A vicious attack on an elderly man in a Surrey neighbourhood has local business owners outraged, saying politicians have not followed through on promises to fix the city’s crime problem.

“Doing drugs, dealing, whatever it may be. I’m having nightmares,” said Cheryl, the daughter of an elderly man who was recently beaten for his watch and cell phone. “We can’t sleep at night knowing what’s going to go on.”

Cheryl, who didn’t want to be identified for fear for retaliation, said her father owns a building near a homeless encampment along 135A Street in Whalley.

In a terrifying encounter, she said he was brutally attacked and rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

“After the first punch, when my dad was still with it. He said ‘I’m going to call the police.’ The fellow said ‘The police won’t be here for another 15 minutes, I’m going to kill you, you’ll be dead by then,’” Cheryl said.

She said the camp has become a huge problem for businesses in the area, due to rampant open drug use and dealing, and garbage being left for city workers to pick up.

Another business owner who wished to remain unidentified said the front of his auto repair shop has been taken over by the camp, and that there is nothing he can do about it.

Cheryl said she has repeatedly found people sleeping in vehicles on her father’s property, prompting the family to get rid of the cars in hopes of solving the problem.

But some living at the camp say they don’t have a choice.

“We’re homeless, where else are we supposed to go? We choose to come here, yes, I’m sorry for the tenants…but we need somewhere to go to,” said one camper, named Wanda.

A Surrey bylaw manager said the city has outreach workers helping camp residents get off the streets, but it may enforce an evacuation order soon if campers choose to stay.

Crime was frequently cited as a key campaign issue in the run-up to last year’s municipal election, in which longtime Surrey councillor Linda Hepner was elected as the city’s mayor.

Hepner pledged to add 147 RCMP officers in the city, and to seek provincial help in tackling the root causes of crime, such as mental illness and addictions.

Calls for the new crime strategy were sparked by several high-profile murders, including the beating death of hockey mom Julie Paskall in Dec. 2013 and the murder of Surrey teen Serena Vermeersch.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Lisa Rossington