Residents of Portland, Oregon, are growing desperate as the homeless crisis and related issues spiral out of control.
Locals and business owners have reached their breaking point, with even the “most liberal of bleeding hearts” becoming hardened by the chaos and decay playing out in their city, according to a new report by Fox News.
“Residents, the homeless and advocates say they’ve lost faith in their elected officials’ ability to solve the issue,” Fox reports. “Most of the cities have thrown hundreds of millions of dollars at the problem only to watch it get worse. This is what we saw in Portland.”
Portlanders say expensive solutions have not produced results, and mental illness is rampant and untreated.
“How safe is it to have mentally ill homeless people walking around on the streets?” said Naomi Oliver. “Is it better to throw them in jail? Isn’t that what they are doing now?”
Drug abuse is also a key contributor to the issues plaguing Portland and other West Coast cities.
“I have had people literally running into my store saying ‘I do not feel safe’ and that’s the thing that flipped my switch,” said gift shop owner Michael Kirby. “Portland needs to fix this.”
Kirby says a homeless man recently “shot up” in front of his store.
“He had a needle in his arm and was passed out,” Kirby said. “What could we do? We literally cannot do anything as business owners.”
Another local business owner says her store has been vandalized and she regularly has to clean up feces and dirty needles in front of her building.
“It’s definitely an enormous problem,” she said. “It’s a terrible thing for someone from out of town to see. It’s not a good face for the city.”
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