, overrun — not by humans, but by cats.
Dozens of feral cats live inside the vacant home. Neighbors said they often smell cat urine and feces when they go outside.
It's become so bad, the city has filed a lawsuit Monday against the nonprofit that owns the home.
The home has become more than just an eyesore. Some neighbors said it's affecting their way of life.
That includes Terry Zurborg, who has lived next door for 25 years.
See what life is like for Zurborg and other neighbors in the video below:
"It makes my life very uncomfortable," Zurborg said. "I haven't been able to sit out here on the front porch for a long time on account of the smell."
The smell comes from feral cats, dozens of them, that live inside the unoccupied home. Zurborg said he often smells cat urine and cat feces when he walks outside.
WCPO 9 observed at least half a dozen cats around the property Tuesday afternoon.
"There's always been a lot of waste in the yard," Zurborg said.
The home is owned by the Tristate Noah Project, a no-kill animal rescue.
Zurborg said even though the nonprofit owns the home, no one takes care of it. He said the cats do what they want.
Complaints from neighbors like Zurborg led the city of Covington to look deeper into the issue.
"I wouldn't want to live next to this home," said Sebastian Torres, the director of external affairs for the city of Covington.
In a statement sent by the city of Covington following the filing of the civil suit, it said, in part:
"Most notably, residents in the Peaselburg neighborhood have voiced concerns regarding a blighted vacant residential property, owned by the corporate entity, with a history of code violations. The corporate entity, which has been fined over $8,000 for previous violations, continues to allow the property to remain in a state of disrepair and has taken minimal action to improve the property since purchasing it several years ago."
Torres said issues with this home and the nonprofit have been ongoing for years. Documents shared with WCPO 9 show several code violations against the nonprofit have been issued since 2022.
"It appears that the cats can actually gain access to the basement of the property," Zurborg said.
Torres shared photos with WCPO 9 dating back to 2019. Those photos show the inside of the home falling in, a vulture in the window and even what he said he believes were skeletal remains of a cat.
Torres claimed the nonprofit never did anything to fix its violations.
"They knew that it was a problem, and it's been allowed for it to continue to sit in the state that it's in," Torres said.
The lawsuit would require the nonprofit to resolve each code violation on the property.
"At the end of the day, our goal is to get this property fixed," Torres said.
WCPO 9 reached out to the founder of the nonprofit for a response on the lawsuit. The founder told us she believes the lawsuit is "vindictive, retaliatory and many of their accusations are blatantly dishonest."
She said she would be releasing an official statement later this evening.
In the meantime, neighbors like Zurborg said they're happy something is being done.
"I can be very thankful that they're doing something about it," Zurborg.
You can read the full lawsuit below:
City of Covington sues Tristate Noah Project by webeditors on Scribd
