The residents of a tiny home village in Portland, Oregon are being blamed for a drastic increase in crimes in the neighborhood.
People living in University Park, a North Portland neighborhood, said that ever since the Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village appeared, crime rates have skyrocketed.
Portland police data supports this claim, according to KATU.
Between July 2023, shortly after the housing site opened, and July 2024, there were 923 reported property crimes in the University Park area.
But between July 2022 and July 2023, there were only 482 of the same reported crimes.
Residents of University Park blame a village of tiny homes for increased property crime in the area
A surveillance video from one of the community’s neighbors showed someone breaking into a pickup truck.
The homeowner said to KATU that the person stole several valuable items.
The Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village is part of a larger initiative by City Commissioner Dan Ryan to fight homelessness. There were 67 residents as of May 2023 and is one of six villages, according to the Portland Mercury.
The village has 60 small climate-controlled homes with dressers and beds. There are bathrooms and kitchen areas on the site. Residents are given at least one free meal a day.
Some residents think the Safe Rest Village have cleaned up the neighborhood and contained the tents that used to be in the area
Police data shows that since the tiny village was built, property crimes have significantly increased from the previous year
The City of Portland allocated over $44million to this project and will receive a total sum of $208million from the American Rescue Plan by 2026, according to Portland’s government website.
Despite criticism, many people living near the village see its value.
Brian Kim, a neighbor to the tiny community, told KATU: ‘Since the city has put in the Safe Rest Village, things are honestly a lot better on this street. There used to be a massive tent city of more than a 150 tents up and down that bike path,
‘Now, that there is the Safe Rest Village, it’s all contained.’
This is Portland’s largest Safe Rest Village. It is the only one managed by California-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy.
Urban Alchemy has become a notoriously controversial organization.
The organization’s mission is to reduce homelessness, but their methods, especially in San Francisco, have been heavily criticized.
Controversial California-based nonprofit Urban Alchemy manages this village
As of 2023, there were 67 residents living in the tiny homes, which have beds and dressers inside
Since its birth in 2018, Urban Alchemy has faced dozens of allegations and at least six lawsuits regarding civil rights violations, physical and sexual harassment and theft, according to The Nation.
People working for Urban Alchemy have been accused by advocates and former employees of allegedly dealing drugs to the homeless, making sexual advances towards vulnerable individuals and harassing the people they are supposed to be helping.
Peninsula Crossing Safe Rest Village was built in response to Multnomah County’s homeless population skyrocketing by 21 percent in 2022, according to the Portland Mercury.
