What does progressive decay look like? The long answer is rampant homelessness, a surge in homicides, and residents fleeing for greener pastures.
The shorter answer is Portland, Oregon.
According to both residents and real estate agents, there is a noticeable uptick in residents moving out of Portland due to homelessness and crime. Homeless encampments are moving closer and closer to the suburbs, and according to one real estate agent, people simply don’t want to have to worry about their car being broken into in their own driveway overnight. Portland has seen a 20.5% increase in homelessness from 2014 to 2020.
For others, the situation in the city has become worse. In 2021, Portland had more homicides than San Francisco and more than double that of Seattle, even though Portland has fewer people than both. It has become more difficult to live in Portland over the last several years in every single way, including in the most literal sense.
Portland has been home to the most progressive version of progressivism over the last few years. Roving bands of rioters were free to riot and loot to their heart’s content (as long as they called themselves “anti-fascists”). The city even allowed its worst residents to set up their own “autonomous zone,” where they could occupy buildings and roads under their own laws. It didn’t have the homicides or the warlords that Seattle’s had, but hey, you can’t have every form of societal breakdown at once.
Portland is the City of Roses, but those roses have wilted, decayed, and had their cars broken into. What appeal there was to live in the city is leaving along with its residents. People want their city to give them clean streets, a sense of safety, and a basketball team that isn’t mediocre. Portland can’t offer residents any of those things.
