Community Meeting to Discuss Planned Shelter at 6144 SE Foster Road

The Neighborhood Association yesterday received notice of a planned emergency shelter for homeless adults in the vacant property at 6144 SE Foster Road. A community meeting will be held with Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, Multnomah County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson, and Joint Office of Homeless Services director Marc Jolin. Meeting details, including the full text of the letter, are below.

Date: Monday, Dec. 18
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Service Employees International Union Local 503, 6401 SE Foster Road

12/14/17 UPDATE: An agenda and list of frequently asked questions have been provided by the Joint Office of Homeless Services.


Dear neighbors,

On behalf of the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the Joint Office of Homeless Services, we would like to invite you and your neighbors to a community meeting about our plans to open an emergency shelter for homeless adults in vacant property at 6144 SE Foster Road.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18, at the meeting hall of Service Employees International Union Local 503, at 6401 SE Foster Road. Chair Deborah Kafoury, Mayor Ted Wheeler, County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson and Joint Office director Marc Jolin are set to attend.

We hope you’ll share this opportunity to learn more about the planned shelter with your networks. We look forward to hearing from neighbors, addressing concerns and sharing ways in which
residents can stay engaged in the shelter development process.

By next year, we plan to convert the space into a high-quality shelter with room for roughly 100 people, along with offices, showers, laundry facilities and other amenities that will help participants better connect with services. The shelter would be managed by an experienced, proven operator and would run on a reservation-based system to avoid queueing outside.

Over the past two years, our community has worked successfully with businesses, faith groups, neighbors and nonprofits to open hundreds of shelter beds across Multnomah County while also providing housing placements for record numbers of people.

Those new beds mean people who might otherwise have camped outside, in tents or on sidewalks, have a warm, safe place to go instead. Those beds allow folks to come in with their pets, or with their partners, and store belongings during the day. It’s working. We counted more people sleeping in shelter than outside last winter.

Those beds have also helped connect our work to communities of volunteers.

In Westmoreland last year, we worked with Transition Projects to open the 120-bed Willamette Resource Center. Ongoing community support in a neighborhood where development has continued to flourish has enriched the experiences of shelter participants.

Betty, who came to stay at the Willamette Center soon after it opened, said the shelter saved her life after she found herself homeless for the first time in her 51 years. She’d become very ill sleeping outside and landed in the emergency room. She said the love she felt at the Willamette Center was overwhelming and that she wants to do her part to give back.

We expect this shelter at 6144 SE Foster Road to continue that success — and help not only the individuals who come inside but also the rest of the neighborhood. We are committed to working with stakeholders to ensure that happens, and we look forward to meeting with you this month.

Sincerely,

This Post Has 59 Comments

  1. Barbara E Liles

    I am not against a shelter in this neighborhood, but wonder if the planners paid attention to the fact that there is a new Brewery going in right next door and the YMCA child development center expansion a block away? There are lots of vacant and underused buildings on Foster that might be a better location for a shelter.

    1. Andrew Cecka

      I had the same thought as Barbara. This location is a very poor choice as it’s a valuable and visible commercial property in a neighborhood that we’re trying to re-invigorate.

      As a community member, I think it’s clear that we need a shelter in our area and I’m in full support of it. I’m happy to hear that this was going on behind the scenes and I’m glad the neighborhoods are being brought into the discussion.

      A less visible, less valuable, equally accessible location would be a much better option. There are SO many defunct buildings on Foster that could be rehabbed/demo’d and many of them have a back side that does not face a major street (let alone 2).

      This building is at the intersection of 2 major streets, Foster and Holgate. It’s one of the most visible locations in our neighborhood. Additionally, the Winly building will require a lot of investment in order to turn it into a 100 bed shelter with bath for that many, so the advantages of choosing that location over another seem minor at best given that this is a permanent installation. The right location is better than the easiest for something like this.

      I look forward to voicing my support and concerns at the forum.

      1. FoPo Resident

        Well said, Andrew. It’s clear that a homeless shelter is needed in the neighborhood, but this seems like a terrible location and an odd choice of existing facility for conversion. Foster Road — particularly along that stretch — is starting to have some great things going for it and I think a shelter at that location would be a huge setback for the neighborhood.

