Shanty Towns/Squatter Camps in STX

On the East End next to the distressed home sellers!

I've lived here for 11 years and I have never heard of a "squatter camps/shanty towns". Where is this???? I mean, sure, I've seen homeless people, and I see them sleeping on benches and walls and such...but I've never heard of any squatter camps or shanty towns...I'd like to visit, actually...to see if I may be of any service...

Where are they located in your town?

ColdWhether, Have you visited STX. Come for a visit before you buy.

On the East End next to the distressed home sellers!

HA, now THAT`S funny, wish I thought of it!

Cold have you really spent anytime here? I say hands down listen to your friends and don't buy. First you're worried about something mysterious on the east end and now you KNOW about shanty towns that don't exist? Have you even visited here?

Most will tell you to LIVE here for at least a year before you buy. A large section of the population that transplants themselves here ends up going back stateside. If you buy a house here you will be stuck. It takes much longer to sell a house here. Maintenance is generally higher then most places stateside and if you think you had a hard time finding a contractor stateside, welcome to the big leagues.

Seriously live here first.

Why not just answer the question?

1) Yes I've been there, No I have not explored every inch of the island. It's pretty big compared to most islands.

2) Most of the caribbean including STT has squatter camps. I've been to STT many times, STJ many times, only a few islands on the caribbean I am not familiar with. It is not unusual, people who are poor go stake out a little bit of land, build a hut, the hut turns into 10 huts and the 10 turn into 100 with 1000 people... and the laws make it extremely hard to make them leave in many areas. It is shockingly common. I haven't seen them on STX so I am inquiring as to whether they exist and if they do, where they are. I'm not making judgments of your island, I'm asking a simple question. If I spend millions on a home, I'd like to make sure it's not next to the place that used to be a toxic dump but now has pretty palm trees and a golf course on it.

3) My question about the East end is simply "are there any hidden issues that I'm not aware of".. such as "oh yeah dude, at night you can really smell the oil refinery" or.. "it's pretty but during the summer the mosquitos are unbearable"... Just simple things that a resident would know that I might not as a visitor. Shockingly enough, many tourist destinations purposefully tour visitors away from the things they arent "proud of"... again it's not a judgment, I just don't know so I'm asking.

Sheesh.

Ok ColdWhether, I`m with Marty on this one.
I have lived in St. Thomas for over 20 years, I don`t know of a shanty town here.
I`m not saying there is/isn`t, but I don`t know of it.
Where is it located(and I probably don`t want to help like Marty does, just asking where)?
Dun

You have to realize that this is a small island....24 miles by 8, it is smaller than most towns/cities in the states...when you presume and ask such questions people are going to take offense...we are a community, I've only lived here for less than two years and I've learned how tight a community it is. Yes, there are less desirable places to live like every small city but what you would say if a 'Yankee' drove into your town and said "Hey, I'm going to drop some serious bank in your quaint Texan town, where do all the trailetrash and meth addicts live?" it's just rude. Learn a little and draw your own conclusions, people on this board aren't interested in garunteeing your future property value they are interested in helping others who are trying to contribute to our community.

Many tourist destinations purposefully tour visitors away from the things they are not "proud of"? With that statement, I have a hard time thinking this is a real inquiry. So If you're going to spend millions on a home, I wouldn't rely on little old us.

bah, many of you sound a bit prideful.

This is a forum dedicated to asking questions about moving to to the Virgin Islands (or did you forget where you are posting?).

If somebody showed up in Austin and said "hey i love your town, I've been to lots of places I love and I"m thinking about buying a home on the East side because it's a great deal, do you have any advice?" my advice would be "yes, you will probably get robbed there, it's the bad side of town.

If somebody came out east and said "I love new york I've been here 40 times and I would like to buy a vacation home here..and yes... i would like to avoid the meth addicts and prostitutes with my young children, is the lower east side a good place to live?" then the answer would be "yes, dont move there, move to the upper west side".

Or are you claiming that STX has no prostitution, no drugs, no homeless and no bad parts of town?

If that's the case then by all means please chime in, let me know that I've found the one place on the planet that is literally perfect and has no areas that I would be afraid to let my 6 year old wander around by herself in the evening.

Sigh, such hostile upset responses to a really innocent question.

And no, I would not be offended if you asked me if there were any areas of my town that should be avoided... especially not on the "MOVING THERE" forum that is dedicated to people asking for advice and getting answers.

Thank you to those of you who have simply answered that you are not aware of any. It was a simple question and I appreciate your answer.

I think it was Islander that said, and I am paraphrasing.
On any small island unlike most towns, you will have to drive through a "bad" area to get where you are going. In your town there are bad areas but you can probably drive another way to get somewhere.
I have spent 33 weeks in 4 years on STX and have never seen a squatters town or have never heard of one.

