Portland residents are considering moving as homeless encampments appear closer and closer to suburban neighborhoods.
“It makes you not feel that great about living here. It makes living in the neighborhood harder, not as congenial as it could be,” 30-year Portland resident Greg Dilkes said of the homeless encampment along the Peninsula Crossing Trail near his home. “It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve actually seriously thought about moving.”
According to another area resident, people don’t feel as safe. “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.”
Neighbors in the area reported at least three families along McKenna Avenue have left due to the increasing homeless encampments.
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Real estate broker Lauren Iaquinta reported that the encampments have encroached into the suburbs in the last two years. As a result, she vets every area before selling or buying a home for a client in Portland because the situation varies “neighborhood by neighborhood” according to her.
“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,” she added.
Oregon has seen a 20.5% increase in homelessness from 2014 to 2020, the last year the data were available. Portland has been under a housing and homelessness emergency since April 2015.
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In addition, Portland saw more homicides in 2021 than San Francisco and more than double the amount of Seattle, despite having a smaller population than both. According to the Portland Police Bureau, the city saw a record 90 homicides last year.
