Tag: Oak Street Village

Community, New Business

Oak Street Village Shelter Opens

On February 19th, representatives from Multnomah County, the City of Portland, and Montavilla community leaders joined the Oak Street Village shelter operators at 333 SE 82nd Avenue for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. This event officially opened the temporary shelter site that can house up to 40 adults in 29 sleeping pods with 33 parking spots so residents can store their personal vehicles. This opening follows years of delays while the Joint Office of Homeless Services, now transitioning its name to the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department (HSD), worked through its community outreach efforts to sufficiently include area residents and business owners in a Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA).

  • ADA parking next to accesible pods
  • 24-hour staffed office
  • Accessibel restroom

Before invited guests help cut the ribbon, marking Oak Street Village‘s launch, they addressed the gathered crowd of neighborhood visitors and TV news crews. Montavilla East Tabor Business Association president Neil Mattson and Montavilla Neighborhood Association president Laura Mulligan both expressed their appreciation for the efforts undertaken to develop a GNA that should mitigate many concerns Montavilla residents and business people expressed in the several community meetings held ahead of opening this shelter site. They also voiced their appreciation for the support of Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, who helped align the site’s construction schedule with the community outreach and GNA work. When addressing the crowd, Commissioner Brim-Edwards remarked on the success of the community engagement’s outcome.

  • Montavilla East Tabor Business Association president Neil Mattson
  • Montavilla Neighborhood Association president Laura Mulligan
  • Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards
  • Commission Chair Jessica Vega Pederson
  • Pastor Dwight Minnieweather
  • HSD Director Dan Field

Multnomah County Commission Chair Jessica Vega Pederson joined Commissioner Brim-Edwards in stressing the importance of shelters like Oak Street Village in addressing homelessness. The County’s efforts to address the housing crisis include layers of support that attempt to prevent people from losing their housing and transition people off the street through various shelter formats. This unique village configuration allows those living in cars to move into more suitable shelters with electricity, heating, and cooling. The Pallet shelter branded sleeping pods have locking doors and an integrated bed. Oak Street Village also offers residents trash services, showers, restrooms, laundry facilities, and a communal kitchenette in shipping container-style units surrounding the site. Similar shelters offer the same amenities, but this location allows people to keep their vehicles, which may be their most valuable possessions. Giving up a personal car can remove one’s ability to find employment or travel to places to receive services. Oak Street Village’s configuration may better support certain people’s transition back to regular housing and jobs by not requiring them to give up their vehicles before receiving help.

  • Inside sleeping pod
  • Shower room
  • Pet relief area

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson celebrated this shelter’s opening and thanked the Montavilla Neighborhood for its support. His fondness for the community predates his elected position. While running for office, he helped open the PDX Saints Love Day Services Center across the street from Oak Street Village. Both locations complement the Mayor’s plan to end unsheltered homelessness in the city. He also thanked the former Montavilla Neighborhood Association president, Spencer Knowles, for his work bringing the neighbors into the GNA process for both facilities. Knowles stepped down from the board to take a position on Portland City Councilor Steve Novick’s staff. Knowles and Councilor Novick attended Oak Street Village’s opening ceremony along with Portland City Council Vice President Tiffany Koyama Lane.

  • Council Vice President Tiffany Koyama Lane
  • Councilor Steve Novick

Pastor Dwight Minnieweather leads this shelter’s service provider, Straightway Services. His remarks focused on the importance of encouraging people to see their self-worth. He shared his story of addiction recovery from decades ago and how it was the words of one person who set his life back on track. He intends to offer the same supporting guidance to as many people as possible coming through his shelter. His organization recently rented office space across SE 82nd Avenue from the county-owned shelter site, and he intends to make roots in the community. HSD Director Dan Field spoke about his appreciation for Pastor Minnieweather’s commitment to his work and acknowledged that as a black man, Minnieweather faced heightened expectations. Field also talked about the challenges of creating shelters like Oak Street Village while being good stewards of public funds, and he thanked all those public employees involved for their dedication to delivering this project.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson

