Portland residents say they are moving because of homeless
North Portland’s rampant homeless problem has residents fleeing the city, according to a report.
Real-estate broker Lauren Iaquinta told KGW8 that she’s seen an uptick in residents packing up and heading to the suburbs because of a homeless camp in the neighborhood’s Peninsula Crossing Trail.
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“You can be driving through North Portland and you’re in this lovely area where there’s no issues, and then you can make a turn around the corner and have homeless camps there,” she said. “It’s kind of sad. I’ve been doing this for 10 years here in Portland and it’s changed quite a bit.”
Iaquinta said she now has to vet areas when selling homes because clients don’t want to live near homeless people. She did not cite any data about people moving because of the homeless encampment.
“Most people don’t want to have to worry about if they can leave their car parked in their driveway overnight without maybe having it broken into,” she said. “It’s a pretty testy subject.”
The mayor’s office says there are about 6,000 homeless people in the Portland area, though many believe the number is actually much higher.
Resident Greg Dilkes, who lives near an encampment along the Peninsula Crossing Trail, said seeing homeless people near his home “makes you not feel that great about living here.”
“It makes living in the neighborhood harder, not as congenial as it could be,” he told KGW8, saying the encampment is ruining the area. “It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve actually seriously thought about moving.”
Another resident, Mark Smith, said he is scared to walk alone or tend to his garden because he shares a backyard with the encampment.
“Every day if you go from one end of the street to the other, you’re confronting some very difficult situations, people in really dire straits,” he said.
But a homeless neighbor told the location station that the residents’ fears are overblown.
“We are the most harmless people you’ll ever meet,” TT Sanchez, who lives on the trail, said.
“They shouldn’t be scared of us for what because we live outside? That’s the only reason you should be scared of us because we live outside so if we lived in four walls and a house and stuff would you still be scared of us?” Sanchez continued.
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