10News: 700 Santee homes supported by jacks

A design flaw that could affect about 700 homes in Santee has some residents on edge.

Homes in the northwest end of Santee constructed in the 1970s were built to be supported on jacks, which are now starting to rust and wear.

“If it’s dangerous, they need to know about it,” said contractor Art Angelo.

Angelo, who repairs homes, said he found the problem so alarming his company went to the city of Santee to show them the potential hazards.

“I’d say about 90 percent or better of the support that’s holding the house up isn’t there,” he said.

The houses were built by a company called Princess Homes that is no longer in business. 10News found that Princess also built homes in nearby San Carlos and Poway.

A new city policy is in place where homeowners in that area of Santee cannot get a permit to add on to the home or repair the foundation until a civil or structural engineer looks at the home.

Eric Modeen just bought his Santee home and now fears he will have to spend thousands of dollars to fix the foundation.

“I’m nervous,” he said. “We just purchased this house a few months ago. The seller spent about $10,000 to have the foundation repaired, and I assumed this was going to be something I wasn’t going to have to worry about.”

New signs of rust may mean he will have to do more work.

About 60 to 150 jacks are typically underneath each home affected. The city of Santee has created a 12-member task force to prevent any of the homes from collapsing.

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