Residents and staff will soon begin moving into the Oak Street Village. Outreach specialists invite people to become residents, prioritizing people living in a vehicle, excluding recreation vehicles or motor homes. Straightway Services will focus on serving people in the Montavilla area first before inviting others from around Portland, ensuring the shelters keep people in their chosen communities and reduce unsheltered homelessness around the Village site. People should anticipate seeing activity at 333 SE 82nd Avenue within the coming weeks as people slowly take residence at Oak Street Village.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Community, Event, New Residence

Oak Street Village Sneak Peek Feb 19

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.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Community, Construction, Demolition, Government

1818 82nd Ave Shelter Meeting Concerns and Community Support

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.”

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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.

Community, Government, New Business

Oak Street Village GNA Moves to Signing

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.

By

Jacob Loeb

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.

Community, Construction, Demolition, Government, New Residence

Demolition Gives Rise to Oak Street Village

On Thursday, October 10th, demolition crews with Buildskape razed the single-story auto sales building on the Multnomah County-owned property at 333 SE 82nd Avenue. As they prepared the site for an alternative outdoor shelter, workers removed the signage and high-intensity light poles used by RV and automotive sales tenants over the last several decades. In early 2025, people transitioning out of houselessness will begin moving into 29 one-room sleeping pods and receive support from site operator Straightway Services.

At an October 9th community meeting, engagement coordinators with the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) announced the final name of the shelter site. Up to this point, JOHS referred to the project under the working name of Montavilla Community Village. After consulting with community groups and business association members, officials selected the site name Oak Street Village. This final name establishes its location and will disambiguate it from a planned second Montavilla shelter location further south at SE 82nd Avenue and Mill Street. That other location will start development next year, with residents expected in 2026.

With the site nearly cleared of debris, crews will soon begin digging trenches for water and sewer infrastructure connecting to portable units that house showers, bathrooms, kitchenette space, and a laundry facility for residents. The site uses Pallet branded shelters for the eight-by-20-foot shed-style sleeping pods. Residents and staff will have 33 onsite parking spaces, trash services, and other communal spaces for pet relief and covered outdoor seating. Straightway Services staff members operate the site 24 hours a day, working from the office building at the SE Oak Street entrance.

Oak Street Village site rendering courtesy Multnomah County

Up to 40 adults can reside at the Oak Street Village. That number varies based on the number of couples staying at the shelter who can share a single sleeping pod. The JOHS-funded program intends for guests to have a limited stay at this site and use it as a stepping stone to finding stable housing. Rules of the shelter prohibit the use of illegal substances and alcohol. People may not possess dangerous weapons at Oak Street Village, and visitors are not allowed unless they are part of an approved support service. Residents will abide by quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and Straightway Services will answer an onsite phone line available to the public to respond to questions or hear neighbor’s concerns.

These Oak Street Village policies and other considerations are part of a community engagement process that includes a lengthy Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) working group process that is wrapping up ahead of the site’s opening. Representatives of the JOHS, Straightway Services, Montavilla Neighborhood Association, Montavilla East Tabor Business Association, and the City of Portland participated in the process and will sign the agreement. That document calls for a community advisory group to track set metrics for area livability and will meet quarterly to review and advise on changes that could improve conditions.

Montavilla News first reported on the County’s intentions for two former RV sales sites along 82nd Avenue at the end of 2022. Over the last two years, the County increased its engagement strategy and held several community meetings. Organization representatives on the GNA working group described the process as productive at the October 9th meeting. They said people can view a complete version of the document at an upcoming neighborhood association meeting planned for later this year. Once signed, it will become a public document for anyone to read, with amendments and other relevant data appearing online. Construction crews will work on the site over the next three to four months before Straightway Services takes over the property to ready it for guests’ arrivals around February 2025.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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.