The building at the corner of Southeast Oak Street and Southeast 13th Avenue has been the target of graffiti and broken windows before.
“We had some homeless people camping there and the tenants asked them to move, and they smashed some windows when they left, and the building's been tagged at least fifteen times,” said Brad Macomber, the building’s landlord.
After the police didn’t respond to calls in the past, Macomber lost hope the acts of vandalism would stop.
“We don’t even call the police anymore,” he said.
“There’s nothing they can do about it. There’s a number you can call to have the city come out and remove homeless tents, but you can call as much as you want, and the city never comes out.”
But on Sunday night, Portland Police quickly responded after receiving a 9-1-1 call and arrested 29-year-old Evan Hunt and charged him with criminal mischief.
Hunt is listed as homeless in the police report, and under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
This isn't his first encounter with police either.
In 2019, he was arrested for allegedly attacking a person with a hatchet.
In 2020, he was arrested after he allegedly robbed the same grocery store twice. In that case, he was found unfit to stand trial, and the charges were dropped.
“We don’t have a homeless problem in Portland, we have a mental health problem and a drug problem,” said Macomber.
Like Macomber, other business owners in the area think the city is not addressing the root of the problem.
“I almost want all this anger to go towards thinking more deeper about this issue and forcing some change at the federal level,” said shop owner, Nate Howard.
Howard owns a cannabis cafe called Hemp Bar that has been broken into.
“There’s the visceral reaction of being vandalized and having to spend so much money cleaning up glass and fixing doors and reinstalling security systems and having to lobby the legislature year after year,” he said.
Ross Ching, who owns Mama & Hapa’s Zero Waste Shop, says his business has only been graffitied, but a break-in is a regular fear he faces.
“I’m always worried there might be a day that comes when we’ll have shattered glass,” he said.
As for Macomber, he doesn't worry his building will be vandalized again. At this point, he expects it to
“He’s homeless so he’s probably never going to pay anyone back for what happened,” he said.
As of Monday evening, Hunt is still being detained at the Multnomah County Detention Center.