MANASSAS, Va. -- The housing crisis has left record numbers of people without enough "green" to keep their homes, and Prince William County has a problem with too much of a different kind of green: grass.

The grass is more than a foot tall in front of some foreclosed homes, and it's costing a lot of money to take care of the overgrown lawns.

City and county officials must cite homeowners, and if they don't mow within a certain time period, the city or county must do it.

Ed Wilkins works hard to keep the home in which he's lived for nearly two decades looking pristine, but just across the street, a vacant house has become an eyesore.

"As we drive through the neighborhood, we can see that the grasses are high, and it just looks trashy," said Wilkins, who lives in the Dale City area. "I think it's bringing down everybody's home values."

Complaints about tall grass have been pouring into Prince William County's Neighborhood Services Office. At this time last year, the county had received 80 complaints about high grass. This spring, that number tops 450.

With 7,000 homes in foreclosure in the county, the number of complaints is expected to keep climbing.

"We get 50 percent of the 7,000 homes that are out there empty right now, have complaints about them, then mowing three times during the summer, that's quite a few lawns to do," said Pat Reilly with the Office of Neighborhood Services.

The county uses an outside contractor to mow, and property owners must eventually pay.

The county estimates that $2 million more than last year might be needed up front before collections can occur.

Bill Garrett lives across from a yard of tall grass.

"I just had my house reappraised, and it's down $100,000," said homeowner Bill Garrett.

The county said it's hired staff to keep up with complaint investigations, because an unmowed lawn can lead to bigger problems.

"It leads to the broken windows, which means that it has to be boarded," Reilly said. "Once it's boarded, you're obscuring criminal activity possibly. Those boards over the windows become blank slates to graffiti."

In Manassas, there were 30 tall grass complaints last year. In just six weeks, the city has had 150.

In Fairfax County, officials have had 350 complaints in two weeks.

Montgomery County and Prince George's County officials said they are not hearing about this problem.