Have any of you had any success dealing with a "Nuisance House" on or around your block? After reading about the Thompson street horror, I'm wondering if there is really any point to calling the cops or reporting anything to the city...

Yep.

We dealt with a nuisance house. It took about 5 months, but the person was evicted with the police watching.

The key difference between our nuisance house and Thompson Street was that ours had a landlord that wasn't the Philadelphia Housing Authority, and who responded in a quicker manner to police and community pressure.

So, keep calling the police, get various groups (FNA, NKCDC, etc.) involved, and be sure to contact the landlord if the troublemakers are renters.

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Our civic has worked to resolve issues related to a number of "nuisance houses" and it requires an enormous amount of patience and effort... However, it's worth it. Down the block from us, we had a landlord who was renting to drug users and prostitutes just a few years ago... Unbelievable! We were advised to keep plugging away, calling the police, L&I and related groups until they were forced to clean up their act. The landlords owed a ton of money on the property to the City (surprise, surprise!) and had a number of L&I and fire violations. The property was finally sold to a landlord who has cleaned up the place and rents to respectable tenants now.

So, yes, you can get results!

If a building owner ignores the problem, can the city step in and take possession (title) to the nuisance property?

I know that this can happen with commercial properties. Can the city do the same thing with a residence?

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

How to Send a Drug House to Sheriff's Sale, from hallwatch.org.

http://www.hallwatch.org/news/1047491796919

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First intention, then enlightenment.

It's so, so hard to get a house put up for Sheriff's sale... And there have to be lots of liens. There's a public policy argument against "seizing" someone's home, even if they are an irresponsible owner. We tried having an empty property sent to Sheriff's sale in 1998. Property still sits vacant.

It's easier, if it's a rental, to attack on violations (fire is a good one, most slumlords cram way too many people into a home).