PITTSBURGH -- Just two weeks ago, the city's Redd Up crew boarded up a vacant house in Pittsburgh's Greenfield neighborhood where an 11-year old girl was allegedly raped Thursday.

On Friday, Team 4 learned that 446 Ivondale St. was the source of repeated complaints to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's hotline and to 911, and investigator Jim Parsons reported that the street has been sliding for years -- a problem that the last three city administrations have known about.

Slideshow: Photos Of Neighborhood And Police Search For Rape Suspect

The owner of 446 Ivondale is elderly and suffers from dementia in a nursing home. Her daughter, Andrea Halsband, said she has tried to keep the house in good order, but vandals keep breaking in and realtors won't list it for sale because the street is sliding.

WTAE Channel 4 Action News went to Ivondale Street on April 13, 2007, when City Council President Doug Shields led the fire chief and an engineer on a tour and showed reporters a spot where the street was really starting to dip.

The road has been sliding down a steep hillside for 70 years, but Parsons reported it has gotten so bad that owners started abandoning their homes in the past few years without the ability to sell them.

"We don't know if it's going to cave in any day," said Shawn Kopa, who helped the young sex victim when she ran up the street to his house. "But every time we get on the news or anything else, it's 'hush hush,' you know? It's like they don't do nothing."

Shields said he tried to do something in 2007, when he called on the Ravenstahl administration and state leaders to buy out homeowners and demolish the street.

"Today, we have money in the capital budget," Shields said in 2007. "Also, I'm looking for help from the state representative and Sen. Costa to see if we can't do something about a buyout here."

On Friday, Shields told Team 4 that he has had several meetings with the city administration about Ivondale Street and no action was taken.

"We can offer to pay for the house -- you know the value of the house isn't worth much -- and it gets it off the family's hands. We demolish it, put some grass seed on it and it's over with," said Shields.

Bob Hallahan, an Ivondale Street homeowner, said the vacant home where the alleged rape happened is "something that wasn't taken care of and should have been taken care of a long time ago."

In 2007, city Solicitor George Specter said, "There is a serious landslide situation in every neighborhood in the city. There are many of them. There's no question that somewhere down the line, this may become the most expensive item in the capital budget."

Police Chief Nate Harper said his officers and city building inspectors have been to 446 Ivondale several times. Ask any neighbor and they'll tell you they've complained to the city about it.

"You hear voices in there and everything, and the city has boarded this house up two or three times. It's been broken into again, so they keep coming back," Hallahan said.

Officially, Ravenstahl's office says the city complaint line has received three calls about 446 Ivondale. Building inspectors were there in March and cited the owner for dangerous conditions.

"There's been citations issued to the owner of the home, and it's still in litigation, and we'll be going to court at a later date," Harper said.

But the owner says she can't sell it because Ivondale Street -- carved out of a steep hill -- is slowly collapsing.

"It is easily a $1 million solution to go in and repair at least three or four sections of the roadway with retaining walls," city engineer Patrick Hassett said in April 2007.

Spokeswoman Joanna Doven released a statement Friday night, saying that Ravenstahl doubled the demolition budget in 2008 and increased it by another 25 percent this year.