MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade County woman living in a treehouse said she was told by code enforcement that changes need to be made, but she has a plan to stay.
From the outside, 72-year-old Shawnee Chasser’s property, located off Northwest 135th Street, looks just a home with a lot of trees, but once you step on the other side of her gate, you will find a completely different way of living.
Chasser said while she expected this all to be simple, the past seven years have been rather difficult.
“When it rains and we love it and that’s how I live my life,” she said.
The past 17 years she has lived outdoors, most recently with her two grandchildren, in the elements, within what she calls her oasis.
It’s essentially the front yard of her house, filled with vegetation - tiki huts, hammocks, an outdoor kitchen and even a bed.
“It has got everything I could possibly need,” Chasser said.
Miami-Dade code enforcement told Chasser that her treehouse structure was not safe and they want it taken down.
“Their reasoning is that it is unsafe and un-permitted,” she said.
Code enforcement has deemed the outside home not just unsafe, but not up to code.
“Every violation you can think of,” she said. “I am so high on fines and violations, like $40,000 I hear and they are going to take it all down a week from Monday.”
Local 10 News spoke with Chasser back in 2016 when she was hit with an $11,320 fine and an $11,481 dollar fine for unauthorized use within a single family residence.
It’s there where Chasser said she has more than five tenants that she rents her house to.
“I rent to friends, that is how I pay my mortgage and my FPL bill,” she said.
As the fines continue to add up, her hope is that a GoFundMe account she has created will help pay them, tear down what is there and rebuild, with code enforcement’s approval.
“Right now I am trying to clear it,” she said. “I am just so tired of not having my own life.”
If you think she has any plans of moving inside, you’d be wrong.
Chasser said she plans to build another outdoor living area with proper permitting this time around.