Shawnee Chasser, a 72-year-old grandmother in Florida, faced the demolition of her outdoor treehouse, where she had lived for nearly 17 years, due to code violations. Originally, she purchased the property for her son, but after his passing, she started living outdoors on the property, creating a space with a tiki hut, waterfall, bedrooms, and kitchen.
Complaints from neighbors led to code enforcement issuing fines of around $40,000. Faced with the choice of tearing down the treehouse or raising funds to bring it into compliance, Chasser decided to tear it down in September 2023, spending $30,000 on the teardown.
Despite the sadness of seeing her home destroyed, Chasser plans to build another properly permitted outdoor space, as living indoors negatively affects her physically, causing anxiety due to air conditioning.
She is hopeful for a new structure without the stress of code violations.
She told WSVN:
“…it’s been a big demolition, and I don’t even like looking at it. It’s sad. I feel like a bird in a cage when I’m in a house. It just doesn’t work for me, but I’m thinking that a lot of people have told me that there’s going to be an outside structure. I’m just praying for that day.”
