In March 2025, Matt Francisco got a knock on his door from someone promising to make his longstanding neighbor issues go away.
For four years, the property next to his house on York Street in Denver’s City Park neighborhood had devolved into a nightmare. Squatters set up camp in the abandoned 3,300-square-foot apartment building, he said. There was rampant drug use and frequent police presence. Last spring, a fire erupted on the back porch, sending plumes of smoke into Francisco’s residence and threatening to ignite other houses on the block.
“It’s been 24/7 stress having to live here,” Francisco said.
So when John Crays, a local investor, approached Francisco last year, he was immediately intrigued. Under Denver city ordinance, a neighborhood landowner is afforded what is known as a against the owner of a neglected or derelict property.
But these systems are difficult for the average homeowner to navigate. So Crays proposed an alternative: Francisco could assign his right of action to the investor, who knows the ins and outs of the city and court system. Ultimately, a judge appointed a caretaker to take possession of the property, and, eventually, the house will be sold.
“It was a leap of faith, but I was desperate,” Francisco said. “John has been a huge help.”
Crays has been making the same house calls all around the city, convincing discontented neighbors to let him take their problems off their hands. With the help of a housing attorney, Crays has begun to tackle Denver’s through civil court actions designed to pry troubled properties from their absentee owners.
The city seems happy to let him do his thing. Denver officials say they’re reluctant to take people’s property away and have a high constitutional bar to clear if they choose to do so. Plus, the city attorney’s office, which prosecutes such cases, has limited bandwidth to tackle this problem.
Denver has only moved for a court-appointed caretaker for problem properties four times since the start of 2025 — and city officials acknowledged that two of them were in response to Crays filing his own lawsuits.
“Folks are struggling and having to deal with a nightmare every single day,” Crays said. “There’s finally an answer that won’t take years or decades.”
Denver needs a method for dealing with problematic properties, said Zach Neumann, co-founder and CEO at the , a nonprofit organization that helps people facing eviction and foreclosure.
The question, he said, is whether that should be in the hands of private investors or whether a community ownership model could lead to more equitable outcomes.
“The tools being used here are some of the most coercive legal tools available, so they’re ripe for abuse,” Neumann said.
Genesis of a plan
Crays first took an interest in neglected properties 15 years ago after seeing one in his Baker neighborhood.
Unhoused individuals had set up camp in the backyard, while rodents and raccoons turned the house into their own.
Crays learned that Denver keeps a , which it updates quarterly. The July document lists 310 properties across Denver’s 11 City Council districts.
For a property to be declared a it generally must be an unoccupied building that city inspectors have identified as unsafe, a nuisance, habitually in violation of city codes, or at least one year behind in property taxes.
The city can issue fines if the property owner doesn’t submit a remedial plan or doesn’t comply with registration requirements. And yet, the same properties continue to remain on the city’s list year after year.
Crays figured he’d show up to a hearing for the property, at which he assumed the city would take action. He also approached the house’s owner, gauging whether he wanted to sell. That owner, he said, expressed no interest in fixing up the property or putting it up for sale.
Fifteen years later, the house at 119 Ellsworth Ave. remains on the city’s list.
“That was the genesis of finding a more effective method,” Crays said.
Early last year, Crays started reaching out to neighbors of the neglected properties on the city’s list. He found that “nothing was happening at the pace that would make much of a difference,” he said.
The city’s lien process simply wasn’t moving the needle, Crays said. Whether it’s $999 or $35,000, he said, if a property owner doesn’t care about liens, another won’t change their behavior.
“Cities in general are a little hamstrung,” he said. “They can’t be as effective of a tool as a private business owner.”
allows the city, an affected neighboring landowner or any other person who has suffered damages due to the condition of a property to bring legal action against an owner who refuses to fix up their building.
These parties can request an injunction ordering the owner to follow court directives; ask for the appointment of a receiver to take possession of the property to complete all work needed to make the place habitable; or petition the court to demolish the property.
Crucially, neighbors can also sign over their rights to a private party, such as Crays.
