Eerie Photos Explore Homes Abandoned in the Housing Crisis

A Passion Project Born in Palm Beach

Five years ago, while studying journalism at Florida International University (FIU), Nicole Taylor-Lang began searching for subjects to expand her photography portfolio. She didn’t have to go far.

Just a block from her Greenacres home in Palm Beach County, she discovered her first subject: a white-and-beige house with boarded-up windows, weeds swallowing the yard, and a lonely chimney rising above the decay.

“It had a very Little House on the Prairie feel,” Taylor-Lang recalls. “That house I call my baby. All of a sudden, it just started intriguing me, these abandoned properties.”

That curiosity became a years-long passion project.

Documenting South Florida’s Abandoned Homes

Since that first encounter, Taylor-Lang has traveled across South Florida photographing empty homes and businesses — stark reminders of the 2007–2008 housing collapse.

• Some homes appear untouched inside, as if frozen in time.

• Others bear graffiti, smashed walls, and broken windows — evidence of trespassers.

• Everyday objects tell stories of the families who once lived there:

  • a broom propped in the corner,

  • a Barbie train car in a pile of junk,

  • stacks of old National Geographic magazines.

“There’s kind of something unsettling about it,” Taylor-Lang says. “I try to picture the family that was living there.”

Zombie Foreclosures in South Florida

While the national housing market has shown mixed signs of recovery, South Florida remains one of the hardest-hit regions in the country.

• RealtyTrac identified 54,000 abandoned properties in the tri-county area.

• About 650 of those are “zombie foreclosures” — homes left in limbo after owners walked away, but banks never finalized foreclosure.

• The region trails only Detroit in the number of abandoned properties.

Taylor-Lang has witnessed the problem firsthand: neighborhoods once vibrant now pockmarked with empty shells of homes.

“The housing market seems to be doing better, but it’s sad to see how easily these buildings are forgotten.”

From Florida to New York: Capturing Decay

Now living in New York, Taylor-Lang continues to use her camera to highlight forgotten spaces. Recently, she has focused on homes still unrepaired years after Hurricane Sandy.

Her work underscores a universal truth: behind every abandoned house is a story of displacement, financial collapse, or natural disaster.

“It’s something I’m drawn to wherever I go — the decay,” she explains. “I think about these places that were probably nice homes, and now they look like this.”

Final Thoughts

Nicole Taylor-Lang’s haunting photographs do more than document abandoned homes — they preserve the stories of families and communities scarred by the housing crisis. Her lens reminds us of the fragility of stability and the lasting impact of foreclosure and disaster on American neighborhoods.

👉 See the original feature on Miami New Times.

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Tags: florida foreclosure, Zombie homes
Posted in Eviction, foreclosure defenses, Uncategorized |