A demolition crew tore down a South Bend home Wednesday morning to help residents deal with repeated issues at the location. The city aims to demolish one hundred more vacant or abandoned houses this year, according to Code Enforcement.

The home’s history made the city take action to stop any dangerous activity from taking place. Fire crews had responded to the house at 1617 Carroll Street eight times. Neighbors said that the home has been vacant for years.

“This is a safety issue,” said Catherine Toppel, director of South Bend Code Enforcement. “The firefighters were at risk if they had to go into the home to battle a fire.”

Crews arrived at the home Wednesday morning and just a few hours later the house fell to the ground.

“Some of these structures can’t be saved, nor should they be saved,” Toppel said. “Those are the structures we're concentrating on right now to bring down for demolition.”

As parts of the home disappeared, so did some of the worries that residents on the street had dealt with for years.

“People use these houses for crime and things of that nature,” said Robert Lee, who lives near the demolition site. “People are afraid to walk around.”

South Bend residents have made some of those concerns clear to Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

“We’re putting together a task force with people who need to be at the table to solve this problem,” Buttigieg said.

The task force will specifically focus on how to decrease the number of vacant homes throughout the city.

“I want neighbors weighing in, I want community groups weighing in,” Buttigieg said. “I want everyone who has a stake in our neighborhoods to be part of this process.”

He also said that demolition is not the answer in every case.

“We need to address some properties immediately, but we can’t demolish our way out of this problem.”

It costs an average of $6,000 to tear down one of these homes. But, there are also expenses when the city does not choose to demolish. According to Code Enforcement, there are costs involved in responding to fires, sending Code Enforcement officials to inspect the homes, or re-boarding the properties.