On August 18th, demolition crews began razing the single-story sales office and shop at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue to make room for the second Multnomah County-owned shelter site in Montavilla. After workers remove the 1964-era single-story building, last used as an RV sales location, the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department will begin preparing the site to support a new sober shelter that Do Good Multnomah will operate. That development will take place during the 2025-2026 winter season, creating utility connections for 38 single-occupancy shelters with supporting portable sanitation and cooking facilities.
Multnomah County purchased the former recreational vehicle dealership at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue in December 2022 for $2.015 million. This 34,000-square-foot parcel was the second Montavilla location the County bought that year for temporary shelter services. The other shelter, Oak Street Village at 333 SE 82nd Avenue, opened in February and is currently operating at full capacity. The Joint Office of Homeless Services — now renamed the Homeless Services Department — has held several community meetings, with the most recent meeting in April announcing that Do Good Multnomah would operate the site as a sober shelter. Presenters explained that residents and staff are subject to drug testing, and policy strictly prohibits the possession of non-prescribed intoxicants on the property.
Selecting a sober format meets a specific need for people transitioning into stable housing who are in recovery from substance use disorder, and it better matches community desires for the site, which is located near two schools. The project designers will set back the new seven-foot-high chain-link fence on SE Mill Street to allow for more sidewalk-adjacent plantings, providing a buffer space and allowing for greater resident privacy beyond the plastic fence inserts that will obscure sightlines from the street.
Demolition work continues at the property for the rest of the week. Early plans intended to salvage portions of the wood roof structure above the glass curtain walls for reuse in covered outdoor amenities on the site. That level of salvage and reuse may prove challenging, but the methodical approach to tearing down this building could indicate the intention to preserve reusable materials.
Article and photos by
Jacob Loeb
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Starting August 4th, demolition crews working with Multnomah County’s Homeless Services Department will begin preparing the site at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue to support a new sober shelter that Do Good Multnomah will operate after construction completes in the 2025-2026 winter season. With the reconstruction of SE Mill Street adjacent to the property complete, and road crews wrapping up repaving on SE 82nd Avenue in this area, contractors will have unobstructed access to the site to install 38 single-occupancy, shed-style shelters with supporting sanitation and cooking facilities.
Multnomah County purchased the former recreational vehicle dealership at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue in December 2022 for $2.015 million. This 34,000-square-foot parcel was the second Montavilla location the County bought that year for temporary shelter services. The other shelter, Oak Street Village at 333 SE 82nd Avenue, opened in February and is currently operating at full capacity. The Joint Office of Homeless Services — now renamed the Homeless Services Department — has held several community meetings, with the most recent meeting in April announcing that Do Good Multnomah would operate the site as a sober shelter. Presenters explained that residents and staff are subject to drug testing, and policy strictly prohibits the possession of non-prescribed intoxicants on the property.
Selecting a sober format meets a specific need for people transitioning into stable housing who are in recovery from substance use disorder, and it better matches community desires for the site, which is located near two schools. The project designers will set back the new seven-foot-high chain-link fence on SE Mill Street to allow for more sidewalk-adjacent plantings, providing a buffer space and allowing for greater resident privacy beyond the plastic fence inserts that will obscure sightlines from the street.
Feb 2025 Design – courtesy JOHS
Workers will remove sections of the asphalt pavement in the parking lot to create green spaces and a pet relief area for residents. Portable units that will house showers, bathrooms, a kitchenette space, and a laundry facility for residents are placed along the SE 82nd Avenue frontage to create a sound barrier from the busy street. On-site parking is available for staff and service providers only. This site will not provide space for residents to park personal vehicles. Some neighbors questioned the original placement of the trash enclosure on the property, and updated designs relocated it away from the fence line, but still made it accessible for trash haulers.
As work on the site progresses this summer, Homeless Services Department staff will collaborate with community partners on a Good Neighbor Agreement, a process anticipated to take two months. Demolition work will take place through August with a planned completion date around the 22nd of that month. Electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople will follow to install the below-ground routed services that will support the installation of the portable sleeping pods and the six support buildings.
Disclosure: The Author of this article servers on the board the 82nd Avenue Business Association which will work with Multnomah County on a Good Neighbor Agreement for the site.