        It would be great for the city to involve the neighborhood early in the process and allow some input on potential spaces. I think that most neighbors here are compassionate people who want to see the homeless crisis addressed effectively. But that shouldn’t mean having to accept a shelter in a newly revitalizing part of the neighborhood so close to schools, the YMCA, and many of the new small businesses in the area (and far from services). There are so many vacant properties along Foster, surely there has to be a better option.

        I look forward to hearing what they have to say and to voicing my concerns.

    2. Tom DeJardin

      … and that there is an alternative school directly across the street on Holgate that successfully serves 160 youth each day.

  2. Robert Joki

    It sounds to me like they are trying to sell a drop-in service center under the guise of a residential housing program. True residential treatment is the only real solution, but a drop-in center will only work to enable these people to stay on the street, and stop by for whatever freebee is on the menu that day. Remember that nearly half of the campers on the multi-use-path along 205 were identified as criminals with outstanding arrest warrants when Portland Police did a check this summer. You don’t want this group stopping by, then dispersing back into your neighborhood. They know how to play the system, and take advantage of us all. True residential housing will require that the residents get clean and sober, and get whatever mental health treatment is necessary for them to begin the pathway to employment and a return to civilized society. This is a good thing to support. What we don’t support is the enablement and empowerment of lawless vagrancy, theft, and drug dealers and users brought into our neighborhoods. We want just the opposite. We want our neighborhoods back, clean and safe again. I also have a sad vision of what will likely happen to that beautiful little park on the corner of Holgate and Foster if a drop in service center is the result of this nicely painted plan. Sad…..

    1. Courtney Jones

      Robert Joki is correct. I work with the homeless population and there is a stark difference between a shelter that brings in homeless families or adults who have been evicted due to high rent and people unwilling or unable to get off drugs and coming for services, who then go right back out onto the street where they are able to continue using. My brother and sister in law enjoy walking down to foster to go to art shows and restaurants at night. They would now have to walk directly past this shelter at night, which from my own experience in my work is not a safe option. There goes foster’s burgeoning restaurant and brewery scene! The fact that it is next to a daycare is despicable. The amount of heroine use and needles will inevitably go up around the shelter. I’ve seen it in my work experience. Do we want children picking up needles? Not to mention the transition school full of at risk youth who don’t need even more exposure to drug addicts near their school. This location is so poorly thought out it astounds me. With all the empty buildings that the city owns on Foster they make the worst choice possible. The 7-11 next to this building is already a hotspot for selling drugs. Anyone in the neighborhood nearby could tell them this if they had asked before they made the decision. Lack of thought and community outreach is the only glaring strategy going into this decision. No one has even revealed whether they will allow people currently using to stay at the shelter. Great way to skirt around the issue of attracting a mob of drug use top the neighborhood. Shame on Ted Wheeler!
      CURRENT EXAMPLES OF SMARTER SHELTER LOCATIONS:
      — The empty police headquarters on 122nd and Glisan near DHS and the max to downtown (where many services are located and homeless have to go back and forth to clinics)
      —-Willamette Service Center-because it is off the springwater corridor where homeless campers travel, sleep, do drugs already.
      —-Bud Clark Commons–under an overpass near where homeless are already camping and not close to schools, daycares, and family residential.
      DO ANY OF THESE SOUND LIKE FOSTER-POWELL??

  3. Foster RD family member

    Foster road and the East side has long been neglected by the city of Portland. Over the last few years the area has made huge steps forward without help from the City . Many young families have moved into the neighborhood due to its somewhat affordable housing and new businesses are investing their own money because of this. Why on earth would you place a 100 bed shelter in a prime retail location ? Will this be a clean living facility ? Or will drugged out twerkers be allowed to crash for the night and the next day walk the neighborhood harassing pedestrians for money or casing a house & cars break into? Oh and just wait until the city make Foster one lane, under the disguise of safety… if they are so concerned about the safety of TAX payers, then they sure wouldn’t try and ram this through. They say they want a community meeting to discus this shelter, why did they lease the property already? and how long of a lease did they commit to? This is a perfect example of Portland’s out of touch political class again looking to move undesirables away from their “rich downtown neighborhoods ” to the East side. WE have seen this before. I find it had to believe that they give a darn about East side families and businesses that actually contribute to making this a better place to live.

    1. Courtney Jones

      I’m sure they will be accepting drug users. I work in shelters and drug use is the main reason for single adults to be homeless, if not mental illness. They have no regard for the small businesses that have taken a risk to invest in Foster-Powell. They are literally taking the neighborhood back ten years with this move.

