On March 21st, PDX Saints Love held a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the beginning of new day services at the former Saints Peter & Paul Episcopal Church property. In a partnership with Shelter Portland, the nonprofit will help unsheltered and housing-insecure community members access food, housing, behavioral health treatment, healthcare, and work opportunities. This organization will use the historic building at 247 SE 82nd Avenue over the next few years until the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon demolishes it to make room for affordable housing. The organization intends to support the housed neighbors along with the unhoused community by providing regular cleanups in Montavilla’s public spaces and instituting a three-block safety zone around the site.

PDX Saints Love’s founder, Kristle Delihanty, expects the site to be active most weekdays, although outward-facing services occur only on certain days and times. The groups will leverage relationships with other nonprofits to provide hygiene, health, housing, and work training. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Cultivate Initiatives will bring mobile washing stations offering showers and haircuts to those who do not have regular access to those necessities. Several times a week, an onsite Peer Wellness Specialist will provide guidance in navigating housing placement or coordinate long-term shelter referrals. In a partnership with Trillium Community Health and Care Oregon, Community Health Workers will provide connections to primary care, OHP assistance, and coordinated care for all health-related needs. Worksystems will offer workforce development and internship opportunities, including a shelter worker training program where people can automatically build a resume hour-by-hour. “We’ll be partnering with Worksystems, which is using the shelter to pay day laborers to clean up in the neighborhood, [making] sure that our neighbors feel supported,” said Delihanty.

Recognizing that a concentration of service providers already impacts Montavilla, Kristle Delihanty explained that PDX Saints Love’s support of the unsheltered and housing insecure will also include support for the entire neighborhood and does not want to impose on the community further. In late February, the nonprofit hosted a meeting with neighborhood and business leaders, including those living in homes around the former Saints Peter & Paul property. At the meeting, they listened to people’s concerns and used that feedback to adopt policies Delihanty hopes will minimize the impact on surrounding properties. In addition to the regular cleaning and beautification work coordinated from the site, they will implement rules to discourage camping by the SE 82nd Avenue building. “If someone is camped right outside on Pine or Ash [street] and they came in to get services, we would have a conversation with them. We would let them know about the Community agreement with our neighbors and that we need them to abide by it. If they continue after a seven-day period to stay and camp, then we would withhold services,” explained Delihanty. “We want to give them a grace period to figure something out first, but if they refuse to work with us, we would just withhold services. The same thing goes for the purchase or sale of illegal substances within a three-block radius and open use of illegal substances within a three-block radius.” The day service provider will also maintain a monitored email address so people can contact them with concerns or operational feedback so they can address those issues.

Like many people who work in the recovery and homeless services industry, Delihanty started this work after breaking out of her own cycle of drug use. “I come from homelessness and a 20-year heroin addiction in East Portland. My last nine felony arrests were on 82nd and Powell. When I went into recovery, I got a chance from the District Attorney to start over, and one of the ways that I learned to keep focused on my recovery was through service work,” explained Delihanty. Her experience in recovery and knowledge of the homeless community guided her early work. In 2017, the group started with a giant pot of chili to feed people at Lents Park while discussing options and experiences. PDX Saints Love grew into a 20-volunteer operation by 2018 and became a 501c3 organization in 2021. The organization has operated a reoccurring Wellness Fair in the Lents neighborhood that has grown to 160 participants. The fair will continue in Lents on Mondays. The new site on SE 82nd Avenue will work as a staging and meal prep area for those events. The new building will help the organization improve its existing programs, bringing its formerly outside work into a warm building that can serve people year-round. However, a few new offerings are possible thanks to the added space.

PDX Saints Love’s partnership with Shelter Portland and the District Attorney’s office will offer day-service guests a Homeless Court program that works to remove barriers to housing and employment caused by criminal backgrounds and active warrants. Similar to the help Delihanty received from the District Attorney while building her current life, the program intends to extend that same chance to others looking to secure a stable life after completing a four-month process. Knowing that there is a future away from drugs and living on the street is an integral part of treating people’s substance use disorder and getting people working on a future.

PDX Saints Love has a 24-month lease for the 247 SE 82nd Avenue facility with an option to extend occupancy until the owners schedule demolition. They will begin operations by offering essential services, including hot meals, showers, wound care, overdose prevention, clothing, and other weather supplies to day-services guests. The established neighborhood group Montavilla Collective will continue to use the building for its events on Wednesdays. Services offered at this location will grow to include more health care services, assistance clearing criminal records, and housing placement. PDX Saints Love staff will meet regularly with neighbors as they grow, gathering input and identifying corrective actions required to remain a positive influence on the community. The people leading this effort are committed to ending homelessness while restoring the communities impacted by the epidemic.

Election Statement: Keith Wilson of Shelter Portland is running for Portland Mayor. Montavilla News does not endorse candidates for office or support ballot measures.

---

Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.