Some people in Portland, Oregon, are so desperate to escape homeless tent communities that they sell their homes.
Imagine paying property taxes on the house you have considered home for years and being pushed to this point.
Emma Colton reports at FOX News:
Portland families forced to sell their homes as concerns mount over homeless campsResidents in a Portland, Oregon, neighborhood are resorting to selling their homes and moving due to homeless encampments right outside their front doors.”It’s a little scary because I know there is mental illness and that concerns me,” North Portland resident Maria Inocencio told KGW8.Residents of North Portland said at least three families on one street have left in recent days due to the homeless camps, and KGW8 reported seeing for-sale signs up and down streets.”I would say the migration to the suburbs, I’ve seen quite a bit in the last two years,” real estate broker Lauren Iaquinta said. “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. It’s a pretty testy subject.”Iaquinta said she now studies neighborhoods to see if there are homeless camps in a given area while working with potential buyers.
Here’s more from the KGW report:
‘It’s scary’: North Portland families sell their homes to escape homeless camps, crime“It makes you not feel that great about living here,” said Greg Dilkes, who has lived in North Portland for 30 years. “It makes living in the neighborhood harder, not as congenial as it could be.”…”It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve actually seriously thought about moving,” he said.”Mental health, drug addiction and just not having access to housing,” added Mark Smith, who shares a backyard with the camp.Smith said he and his partner often don’t feel safe walking alone or tending to their gardens. “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.”…“We are the most harmless people you’ll ever meet,” said TT Sanchez who lives in one of the camps along the Peninsula Crossing Trail. “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?”North Portland neighbors told KGW at least three families along McKenna Avenue are leaving due to nearby homeless camps.
Watch the video report below:
Portland is a famously progressive community. Why is anyone living in a tent on the street?
Featured image via YouTube.
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