Portland residents tell DailyMail.com why they feel they have “no choice” but to sell their homes and move out of Portland, with some saying that they are terrified to leave their homes due to mental illness and homeless communities.
The homeless crisis has been made worse by the fact that hard drugs have been decriminalized in the state.
The city has set up Safe Rest Villages, but unauthorized homeless camps are spreading to the suburbs.
Lifelong residents Bruce and Rebecca Philip told DailyMail.com that they’re ‘done with Portland’ due to the increasing number of homeless camps that have trickled into the suburbs from downtown.
From DailyMail.com:
But it’s a little too late for lifelong residents Bruce and Rebecca ‘Becky’ Philip who told DailyMail.com that they’re ‘done with Portland’ due to the increasing number of homeless camps that have trickled into the suburbs from downtown.
‘I’ve been here 65 years but I’m done,’ Bruce Philip said. ‘I’m done with Portland.’
‘What’s there to say, they move in, take over the neighborhood, do their drugs, play their loud music, and make a mess,’ he said, adding that the homeless crisis has ruined not just a few neighborhoods, but all of Portland.
The couple also pointed out that the sweeps of the homeless camps – like the one held a week ago on Monday – are not the final solution and have not changed their minds about moving.
‘The city comes in and cleans it up and then two weeks later, they come back,’ Bruce Philip said. ‘It’s a vicious cycle, and I’m done.’
Local realtor George Patterson told DailyMail.com that the homeless encampments encroaching on residents’ front lawns is a topic that comes up with his clients ‘every day’, and that deals are falling through homes for sale in the area.
Nathan Lamb, another resident who also lives on Rhine Street – just three doors down from the Philips, told KGW8 that his six-year-old son, who has a disability, can’t always safely access his school bus because of the camps.
‘At 8 in the morning there are folks that are smoking meth, they’re shooting up, there’s domestic violence,’ Lamb said. ‘It’s absolutely absurd.’
Lamb described having to maneuver around slumped over addicts just to get his son to the bus.
‘A couple of times we had to come out with slumped over individuals and say, “Hey! My son’s handicap bus is coming in about five minutes, can you please move along?'”
Lamb added that residents have been complaining to the city about the camps, but nothing was being done and he felt the homeless community had more rights than they did.
‘It’s absolutely remarkable that no one responds,’ he said. ‘No one seems to care. Obviously, we feel that these individuals get more rights than we do.’
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