Homeless take over posh neighbourhood with tents and drug deals in driveways
Squatters and homeless people have taken over a US neighbourhood with the problem getting so bad residents now fear for their safety.
Angry residents living in posh Northpointe in Pensacola, Florida have become fed-up at seeing tents erected in streets, piles of trash abandoned in roads and squatters in their own back yards having jumped over fences. According to one local, squatters use a tree as a bathroom and workers hired to clean a nearby property became sick from the job.
In some cases, dumpsters full of trash and temporary living structures have been put up by homeless people living in camps on residents' properties. Gwen Gibson often has to clear rubbish and deal with fires, while she also claims sometimes she finds people on her property passed out, allegedly from drug use or injured from a fight.
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Some residents are concerned for their safety (WEAR-TV)“There are so many people going back and forth it’s ridiculous,” Ms Gibson told the Pensacola News Journal. “I’ve been on the phone with code enforcement and the sheriff’s department. There are at least 15 to 20 people constantly walking down my driveway to get to their (camp) to buy drugs, prostitution, whatever they’re doing back there.”
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She added: “I’ve been dealing with this for years. I feel very unsafe. It’s been hard and sometimes I think I can’t do this anymore, but I’m not giving up. I haven’t done anything wrong. Why should I have to leave?”
Squatters and homeless people have taken over Northpointe in Pensacola, Florida (WEAR-TV)A property on Le Jeune Drive has been home to a number of homeless campsites in recent years, with the owner now seemingly complying with an Escambia County magistrate’s order to clean up tents, trash and debris. "It's dangerous. It's not healthy," resident Jessica Allen told WEAR, via Mail Online.
"And it's really kinda starting to take a toll on our neighbours and how they feel about letting their kids play out in the yard." She added: "Some of our neighbours have just, all of a sudden, there's a homeless person just in their backyard leaned up against the shed smoking a cigarette."
Plans are in place to move those living in homeless camps on (WEAR-TV)As of March, the Escambia County Sheriffs Office had been called to around 70 campsites in the neighborhood, which were home to hundreds of homeless people. That number would have more than likely increased over the summer.
Those with power in the county are aware of the situation and plans are in place to deal with the number of homeless in the area. "That is the biggest, No. 1 problem in the county," Escambia Commissioner Mike Kohler, who represents District 2, told the Pensacola News Journal.
"There's no other complaint I get more than ‘What are you doing about the situation?’ And I know the other commissioners have to be getting it, too."
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