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At an April 17th community meeting, project planners announced that Do Good Multnomah will open a clean and sober sleeping pod shelter in the Multnomah County-owned property at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue. The 38 single-occupancy shed-style shelters will support people recovering from substance use disorder in an environment where residents and staff receive routine urine testing for compliance with the site’s drug and alcohol-free requirements. Six converted shipping container units will provide office space for staff, participant services, hygiene facilities, kitchenette amenities, and laundry facilities so the recently unhoused residents can focus on the first steps to finding stable housing.
Nicole Jackson from the Montavilla headquartered nonprofit Do Good Multnomah spoke to the meeting attendees about the plans for the site along SE Mill Street, located between two Portland Public Schools. She explained that they would screen residents before placing them at this shelter to verify sobriety and exclude applicants with sexual offender convictions. Although this site is not low-barrier like the Oak Street Village shelter down the street at 333 SE 82nd Avenue, it still removes obstacles for people transitioning into shelters. The primary difference between most other sleeping pod communities in Portland and this location is its sober requirement and that units are limited to one occupant. Jackson said the group hopes to support residents for around 90 days before finding them sober housing or other placement on the road to stable housing. However, she noted that recovery can sometimes include relapsing. If that happens, residents are not permitted to stay but can transfer to another location until they are ready to return to the program.
Feb 2025 Design – courtesy JOHS
As a safe location for people to recover from addiction, Jackson explained that it is essential for the other residents to follow the rules and not jeopardize others’ recovery efforts with their choices. She said that people they work with have requested a sober shelter option for years, noting it is hard to control an addiction while others around you are using. The site has a single entry and exit point for residents; staff search bags and request people empty pockets on reentry. Three staff will work onsite 24 hours a day, every day. Do Good Multnomah intends to have one of those team positions staffed each shift by a trained peer support person, helping people with recovery challenges from a position of personal experience.
In June or July, Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) –soon to change names to Homeless Services Department (HSD)– intends to begin work on a Good Neighbor Agreement with the Montavilla Neighborhood Association and the 82nd Avenue Business Association among other stakeholders to determine responsibilities and communication practices around the operation of the site. Do Good Multnomah is currently working on finalizing its site rules but noted they have years of experience running these types of shelters to make them safe for residents and the surrounding community. For instance, Nicole Jackson said that all dogs living in the shelter with their owners must be leashed at all times when answering a meeting attendee’s concerns about loose and aggressive dogs. She also explained that they will implement a quiet hours policy from 9 or 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
1818 SE 82n Avenue seen from SE Mill Street with new sidewalk
At the meeting, some residents expressed concern about the lack of parking for residents at the site. Jackson said she anticipates few people living in the shelter will have cars. Staff have onsite parking, and any residents needing to park will need to use street parking, but Do Good Multnomah will make sure they are parked legally in the neighborhood. Others had concerns about camping around the site. JOHS staff at the meeting said that the Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) could include an enhanced services Engagement Zone like the Oak Street Village GNA, where City service providers resolve issues with the highest priority allowed by law to clear the zone around the shelter site.
Work on 1818 SE 82nd Avenue has not yet begun. Demolition crews will remove the existing building before other workers install electrical and plumbing underground for the temporary structures. The site will receive new chainlink fencing around the perimeter with plastic privacy slats. On the east edge of the property, crews will build a seven-foot-tall cedar fence set in several feet from the property line to provide extra buffer between the shelter site and an adjacent residential property. The team will construct a new fence line set back five feet from the sidewalk on SE Mill Street to allow a green zone of trees and plantings. The JOHS anticipates residents could move in by November or December 2025.
On April 17th, Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) will host its second community meeting, seeking public input regarding the alternative shelter planned at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue. The event will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Portland Community College Southeast Campus’s Community Hall at 2305 SE 82nd Avenue. Attendees should pre-register for this open community meeting through the online RSVP form. Participants will learn more about the project and have opportunities to provide feedback to planners.
This proposed shelter site will have a capacity for up to 38 adults living in sleeping pods. Six converted shipping container units will provide office space for staff, participant services, hygiene facilities, kitchenette amenities, and laundry facilities. Residents and their pets will have onsite access to green space. The site will receive upgraded fencing with privacy inserts on all street sides and a wood fence between the adjacent residential property to the east. New designs from earlier this year also relocated the planned garbage recycling building and parking further away from the eastern property line.