‘A little bit of hope’
Susan Bingler bought her first home in 2019 in Denver’s Chaffee Park neighborhood.
About three years ago, the house next door became abandoned. Bingler watched as people set up encampments on the property, openly used and sold drugs, and once set a truck on fire. People living there have kicked in her fence and threatened her safety, she said. Bingler began carrying pepper spray every time she took her dog out.
One day in November, she looked at her Ring camera and saw someone outside the house. As she readied to call the police again, she stopped. This person didn’t look like the normal crew hanging around the property.
That’s when she met Crays, who explained his plan for Denver’s neglected buildings. Bingler immediately bought in.
“I told him I’ve been working with the city for seven years and I’m sick of being afraid to live in my own home,” she said. “Someone finally showing up gives me a little bit of hope that I can one day feel comfortable in my own backyard.”
Bingler signed a document, assigning her rights as a neighbor to Crays.
The investor, under this arrangement, takes on all responsibility and legal fees associated with the lawsuit and doesn’t charge the neighbors anything for the service. Crays, though, does stand to benefit financially if a court awards damages. He also has the opportunity to bid on the properties if they go up for auction.
On Nov. 17, a limited liability company associated with Crays filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court, alleging that the building at 4801 Shoshone St. was a “nuisance property” full of vagrants and criminals. The property owner, Julie Wiley, hasn’t been seen for a year and may actually be dead, the complaint states.
Wiley could not be reached for comment.
Thus began the winding legal process, one in which the property owner did not participate.
In June, a judge granted a default judgment against the owner for $250,000. Weeks later, the same judge directed the Denver Sheriff Department to enforce the judgment through the sale of the property.
Crays, through his LLC, will receive the money from the eventual sale since he’s the named plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The investor and his attorney, Christopher Conant, have been following this same playbook around the city.
Crays said he didn’t know how many neglected properties he’d targeted. Court records show the pair has filed lawsuits in at least eight cases since the start of last year under various LLCs. In four cases, Crays said a judge has either appointed a receiver or the house in question has been sold at auction.
One of these homes he purchased himself, a 1,600-square-foot, two-bedroom house in Curtis Park. Denver property records show the house has been and is being . Crays, through one of his LLCs, paid $50,000 for it at auction.
To supplement the legal action, Conant has been filing records requests with the city’s , seeking details of enforcement actions taken by the city against properties on the neglected and derelict building list.
Nine times out of 10, Crays said, the absentee property owners inherited the home but don’t live there. Many can’t be located or don’t have an interest in engaging.
Nearly all the property owners The Post attempted to contact for this story did not have working numbers or did not return messages seeking comment. Some were dead.
In one case, the listed owner on a property in Washington Park West said he didn’t even know he owned the home until the reporter contacted him.
Earl Broderson, the sole listed owner for 749 S. Lincoln St., said he was part of an investment group some 20 years ago that flipped Denver properties. He said his partners defrauded him and that he didn’t have many records. Broderson said he had no idea Crays had filed suit against him over the derelict house.
“It’s not in my nature to neglect things,” he said. “I feel sad for the neighbors. I’m gonna have to apologize to some people.”
Some owners, though, are around — and fighting back.
Flavia Montecinos owns a million-dollar home along Denver’s East Seventh Avenue that has been coined the “Poop House” after neighbors flung bags of excrement onto the property to protest its derelict conditions.
Crays and Conant filed suit against Montecinos in October, using the same rights afforded to them by neighbors, as they sought to get a receiver appointed or require the owner to demolish the house.
Montecinos did not respond to messages from The Post, but told BusinessDen last year that the property was under a remedial plan with the city and that she was about to get a permit to resume work on the house. A city spokesperson confirmed the remedial plan was approved.
In November, Montecinos countersued Crays over what she said were harassing calls from neighbors and derogatory signs on the property.
“The plaintiff is an opportunist and has purchased claims belonging to ‘neighborhood owners,’” she wrote in her Nov. 4 countersuit, “and seeks to delay and impair the construction.”
