PORTLAND, Ore. — Large, spray-painted red X’s cover each of the doors at an abandoned home in Southeast Portland. Tents and the shell of a red pickup truck sit in the backyard covered in snow. It’s one of the latest properties to be overrun by squatters.
The piercing sound of a drill cutting through wood comes from the house next door. The neighbors are having a new fence installed to try to block off the derelict house. It’s their latest tactic to find safety in their own backyard.
"It’s been horrible," said Jacob Adams, who lives in the house next door. "Explosions and theft and screaming and pounding at 3 o’clock in the morning on the roof."
In mid-February, a fire at the abandoned property spread to a fence and tree on the adjacent property. Surveillance video showed Adams using a fire extinguisher to save his home. He said it was the fourth fire at the abandoned property.
"While I’m putting the fire out, my wife is hysterical and propane tanks are igniting off within feet from my face. I’m thinking am I going to save my wife and my house and then am I not going to be around or critically injured," he said.
In the backyard of the property, KGW reporter Blair Best and photojournalist Ken McCormick stepped over needles, empty bottles of tequila and human waste. They attempted to talk with the squatters, but no one was there. They found a tent with nothing but an inflatable mattress and a heater inside. The neighbors said they often smell second-hand fentanyl smoke wafting into their driveway.
"The Portland police have been amazing, which has been really nice, but they can’t enforce laws when the homeowner doesn’t trespass people that are living there," said Adams.
When it comes to squatters, police can only act if they can prove there is criminal trespassing. That requires action on the part of the property owner, and neighbors in this case described the derelict house's owner as irresponsible, leaving residents like Armand Martens, who’s lived nearby for 53 years, with what feels like only one option.
"I’m really looking to get out of here," Martens said. "I graduated from David Douglas High School in '57. This is my neighborhood, and I just can’t put up with this anymore."
KGW reporter Blair Best talked on the phone with the person who represents the owner of the building. He said the plan is to demolish the building and that they understand how difficult this has been for the neighbors. They said the land is considered "mixed-use" and they’re not sure if they’re going to rebuild, given how hard this situation has been and for the fear of squatters returning.