  4. Cory Rea

    I do not support this. My wife and I moved to the neighborhood over four years ago and have been watching the area continue to transform. We now have a 18 month old son and dread the idea of even more shady characters roaming the streets of FoPo.

    It truly boggles my mind that the city thinks this is a good idea. As was previously mentioned the neighborhood is attracting businesses and young people. This is a sure fire way to reverse the trend. Our elected officials are true boneheads.

    I will now be planning to sell my house and move my family. Vote with your feet people!

  5. Eavan

    I’m really pleased to hear that the people in our neighborhood who currently sleep on the sidewalk next to Powell Boulvard, or under the overhang at the public library, will have a better alternative starting next year.

  6. Pete Lewis

    Fully in support of this.

  7. Sean McCleary

    My family and I live two blocks away from the proposed site. We bought our house in 2009. Introducing a homeless shelter to Foster is unlikely to improve local property values. Is the city planning on compensating the property owners in the surrounding area for the impact this facility will have? Perhaps decreasing property taxes in the surrounding area would be a good start.

    1. Courtney Jones

      Did all of you hear that the Fred Meyer on SE 82nd and foster is leaving to the amount of theft and shady characters that already swarm to the area? A huge grocery store leaving… the only one in the area is not a good sign for the neighborhood. Why don’t they locate the shelter near se 82nd where there is already a concentration of homeless people due to the movement of drugs and the cheap hotels. By the way… there are TONS of homeless families living in their cars with children. Why are we not opening a shelter for them?

  8. FoPo resident for 15 years

    I want services and support for the homeless but this intersection is not the right place for these services. As a resident on SE 60th and Holgate I strongly oppose this shelter and will be looking for ways to ensure it does not move forward.

  9. Addy

    Where do I begin…

    While I sympathize with the folks suffering, the city of Portland has failed miserably in maintaining areas surrounding other shelters. I feel like homeless shelters come with the territory of being human and living in a metro area. Multi blocks grids full of tents, garbage, drug paraphernalia, and human waste? That’s another story. It’s unacceptable and nothing short of shameful that the city has allowed it.

    Even if the city was great at managing the homeless situation, this would be a TERRIBLE location for it. It’s LACKING: police presence, mass transit, and medical facilities. It does, however, have a YMCA, alternative school, tons of bars (including a new brew pub on the way), a residential area, and plenty of local businesses that are only continuing to make the area an even nicer place to live. Especially given the YMCA and the school, I’m not even sure how this is legal.

    Bottom line: the city needs to step up its game in general, and find a more suitable location for this shelter.

  10. MP

    I have some very real concerns about this location and it’s proximity to the YMCA childcare center and the alternative school. We have lived in the FoPo triangle for 17 years. We & our neighbors have worked hard to improve the area & our homes, little by little. When we first moved in we regularly dealt with car break ins & junkies passed out on the sidewalks. Through active community efforts (by no means city efforts) the area has drastically improved. Foster has been a dead zone for years. When it finally looked like FoPo would receive a little attention from the city you hand us this instead. I’m not sure how a homeless shelter will improve the walkability of Foster that is being so heavily touted by PBOTs decision to change Foster to one lane. I certainly doubt that new businesses will choose to lease in the area if the homeless shelter moves forward. Additionally, with the imminent closure of Fred Meyer on Foster (closing by Jan. 20th) I have to wonder why the city would move forward with the decision. I guess on the positive side we’ll get to see a bunch of new signs in the windows at the furniture store!

    1. Courtney Jones

      I’ve had the same experience in my neighborhood. The only improvements have been through neighbors working together with good police officers. Any moves the city has made have been detrimental to our progress. AKA Charlie Hales allowing camping on the springwater corridor- flooded my neighborhood east of 205 with crime. I’m no longer comfortable jogging or walking with my toddler and am thinking of selling. Bottom line— City of Portland supports homeless drug addict criminals’ rights and has no regard for the rights of homeowners who pay their salaries with inflated property taxes that don’t match city improvements. They are oblivious of the difference between homeless families and homeless drug addicts from the obvious lack of drug free family shelters (I think most people in outer southeast would welcome a sober family shelter). Doesn’t Ted Wheeler have a background in Planning? Terrible planning.

