Beach Homes Along Central Oregon Coast Make For Trendy Targets For Off-Season Squatters

In Lane County, Oregon, The Examiner reports:

• Elmer “Slim” Buchanan pulls a wagon full of his earthly possessions through this trendy coastal community that attracts high end lawyers, doctors and professionals from nearby Eugene who keep summer and weekend getaway homes along this picturesque seashore; at the same time, Buchanan says he’s “invisible to such people” until they find “us squatters living in their places.”

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• Police say it’s no surprise that “we have all these break-ins,” as the recession grows and so does the practice of squatting. In turn, the number of people living as squatters along Oregon’s coast during the off-season has more than doubled, say local police who are often called in to “kick the riff-raff out.” While police say it’s difficult to guess how many people are living in abandoned or seasonal homes along the coast, a volunteer organization in Eugene thinks as many as 2,000 or more are living this way in Western Lane County.

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• [T]here’s little or no surveillance of properties dubbed as seasonal or in foreclosure. The squatters say they know this, and then take advantage of this opportunity by getting one or more night’s rest from a cold and sometimes cruel world outside.

For the story, see Eugene area homeowners "dealing" with new wave of squatters.