Families Are Fleeing Portland Because It's A Hellhole

If you’ve ever seen the show “Portlandia,” then you can guess that 
Portland, Oregon, is a quirky place — but did you know the leftist 
dystopia is also a bit of a hell hole?

Flagged by HotAir.com, recent media reports indicate that families are a 
bit tired of the homeless population disturbing Portland’s peace.

Greg Dilkes, a North Portland resident of three decades, told KGW8 that 
the number of homeless people in his neck of the woods “makes you not feel 
that great about living here.”

“It makes living in the neighborhood harder, not as congenial as it could 
be,” he added. “It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve actually 
seriously thought about moving.”

According to the local NBC affiliate, there are at least 6,633 homeless 
people in the Portland metro area, but it’s likely that number is higher. 
During the city’s federally mandated count of vagabonds in 2022, the city 
ran into a staffing problem.

“Teams were unexpectedly forced to quarantine or were faced with lost 
staff the week of the Count,” the Joint Office of Homeless Services 
explained in a statement.

One real estate agent named Lauren Iaquinta told the press that the 
problem of vagrants is a “pretty testy subject,” but that she has seen the 
impact firsthand.

“I would say the migration to the suburbs, I’ve seen quite a bit in the 
last two years,” Iaquinta explained. “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.”

According to data compiled by realtor Stephen FitzMaurice, “The U.S. 
Census Bureau for Portland city proper says Portland (not its suburbs) 
lost 11,000 residents from July 2020 to July 2021.”

One homeless man actually defended his fellow drifters, essentially 
telling the homeful people to get over themselves.

“We are the most harmless people you’ll ever meet,” TT Sanchez told KGW8. 
“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?”

While the residents might not need to be scared of the homeless, according 
to Sanchez, there are other reasons that Portland is not an idyllic place 
to live.

In 2021, the city experienced record homicide rates with 90 murders. So 
far in 2022, the city has had 57 killings. The rise in murders began after 
the city, on the heels of George Floyd protests, decided to defund the 
police by slashing the city’s police department budget in 2020. The cuts 
led to staffing shortages, which only exacerbated problems.

By the fall of 2021, the city reversed course and the Portland City 
Council unanimously passed a measure that increased the $230 million 
police budget by an additional $5.2 million, the Associated Press 
reported.

“Many Portlanders no longer feel safe,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said at the 
time. “And it is our duty, as leaders of this city, to take action and 
deliver better results within our crisis response system.”

In the meantime, one resident told the press that the current situation 
with homeless people is “insanity.”

“I just want our city to go back to the basics,” an exasperated Judy Kane 
told the press after one man in an R.V. pulled up in front of her house 
and started living in front of it.

“You can’t pull up on the street and decide I’m going to live here,” she 
added. “It’s just not fair.”

But not all homeless people choose to live on the street.

Some are building tree houses in Southeast Portland:

One resident who lives near that sapling shanty relayed the horror she 
hears on a nightly basis.

“They’re right outside our bedroom window at night. We can hear them,” 
Marysue Stickler told KATU2. “They’re fighting. There’s [sic] guys 
punching women, women screaming up and down the street. It’s horrible.”

Of course, none of this even mentions the extensive rioting that has 
occurred since the summer of 2020, but that is a whole other story.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not 
necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/families-are-fleeing-portland-because-its-
a-hellhole