In the final weeks of 2024, support staff readied 41 units of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) in the recently completed Beacon at Glisan Landing apartments. The four-story building at 7450 NE Glisan Street, run by Catholic Charities of Oregon, welcomed its first four residents ahead of the new year and will gradually bring in more people transitioning from homelessness. Beacon is the voucher-based housing that Metro and the Portland Housing Bureau worked to create on a half-city block that includes a second building offering income-restricted affordable housing.

Related Northwest won the bid to develop the former Trinity Broadcasting Network property with different co-sponsors / service providers for each project. Sally Erickson, Community Services Director for Catholic Charities of Oregon, explained Beacon is just one of nearly two dozen locations the group operates to help shelter the state’s housing-insecure population. “Catholic Charities has about 23 affordable properties statewide. All of them are affordable to people [earning] below 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) and in some cases zero to 30 percent,” said Erickson. As with this Montavilla location, many properties offer subsidized units for senior citizens on fixed incomes, Social Security, or those with disabilities living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), currently $943.00 monthly in Oregon.

Erickson noted that older people are continuing to make up a significant portion of the unsheltered population each year. Individuals in that demographic are likely to move into places like Beacon. Catholic Charities recently opened a similar location to Beacon in the Buckman neighborhood called Francis + Clare Place. That building added 61 units of PSH with a population trending towards older adults up to 76 years old. “People’s perception of who is experiencing homelessness would become very skewed if you went and joined a community meal [at Francis + Clare] on a Friday night and saw the people coming in,” remarked Erickson. The Multnomah County Coordinated Access program, administered by the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS), manages resident placement in PSH housing.

That county-wide Coordinated Access program prioritizes placement in housing programs based on environmental threats to unsheltered persons and their health needs. “We take referrals from that coordinated county-wide waitlist, and everybody who’s on that waitlist has been assessed by an outreach worker or social worker. They’ve gone through a very intensive series of questions to determine their relative vulnerability. People moving into new supportive housing like this project are individuals who outreach workers have deemed the most vulnerable. They are most likely to die if they continue to live on the streets,” said Erickson. “So it tends to be people that are older, people with chronic health conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or COPD.” Ken Davis, the Supportive Housing manager for Catholic Charities of Oregon, explained most PSH communities he oversees have large numbers of medically fragile residents. Some locations require access to various levels of onsite medical care. However, Beacon at Glisan Landing, as a smaller facility, will not have that level of support. Instead, it features a Telehealth room across from the ground floor community room. Residents who can afford the discounted internet service could always use their apartments for virtual doctor appointments, but people may need better digital access or privacy if they share a studio apartment with a significant other.

Unlike temporary shelters, Beacon at Glisan Landing residents do not have a time limit on their stay in the subsidized apartment building. Erickson explained that a segment of the PSH population moves out after a few years, finding other living situations that better meet their changing needs or social dynamic. However, some people will stay housed in the building for the rest of their lives. The program requires that people pay a third of their income towards the rent and allows for incomes to drop to zero without the threat of eviction. When supporting people with constrained incomes or mobility, food access is a critical component of resident services at Beacon. Due to a grant from the LDS Church, this building will have a free food pantry for residents. “It’s really important to provide [a pantry] onsite because healthy food has gotten so expensive for our residents. This will be our 10th food pantry that opens in our buildings, said Erickson. Not only do residents receive food, but funding allows the support team to provide essential home goods, including plates, silverware, pots, pans, and other kitchenware. Residents also have access to personal hygiene supplies and many of the standard items of life that are not regularly available to those living without shelter.

Building management limits the pace people move into the building to ensure the team has time to help them with the extensive application process needed for residency and settle into their new living situation. “There’s quite a bit of paperwork with Home Forward to qualify people and do background checks,” said Erickson. They will work with five to eight people weekly until residents occupy all 41 studio apartment units. The resident services furnish the units with a small table and chairs, a nightstand, and a Central City Bed®. Residents can upgrade their furniture, and building management will store the provided items for future use. Project planners designed this housing for adult living. Couples can share a unit, but the Coordinated Access program steers people with children towards other PSH options with play areas and family-oriented amenities. Communal spaces on the ground floor centers around a large community room with a TV, kitchen space, and other entertainment items. Ken Davis explained that an essential part of the supportive housing program is drawing people out of their rooms and into the community. “Seeing people come out of their shell and engage with others, create friendships, it’s just great. We know it has all sorts of other beneficial health effects,” said Davis. “COVID [mandated distancing] has been brutal for folks, compounded by the social isolation of being houseless for a long time.”

The building also features outdoor tables with seating in a communal courtyard area next to the secure bike storage lockers for those who do not want to park their transportation in the units or laundry rooms. Keyfob-operated locks secure the building at all times, and a security guard is onsite when the ground-floor offices close. The residents are free to come and go as they like, as Beacon at Glisan Landing is not a facility but an apartment building with other add-on services. Residents can invite guests over and enjoy the freedoms of independent living while having access to supportive services. This building will have two full-time case managers and three resident service specialists working with the people living at Beacon. A peer support team will work onsite a couple of days a week. When crews complete work later this year, the property management company will support Beacon and the Aldea at Glisan Landing affordable housing development next door.

Within the next two months, Beacon will become the home for over 40 new Montavilla residents. As the other Glisan Landing facilities open to tenants, NE Glisan Street will become more active, with residents looking to eat and shop along the commercial corridor. Area residents interested in participating in programs at Beacon can contact Catholic Charities Oregon to participate in operating the food pantry or other help for people who may need assistance navigating the neighborhood.