Feb 2025 Design – courtesy JOHS
Dec 2024 Design – courtesy JOHS
Onsite parking offers eight spaces for staff and visiting service providers only. Operators will reserve two of those stalls for vehicles with accessibility permits. This configuration differs from the other county-owned shelter, Oak Street Village, which is located several blocks north of this site and features significant resident parking. Crews working for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) began constructing new sidewalks on SE Mill Street east of SE 82nd Avenue. They have completed most of the work along the future shelter site’s Mill Street frontage and will soon work on the north side of the street before repaving. These sidewalks will be a welcome addition for the parents and students who often use SE Mill Street as a route to the two nearby schools.
The JOHS has yet to announce a service provider to offer 24-hour support for shelter residents. The County representatives have said they intend to open this location by the end of 2025. Presenters at the April 17th meeting will likely offer updated plans, more details about who will operate the site, and other operational information.
Note: On July 1st, the JOHS will take on its new name and be known as the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department (HSD)
On February 19th, the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) will host a “Sneak Peek” of the Oak Street Village sleeping pod shelter at 333 SE 82nd Avenue. Organizers invite the public to tour the facility before residents move in. Invited speakers will provide brief remarks and participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Organizers ask people wanting to attend to RSVP for the event, which runs from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
In 2022, Multnomah County purchased the former RV sales lot and another site several blocks south to create shelter services along 82nd Avenue. However, it was not until officials selected 333 SE 82nd Avenue’s operator, Straightway Services, that the County announced the shelter’s format. Resident selection for Oak Street Village will prioritize individuals living in passenger vehicles and needing to park those while transitioning into the shelter’s housing. The site provides Pallet shelters branded sleeping pods, 33 onsite parking spaces, trash services, showers, restrooms, laundry facilities, and a communal kitchenette. Several years have passed since the County purchased the properties. Since then, County staff have worked to provide community outreach and secure support for the site through a Good Neighbor Agreement.
The second county-owned county site in Montavilla at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue will take on a similar development path but will not focus on supporting residents with cars. That second shelter will likely open at the end of 2025 if the project keeps to schedule. Although the sites are different, this sneak peek can provide a view into how shelter operators organize these sites.
Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Montavilla’s County district representative Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards will speak at the event. Other invited guests addressing the attendees include Pastor Dwight Minnieweather from the site’s service provider, Straightway Services, alongside business and neighborhood association leaders. JOHS director Dan Field will share the project’s history and update people on the facility’s next steps. Event parking for the Wednesday midday gathering on the 19th is available at the Montavilla United Methodist Church at 232 SE 80th Avenue, one block west of Oak Street Village. Event organizers will provide snacks and refreshments.
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.
Telehealth room
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.
Community room TV area
Community room kitchen
Community room activity shelves
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.
Food pantry stocked with home goods ahead of food delivery
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.
Coin and app operated laundry room with bike storage
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.
On December 19th, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution to proceed with the Harrison Community Village‘s construction at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue. This temporary alternative shelter will support up to 45 adults residing in 38 sleeping pods and utilizing several converted shipping containers offering residents showers, bathrooms, kitchenette space, and a laundry facility. In a four-to-one vote, the County Board passed the resolution with one amendment requiring the County to work with community representatives to create a Safe Routes to School plan and negotiate a Good Neighborhood Agreement (GNA) before opening the shelter.
Sleeping pod images from December 19th Multnomah County Board of Commissioners presentation
Multnomah County purchased the former recreational vehicle dealership at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue in December 2022 for $2.015 million. This 34,000-square-foot parcel was the second Montavilla location the County bought that year for temporary shelter services while they land-banked the properties for future development. Newly seated County Commissioner Shannon Singleton explained during the lengthy board discussion on December 19th her recollection of County thinking in 2022. Commissioner Singleton served as the interim director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) around the time Multnomah County acquired the properties, and her experience as someone tangentially involved in the purchase offered unique knowledge to the board’s understanding of the site’s purpose.
Project budget slide from December 19th Multnomah County Board of Commissioners presentation
Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure money allocated from the Safety off the Streets – Emergency Shelter Strategic Investment budget will cover the shelter’s $4,128,197 cost. The bulk of funds will support the demolition of the existing building and construction costs for the power, water, and sewer hookups needed for the temporary structures. Presenters noted that planners allocated $1.4 million of the budget to reusable shelter sleeping pods and shelter support containers. Those items could be relocated to a future site when the County re-purposes the property for other uses. The JOHS team presented a firm timeline for the shelter’s opening, requiring this late 2024 vote to keep on schedule. Starting in January 2025, the project team will develop plans and seek City of Portland building permits ahead of construction slated to begin in July 2025. Crews should complete work in November, and the site could open to residents in December 2025.
Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards provided significant insight into community thinking around the proposed shelter, having attended a December 5th JOHS community meeting and communicated with area residents after the event. Commissioner Brim-Edwards agreed with some of the concerns expressed during that JOHS community meeting and in public testimony the board heard before their vote. She noted the JOHS had two years to engage with the public prior to this resolution but only held an initial meeting two weeks before the end-of-the-year vote. Additionally, issues delayed a mailed notice to surrounding neighbors that would have notified them of the December 5th meeting. JOHS staff hand-delivered notices to over 600 addresses because of the delayed mailing, in some cases just days before the event. Commissioner Brim-Edwards also echoed some area residents’ concerns that this section of Portland has an out-sized density of services for people experiencing houselessness. Commissioner Brim-Edwards represents Multnomah County’s District 3, covering most of Southeast and East Portland, including these shelter locations on SE 82nd Avenue.
In response to constituent concerns and to support a successful shelter site, Commissioner Brim-Edwards proposed an amendment to the Harrison Community Village resolution. The adopted amendment requires the County, shelter service provider, neighborhood association, business association, and Portland Public School representatives to develop a GNA before the site opens to residents. It states the County will coordinate with the Portland Bureau of Transportation and Portland Public Schools to preserve SE Mill Street’s access for safe travel to schools. Bridger Creative Science School is one block west of the Mill Street site, and Harrison Park Middle School is several blocks southeast on SE 87th Avenue. SE Mill Street is part of the Neighborhood Greenway bike and pedestrian network, providing one of only a few fully signalized crossings of SE 82nd Avenue in the area. Although County site planners have already started conversations with the two schools, the amendment solidifies their responsibility to “work with the nearby school communities to hear and address school community concerns.”
1818 SE 82nd Avenue site seen across a marked crosswalk at a signalized intersection (Jacob Loeb)
Commissioner Sharon Meieran provided the one no vote for the resolution, citing many concerns, including the rushed proposal, which she said had insufficient community engagement and lacked transparent planning. She noted that, in her observation, the County teams only come to the community and the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners when required to by policy and at the last minute. She questioned the JOHS’s choice to place this shelter along 82nd Avenue over other options or by reinvesting in current locations, saying they lacked a cohesive shelter plan. However, Commissioner Meieran did acknowledge that “No one can argue we need every space possible.” Presenters argued that the 1818 SE 82nd Avenue site had been part of the Community Sheltering Strategy that came from extensive planning guided by electeds and service providers. Additionally, they plan to work with the incoming Portland Mayor, Keith Wilson, to complement his sheltering plan.
Site illustrations in this article courtesy JOHS
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners recognized the need to add shelter beds quickly, particularly as other existing shelters close. That sentiment was at the root of why most commissioners voted in favor of moving the Harrison Community Village project forward. There was a general recognition that these shelters, with privacy fencing along the sidewalk, would negatively impact the City’s Build a Better 82nd efforts along the corridor by making a less active streetscape and continuing to underutilize the sites that can support substantial buildings. Several commissioners noted community members’ request to delay this site until the first Montavilla shelter on 82nd Avenue had time to generate useful information on how these sites will impact the neighborhood. However, the need for increased shelter capacity outweighed the calls for delay, with the added understanding that this second shelter site would open almost a year after the 333 SE 82nd Avenue shelter started operations. Commissioners expect the County and JOHS staff to collect livability statistics from this site and others in the system to help inform operators and the public on shelter impacts.
Presenters anticipate Harrison Community Village’s GNA will include collecting key metrics around the shelter site, similar to the data required by the Oak Street Village GNA. By the time the 1818 SE 82nd Avenue site opens in December 2025, the 333 SE 82nd Avenue shelter will have already provided 11 months of livability data. With the Harrison Community Village approved for funding, the next milestone for the site will come when officials select a shelter service provider. At that point, the JOHS can schedule more community meetings to address site operation questions, and community groups can begin working on a GNA for this site.