For an answer to your question.....live east of Cramers Park and do all your shopping at Lauries Deli East to avoid any people below your tax bracket, also avoid any beaches that are easily accessible so you don't run into any 'camps', and never ever go to the transfer stations because there people take your old couches and sit on them. Don't even think about walking around C'sted cause you might have to say hello to Richard.

ColdWhether,

I do not know of any shanty town on STX or any other places that homeless people live except for the well known and few that live downtown in Christensted. I am sure that there are other places that homeless camp out. If you have millions to invest I am sure that the neighborhoods that you would look to buy into would not have any homeless people close by. Please do move to STX a beautiful paradise. You will not be disappointed and we would welcome your tax dollars. Have a good night.

Being a 4th generation Virgin islander I do take exception to such an erroneous statement:

ColdWhether wrote "Most of the caribbean including STT has squatter camps. I've been to STT many times, STJ many times, only a few islands on the caribbean I am not familiar with. It is not unusual, people who are poor go stake out a little bit of land, build a hut, the hut turns into 10 huts and the 10 turn into 100 with 1000 people... and the laws make it extremely hard to make them leave in many areas. It is shockingly common."

Not here, not ant time does this happen. If you have seen these "camps", please enlighten me.

For an answer to your question.....live east of Cramers Park and do all your shopping at Lauries Deli East to avoid any people below your tax bracket, also avoid any beaches that are easily accessible so you don't run into any 'camps', and never ever go to the transfer stations because there people take your old couches and sit on them. Don't even think about walking around C'sted cause you might have to say hello to Richard.

I'm not inquiring in order to understand the real estate, what might cause some areas to be less expensive, and areas safest for children... you've caught me just trying to avoid all the dirty islanders who don't appreciate tea at noon and say aunt with a "u".

Whats so hard about understanding real estate....millions of dollars=no shanty towns...what are you worried about, are you buying sight unseen?

There used to be a 'shanty town' on St. Croix close to the airport, on the airport road actually, but this was back in the 70's. It's no longer there or anywhere else on the island that I've seen-- and my husband and I drive ALL over the island exploring on every vacation. I think public housing took care of the shanty problem. I love St. Croix. 😎

I just couldn't pass this one up...:D
ColdWhether, I for one am sorry about the flack you've gotten here, even if many were on the funny side. ( AllMashUp...Richard stopped a police traffic-stop during the holidays to sing "wish you merry Christmas, good mornin'" and wasn't too shabby!) I think you have a pertinent question and I didn't take any offense. I hope you keep on asking and come see us here in St. Croix. And no, I also don't know of any shanty-towns but they have been here in the past. If they are here now, obviously they are out of the way enough to be left alone.
All the best!

Direct answer to your direct question:

As far as I know, no distinct shantytowns. We have enough abandon building here in Christiansted that squatters have moved into many of them. The streets around the cemetery on the west end of Christiansted are filled with homeless, people living in cars, living on the street and living in abandon buildings.

There are tents around the dumpsters where people take their trash if they do not have home pickup. While there really are not enough tents to call it a village I would say a small cluster of tents around the mid-island dumpsters is what you will find.

As for other parts of the island... they are there too.. but I am not as familiar.

Unlike many parts of the US, we don't have one distinct area (i.e. the south side of the city vs the east side of the city).... we have very nice homes next to moderate homes next to businesses next to homeless or squatters all over the island. The best advise is to drive around an area that you are interested in purchasing.... drive around and a variety of times of day and night to get a clearer understanding of that area before purchasing.

Hope this helps you get a better picture of STX.

You might like St. Bart's or Anguilla.

I have lived on STX for 6 years and have never seen a shanty town as you describe it. There are homeless living in abandoned buildings and I am sure there are some people living in the bush,but hundreds of people living rough together, no.

The only place I have ever seen on STX that could meet the definition of shanty town/squatter camp would have been by the dump site at Peter's Rest/Farm (can never remember which it is!). There were some people who built shacks there and would take things from you as you brought your household waste. However, they were "removed" and the area was bulldozed well over a year ago. There are homeless people who live in abandoned buildings downtown, however, if you are spending some serious money then you shouldn't have to worry about being too close to those people.

As for your question about the east end yes, the mosquito's are bad at times but that is true over most of the island (especially after a hurricane). One issue was that after the hurricane the east end was the area that was without power for the longest period of time and I know some people out east that still do not have their cable TV back yet. I personally did not want to live out east because of the drive time to get to the airport area (where I worked at the time we bought our house) but it sounds like you will not have that issue to deal with.

STX is a beautiful place to live with some very nice people. As with anywhere, there are some not so pleasant people here too. Keep checking this forum as there is a wealth of information here, you just have to put up with some em-passioned remarks at times!