On December 7th, the Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners will hear from Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) staff regarding the alternative shelter planned for 333 SE 82nd Avenue. The presenters are seeking approval to begin building a 29-Pod micro-home facility to shelter up to 40 people experiencing houselessness. Individuals can provide testimony about the project in person, virtually, and in writing before County Commissioners vote. People interested in sharing their perspectives must register by 4 p.m. on Wednesday the 6th.
Montavilla News first reported on Multnomah County’s shelter plans for the former RV sales lot in December 2022. Within the following year, JOHS and the site’s services provider, Straightway Services, adjusted the shelter’s format from a vehicle-based housing arrangement to now include Pallet shelters and onsite parking. Titled Montavilla Community Village, the site will use 29 micro-home buildings with eight units configured with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access. The site’s Kitchen, laundry, offices, and hygiene facilities will reside within six 8-by-20-foot shipping-container-style buildings. All of those structures will be ADA accessible, with the majority of them placed along SE 82nd Avenue, creating a safety buffer for residents.
County contractors will install privacy slats in the existing 6-foot-high chainlink fence around the site and build a new 8-foot tall wood fence on the western edge of the property between the other residences on the block. The site will feature two covered outdoor seating areas and a green space for pet relief. The existing auto-sales-office structure on the property is in poor condition, and demolition crews will remove it ahead of site redevelopment.
The JOHS proposal includes several community engagement recommendations, including forming a Good Neighbor Agreement with community stakeholders and hosting a public meeting. It also encourages the JOHS to assign a staff person to be the face of community engagement. It recommends many ways for project planners to become more communicative and transparent in the development process through mailings and website communications. County staff need $2,273,611 to redevelop this site as a Community Village shelter and will seek authorization for those funds at this meeting.
The Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners meets at 9:30 a.m. this Thursday and will hear this agenda item after general community comments. Board meetings occur in the Multnomah Building at 501 SE Hawthorne Boulevard in Boardroom 100. People who register for virtual testimony will receive a link or phone number to participate remotely. Anyone interested in watching can view the live stream via the MultCoBoard YouTube channel.
Update December 5th, 5 p.m.: Multnomah County Commissioner for District 3, Julia Brim-Edwards, submitted questions to the JOHS in regards to the presentation materials and posted those questions online for public review.
Update December 6th, 1 p.m.: When filling out comment requests, participants need to indicate they want to speak about Agenda Item R.1
Update December 6th, 7 p.m.: The JOHS asked to postpone this agenda item to anther date after more community engagement.
Update December 7th, 10 a.m.: The Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted to postpone the two agenda items related to this project. Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said “The Joint Office (JOHS) has asked to postpone the item on the Montavilla Community Village shelter to allow the current work around community engagement to continue to move forward and take shape. So this request impacts both R1 and R2 on today’s agenda. While this may affect the overall timeline of the project, the commitment to this much needed shelter space is going to continue and I really appreciate the additional time for needed community engagement. The shelter also remains an essential part of the work, serving vulnerable residents in Montavilla and Southeast Portland, so this item will return to the agenda for a vote at a later date before moving forward. I support the request and I ask for a motion for an indefinite postponement.”
County Commissioners Julia Brim-Edwards and Sharon Meieran provided additional comment endorsing the delay to allow for more community engagement. Commissioner Meieran referenced many frustrations with the JOHS communications around this project and looked forward to correcting that ahead of a future vote on the project.
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