BELLINGHAM, Wash — Shelli Tench feels like a prisoner in her apartment.
"You can't get any sleep," Tench said. "You can't breathe the air. Nothing is safe."
Over the last three years, Tench said a homeless camp spread across 20 acres behind the Tullwood Apartments has grown out of control. There's screaming at all hours of the day and night, fights, vandalism and acrid smoke from illegal fires.
But that's not the worst of it.
"There's gunfire all the time," Tench said. "We hear it almost every day now. There's a bus stop where they harass the kids all the time. Someone's kid is gonna get killed and then what?"
Bellingham Police tell KING 5 the camp is on private property owned by someone living overseas. The owner is not responding to requests from the city for permission to access the property. That leaves Bellingham with no choice but to go through a long, arduous legal process to clear the camp.
"It takes as long as it takes, unfortunately," said Bellingham Police Lieutenant Claudia Murphy.
Police said the city will likely have to take the land owner to court for permission to go on private property.
"Law enforcement can't just go onto the property and into the camp," Murphy said. "We can't do anything without the property owner's expressed permission."
Meantime, a recent drug bust at the camp took down a major fentanyl dealer caught with 70,000 pills.
Police said that's enough to kill every person in the City of Bellingham.
Mayor Seth Fleetwood said the city is looking into more immediate help while the process plays out.
"We're exploring more police patrols, working with neighbors to put up fencing," Fleetwood said. "There's a variety of things we think might be able to help in the nearer term."
For now, Tench has little choice but to keep paying the $1,800 a month rent because it's the only place she can afford.
But at what cost?
"It is a daily misery, but somebody has to stand up and talk about it," Tench said. "Somebody has to fight. I've made it my mission."