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On December 5th, the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) held a community meeting about a new alternative shelter planned for the former RV sales lot at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue. This first community outreach gathering precedes a December 19th Multnomah County Board of Commissioners vote to fund the construction of this project. JOHS officials plan to have future community meetings and work on a Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) after the County selects a service provider to operate the shelter site—presenters at the event anticipated service provider selection to occur in early 2025.
Community feedback at the meeting included many levels of concern for the proposed shelter’s operations and placement but also included some community support for the added short-term accommodations. Several residents felt this second county site was too close to another Multnomah County-owned location 15 blocks north on SE 82nd Avenue at 333 SE 82nd Avenue. Crews working for the JOHS are currently building the Oak Street Village there, and staff anticipates that sites will begin accepting residents in late January 2025. Other meeting attendees asked if the JOHS could delay work on the second site to give the neighborhood time to work through livability issues with the first site and learn from that experience to improve future site relations.
Illustration courtesy JOHS
Presenters and project designers leading this meeting intended to focus on design elements for the shelter site. Demolition crews will remove the current sales building on the property but salvage some wood roof beams for reuse in covered outdoor spaces. Staff and residents will access the site from SE Mill Street, where crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation will install new sidewalks and street trees and provide other road improvements as part of a separate project. Designers of the shelter site intend to erect a 7-foot-high fence around the property and provide signage and artwork at the perimeter that reflect community interests and values. Workers will remove sections of the asphalt pavement in the parking lot to create green spaces and a pet relief area. Portable units that will house showers, bathrooms, kitchenette space, and a laundry facility for residents are placed along the SE 82nd Avenue perimeter to create a sound barrier. Onsite parking is available for staff and service providers only. This site will not provide space for residents to park personal vehicles. Some neighbors questioned the placement of the trash enclosure on the property. However, designers felt its placement was necessary for trash hauler access. Despite efforts to keep the meeting focused on site design issues, audience questions often addressed programmatic functions and concerns regarding the site’s placement in the community.
Illustration courtesy JOHS
Parents living in the area and other attendees at the December 5th meeting expressed concern for the proposed shelter’s proximity to two public schools and a park. Bridger Creative Science School is one block west of the Mill Street site, and Harrison Park Middle School is several blocks southeast on SE 87th Avenue. JOHS representative Rory Cuddyer explained that his engagement group has communicated with both schools and anticipates their participation in the GNA creation process. Other presenters at the meeting addressed concerns about drug consumption at the shelter, indicating that it was not allowed at county-funded sites. However, due to the shelter’s low-barrier referral-only admission process, operators do not require sobriety for placement in one of the 38 free-standing sleeping pods. That raised other attendees’ concerns regarding drug use in the surrounding neighborhood. Select audience members and presenters noted that not all houseless people are drug users and that the full-time wraparound services offered at the shelter work to connect users to recovery services, in addition to other programs intended to move people into permanent housing.
Multnomah County Commissioner representing Montavilla, Julia Brim-Edwards, attended the meeting as an audience member, listening to all comments and speaking to individuals after the meeting concluded. Montavilla News first reported on the County’s purchase of the two properties in 2022. However, many attendees did not learn about this planned shelter until days before the meeting. Cuddyer explained that the County had an issue producing a mailer ahead of the first meeting, and staff hand-delivered notices instead. They intend to have a broader mailing out to area residents later in the process but encourage people to join the Montavilla Neighborhood Association‘s email list and follow updates on the JOHS project page to stay informed about upcoming community engagement. Cuddyer also urged people to provide comments if they wished at the December 19th Multnomah County Board of Commissioners session. People intending to provide public testimony on the vote must register by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18th. To find the agenda item for this upcoming vote, check the County’s Board Meetings page the week of the meeting.
The article above originally published December 6th
Update December 18th, 2024: The JOHS posted a Frequently Asked Questions document on the 1818 SE 82nd Avenue shelter site’s project webpage addressing many questions received from the community expressed at the December 5th meeting. People intending to provide public testimony on the vote have until 4 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18th to register for Resolution R.1, seeking approval to “Proceed with Construction at the Harrison Community Village Project.”
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On December 9th, the Montavilla Neighborhood Association (MNA) voted unanimously to sign the Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) for the Oak Street Village shelter site at 333 SE 82nd Avenue. The Multnomah County-owned property will open to temporary residents in early 2025, and formalizing a community agreement is a significant step toward launching this shelter. The 32-page non-binding document covers the signers’ shared commitment to adhere to their agreed responsibilities and follow set communication standards to resolve conflicts.
