Officials tour sinking homes in Southwest Philadelphia

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In Southwest Philadelphia's Eastwick section, officials toured several homes that are sinking, in hopes of finding a solution.

Their doors don't close, plaster is crumbling and gaping cracks have been emerging.

On Friday, City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, the Army Corps of Engineers and other congressional representatives toured Cheryl Bush-Weaver's home and others.

"We had a constructional engineer come out and he said, 'Your house cannot be fixed, your house was sinking.' And that's when we asked the city for help," said Bush-Weaver.

"It's not a secret, especially in the Eastwick area, that many of the homes were built on marshland and I'm from the understanding that these homes are sinking on how they were built," said Councilman Johnson.

The problems bring back memories of the infamous Logan Triangle - a section of sinking homes that were built on the Wingohocking Creek in the 1920s.

In 1986, the city recommended that nearly a 1,000 homes should be evacuated. The cost was nearly $50 million and it took 15 years.

What is causing the problems here is unclear.

Councilman Johnson is working to find funds to pay the Army Corps to do a study.

However any study will take at least a year and it's time these residents may not have.

"We can't sell it, our homeowners insurance is cancelling, but we still have to pay taxes on it, it's worth nothing," said Bush-Weaver.

"I want an up or down. If you can't fix it, then we need to be talking about federal funds to get us out of here," said Tyrone Beverly, homeowner.

How many homes impacted is also unclear.

There are many other unanswered questions but the hope is that funding will be secured so that the Army Corps of Engineers' study will give residents answers.