Complaint At 93 Little Hobart House

Complaints were made on a six-person family living in ill conditions at 93 Little Hobart Street. The family is comprised of Rex Walls, Rose Mary Walls, and their four children: Lori Walls, age sixteen, Jeannette Walls, age thirteen, Brian Walls, age twelve, and Maureen Walls, age eight. When the house was checked out, it was noted that the porch in the front of the house is drooping, only supported by tall, cinder-block pillars (Walls 150). The house’s paint has faded from possibly white to dismal gray. The cement stairs tilted downward toward the street, followed by a set of wooden stairs, made from two-by-fours. It was noted that there was no indoor plumbing. However, there was a tiny room with just a toilet and a spigot underneath one of
The indoors had no running water, and authorities were notified that the family takes a bucket downstairs to the spigot and bring it back upstairs filled with water. While the house is wired for electricity, it does not seem to be on at the moment. In the living room, there is a cast-iron pot bellied coal stove for heating and cooking. However, there is no chimney and it seems that the stovepipe is being vented out of a back window. The window’s top glass has been removed and replaced with plywood and wrapped tin foil, possibly trying to keep the coal smoke from leaking into the room. That is not doing its job because there is black soot on the ceiling (150-154). When the family was inspected, the investigation dug deeper with the children and found out more about the daily struggles of the Walls
Since Rex Walls is a raging alcoholic, it is more likely that one of his four children will develop a drinking problem when they are adults. According to another Science Daily another article, living in poverty “...can have long-lasting negative consequences on brain development, emotional health and academic achievement” (Poverty’s). With these children living in poverty and poor conditions, it is possible that they are having mental issues that nobody is aware of, like depression, anxiety, or post traumatic stress