World-renowned jazz artist sings the blues over Cleveland housing crisis

CLEVELAND - After living in New York City for 30 years, Vanessa Rubin decided to come back home to Cleveland, and buy a house in her childhood neighborhood.

But when she also tried to buy the vacant home next-door, she found herself in a battle with the bank that owned the home and two years of frustration.

Rubin told NewsChannel5 the family living in the house went into foreclosure in 2010, so she took it upon herself to maintain the property, cutting the grass and more.

"I had the gutters put back up, I had the awning put back on, and I trimmed the bushes in the front," said Rubin. "I just wanted it to look decent, so it would look halfway occupied."

Rubin was concerned the vacant home would attract crime and reduce her property value, so after 20 months of trying to maintain the property on her own, she decided she would buy the house for her brother.

But Rubin said she ran into a series of road blocks, even after she offered the real estate company its asking price for the house.

"I have been writing letters to the alleged mortgage company, I've been contacting the housing court, the mayor, and my councilman," said Rubin. "I was hoping someone would take action on this."

Rubin claims she had trouble figuring out which bank actually owned the house, and said the real estate company suddenly told her someone else had a higher bid on the home.

Rubin is a world renowned jazz artist , who recorded seven successful albums from 1991 to 2001.

She took action, contacting Cleveland Housing court Judge Ray Pianka, the NewsChannel5 Troubleshooter Unit and even produced her own YouTube video expressing her frustration over the stalled real estate deal.

Weeks later, Rubin's persistence paid-off, she was finally given a purchase agreement for the home, and is now set to close on the deal within the next week. Rubin hopes her effort will inspire other residents, who are dealing with vacant homes, to take action in their neighborhoods.

She explained the motivation that leads her to work hard to improve her childhood neighborhood.

"This street is the building blocks of my life, the people that raised me are here. It takes a village to raise a child, and this is the main village that raised me,” Rubin said. “I knew the man that owned this home, and his children, and the man that owned this home, and his three girls."

"I was raised two doors down, and Mrs. Harris lives here, and I used to babysit her kids. People need to fight for their neighborhoods, they can make a difference."

Rubin also sang praises over NewsChannel5's Building Better Neighborhoods initiative.

NewsChannel5 invites residents to volunteer in their communities, and report vacant homes in their neighborhoods through the Building Better Neighborhoods program, click here for more information .

Meanwhile Rubin said she'll keep jazz singing , especially now that her neighborhood has won a battle against blight.