Another homeowner in Arapahoe County sued Crays last year, alleging the investor did not disclose issues with the property before he sold it to them in 2022. Crays also did not obtain construction permits for work conducted on the house, the lawsuit alleged.
A jury in May awarded the couple $72,500, finding Crays liable for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and false representation. Crays is appealing the case. His lawyer, in a statement, noted the jury awarded only $2,500 for the breach-of-contract claim, “a result that reflects the jury’s rejection of the vast majority of the allegations in the case.”
Crays told The Post that he hired a general contractor for the work and that those individuals never obtained the correct permits.
“I hired the wrong contractor, but I didn’t do anything dishonest,” Crays said.
Limited bandwidth from the city
The city appears content to let the private investors run point on neglected properties.
The , since the start of last year, has filed or joined motions for receivers — the court-appointed caretakers — four times: two were in response to Crays filing suit against neglected and derelict properties; one was led by a neighbor who hired their own attorney; and the last was a joint effort with the city’s .
The Community Planning and Development Department has a committee that considers these properties, which the city calls “the worst of the worst.”
“The bar is so high for us,” said James Hicks, the city’s neglected and derelict properties administrator. “It’s not something we take lightly.”
He acknowledged that the city attorney’s office has “limited bandwidth” to tackle these cases.
Crays knows the city only moves for a receiver as a “last resort.” But for him, “it’s the thing I’m shooting for in some cases.”
Courtney Ronner, a city spokesperson, said the department understands neglected properties are an area of concern for residents. She pointed to the recent creation of a new inspector position that focuses solely on these types of properties, as well as dozens of hearings designed to spur owners into action.
Meanwhile, the Community Planning and Development Department worked with the City Council to develop more stringent enforcement mechanisms that will soon allow the city to issue higher fines to neglectful owners, along with stricter requirements and improved procedures.
“That said, all situations are different and there are many reasons why a property may fall into disrepair,” Ronner said. “Some properties become neglected because the owners have passed away or fallen on hard times. The city must balance the impact on the surrounding neighbors with the rights of property owners who are owed due process.”
Neumann, the foreclosure and eviction defense attorney, said he wonders whether the current approach — letting private investors collect judgments and capitalize on foreclosures — is the best way for a city to deal with blight.
The system, he said, is built on default judgments, which occur when a court rules in favor of a plaintiff because the defendant failed to respond to a lawsuit or missed a court date.
“That process can proceed against a party who may not know what’s going on or doesn’t have the resources to fight it,” Neumann said. “That can introduce risk for consumers.”
A recent example in Denver points to another option.
In 2017, the city pushed for a receiver and auction of a neglected property in Denver’s Cole neighborhood that was owned by former Colorado legislator and Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights author Douglas Bruce.
At auction, a private foundation partner of , a nonprofit organization that operates affordable housing complexes, bought the land for $4.63 million and converted it into . The organization also sold a parcel of the property at a steep discount to Habitat for Humanity, which built 17 townhomes to sell.
But the city could only get the property to auction; it couldn’t determine who bought the land and for how much. Mile High Ministries raised major capital to make it happen and certainly did not get a discount, said Jeff Johnsen, the organization’s executive director and CEO.
Detroit also serves as a good example of what can be done with a community ownership model.
Officials in 2008 established the , a public-benefit corporation dedicated to transforming vacant and abandoned properties into “inclusive community assets.” The city manages nearly 60,000 properties and has sold tens of thousands of homes and vacant lots since its inception for prices well below typical market value.
Neumann acknowledged that dealing with blight remains a complicated question with no easy answers.
“In the absence of a well-funded community ownership approach, the use of these types of legal tools is probably better than nothing,” he said.
Crays, for his part, said he was just operating as an investor at the beginning of all this. Now he’s seen that his work goes beyond the dollars and cents.
“I didn’t see how much impact I was gonna make on neighborhoods struggling with these properties,” he said. “After dealing with so many of these families — the situations they have to live with — I have a lot of sympathy for these people.”