The GNA signers include the Joint Office of Homeless Services, the City of Portland, shelter services providers Straightway Services, the Montavilla East Tabor Business Association, and the MNA. Each party has distinct responsibilities and roles in the agreement, and the GNA can update through its duration with the consent of the signers. The MNA sees the Community Advisory Committee formed by the GNA as a critical part of the document’s strength. That committee meets monthly with members from each signing party and village residents to review operations in a collaborative problem-solving format. This continual engagement ensures the parties maintain strong lines of communication and identify opportunities for collaboration between the village participants and the Community.
The GNA establishes an Engagement Zone bordered by the west side of SE 80th Avenue, the east side of 83rd Avenue, the north side of SE Ash Street, and the south side of SE Stark Street. The City will grant high-priority services within the defined area, and the site operator commits to regularly engaging with people in the zone to limit community impacts around Oak Street Village. The prioritized city services include the removal of unsanctioned campsites or abandoned vehicles, emergency calls, non-emergency calls, and cleaning services. The City has to adhere to its policies regarding each service but agrees to rank occurrences higher in the Engagement Zone.
Zone map from GNA (Engagement Zone – Red, Good Neighbor Zone – Blue)
The GNA states that the service provider will initially favor referrals into Oak Street Village from Montavilla’s unsheltered population, potentially reducing the number of persistent unsanctioned campsites in the neighborhood. This site prioritizes individuals living in vehicles who want to keep their car while moving into sleeping pods. Oak Street Village supports people making that transition by offering onsite parking for one personal vehicle per resident. This somewhat unique shelter feature generated many questions from neighbors during community engagement meetings. The GNA includes Straightway Services’ written policies, which outline the provider’s prohibition of onsite vehicle repair, prolonged idling, sleeping in a vehicle, or extensive property storage in the cars. The cars must fit within the marked parking stalls, blocking the storage of recreational vehicles or other oversized trucks. Owners of parked cars leaking fluids must use drip pans and properly dispose of hazardous materials to prevent runoff contamination of the stormwater system.
The agreement also covers future site placement, limiting Multnomah County’s expansion of the JOHS Community Sheltering Strategy within the Good Neighbor Zone. The Good Neighbor Zone surrounding the Engagement Zone is bordered by SE 75th Avenue, SE 88th Avenue, E Burnside Street, and SE Yamhill Street. It also has an extension from E Burnside Street up NE 80th Avenue and NE 82nd Avenue to incorporate the Vestal School. This agreement and other potential sites with a similar GNA will significantly reduce the potential for more County-owned sites along Montavilla’s section of 82nd Avenue.
The GNA mandates the regular collection of metrics to track the shelter’s impact on the neighborhood. Members of the Community Advisory Committee will monitor the data, which will become publicly accessible through existing dashboards and other group communications. As the County prepares a second site at 1818 SE 82nd Avenue, this GNA will likely play an influential role in that site’s Good Neighbor Agreement. The other parties will have to sign the document, but JOHS leaders expect that will happen before the residents begin moving into the 333 SE 82nd Avenue site.
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Harrison Birds Eye View titled image courtesy JOHS
This proposed shelter at SE 82nd Avenue and Mill Street is just 15 blocks south of the site under construction. Several JOHS documents refer to the site as Harrison Village. However, County staff changed the working title for Oak Street Village during community engagement, and the Harrison Village name could be a placeholder. JOHS plans to install 38 sleeping pods and larger portable units that will house showers, bathrooms, kitchenette space, and a laundry facility for residents. Like other shelters of this type, outreach specialists refer people into this temporary housing, and residents receive case management with the support necessary to move into more stable housing.
JOHS staff anticipate that this second County-owned Montavilla shelter will begin serving unhoused community members in late 2025. Organizers ask that people RSVP for the 6 p.m. meeting that will take place within the Montavilla United Methodist Church at 232 SE 80th Avenue. Attendees will learn more about the JOHS plan for the site and have the opportunity to provide feedback about the project’s design layout. The hour-and-a-half meeting should conclude around 7:30 p.m. People interested in staying informed but unable to attend the Thursday night gathering can follow the JOHS site for details.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account for monthly support 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.
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