  11. Local Resident

    Here we go again with poor decisions by the city and county. Rather than opening a homeless shelter in an up and coming small business commercial thoroughfare, how about you go back to the failed attempt at the homeless camp Right to Dream II? You found an amazing lot at SE 3rd & Stephens, had plans in place and ready to go and let the planning commission stomp the idea down because the structures you wanted to construct didn’t meet their ridiculous zoning code standards. This site in SE is out sight and out of mind but still offers direct connection to resources homeless need. Instead we are left with campers under the MLK/Hwy 99 overpass and instead of building a homeless encampment the city follows through with the public works permit construction and builds new sidewalks. WTF!! Thanks for wasting money to build new cold sidewalks for the homeless to place their tents rather than concentrating your efforts and giving them a place to stay that doesn’t ruin local businesses and the neighborhood.

    I desperately want the homeless to have a place to go but this location is quite possibly the most terrible idea ever. Constructing a shelter in this location will ruin the surrounding small business, give no incentive for new businesses to move to Foster Rd, probably make the new brewery back out, and put fear in the local residents, especially those with kids in the adjacent school and YMCA. Please pull your heads out of you a** and figure out a new location that makes sense. This is illogical and creates continued disdain toward the city and county due to our elected officials not using their brains or the taxpayers dollars correctly.

    So frustrating.

  12. Susan Hashem

    I have lived in the Foster neighborhood for 11.5 years. I have seen this neighborhood struggling to improve itself. We have all been looking forward to the proposed Foster Streetscape Plan to make our shopping district a place for neighbors and families to be able to walk and enjoy. The idea of putting a 100 bed homeless shelter right in the heart of Foster is very disheartening to me. It let’s me know that the city has no consideration for Fosters rehabilitation. No consideration for the new businesses that would be considering this neighborhood as a location. No consideration for the at risk high school children right across the street. No consideration for the YMCA and their proposed uplift. Why are you contributing something so against our growth right in the middle of our neighborhood on our main street in a building that is completely unsuitable for people to live in?

    I have a lot of questions about your project.

    Who are your clients?
    Where are your clients coming from?
    Will you be busing them in from other areas(i.e.downtown)?
    Will you be providing mental health services?
    Will you be providing background checks on your clients?
    Will their be sex offenders included in your clients?
    Will there be violent criminals included?
    Who are these “guests” they will be allowed to bring in, will they be background checked?
    How many pets will you be allowing?
    Where will these pets be eliminating themselves?
    Will you be providing materials to pick up pet waste?
    Will this be a sober shelter?
    What is your drug use policy?
    What will they be doing during the day?
    Where will they find services?
    Where will they go for food?
    Where will they be able to cash checks?
    What hours will you be operating?
    When will clients be arriving/leaving?
    Will loitering in the parking lot be tolerated?
    Will loitering in the park be tolerated?
    Who will be paying for the remodeling of this location?

    I want answers to these questions.

    1. Reese Lamb

      ….did anyone from the city reply on any of these posts?

    2. Michael Kurtzig

      How many of those making this decision live with spitting distance of the proposed venue?

      1. Michael Kurtzig

        Within, of course.

        1. Courtney Jones

          I work in multiple homeless shelters run by the city through another organization.
          For shelters that don’t allow children and allow drug users:
          No background checks
          No criminal history
          The “services” are filled in by non-profits with limited staff and funding.
          Drug use increases, paraphernalia increase, basic trash on the ground surrounding the properties increases, public safety decreases.

          Why not a sober family shelter? That would make the alternative school and the YMCA an asset to the shelter! I meet plenty of sober families with teens, babies, pregnant mothers who need shelter and aren’t on drugs. Why not make a place for them in the neighborhood?

  13. Brandi Peterson

    The proposed location for the homeless shelter is an incredibly poor location because of the 160 students that attend Mount Scott Learning Center that is directly across the street. The safety of the students is a great concern as many frequent the 7-11 convenience store throughout the day. I strongly oppose this location.

  14. Carmen

    I strongly oppose this location for a homeless shelter. We’ve been in this neighborhood for almost 15 years, our house is very close to the proposed homeless shelter location. This is a very bad idea, once more burdening East Portland residents with the City problem. I understand the need for services for the homeless, but this location is very poorly thought out and down right inconsiderate to the folks living in this area. We currently do not have people sleeping on the sidewalks and leaving their garbage everywhere – we will now. I’ve felt relatively safe in the neighborhood at night and on early mornings. And, as others have mentioned, there is a school right next door and lots of small, new businesses that are vulnerable.
    City of Portland itself defined this very area as a Neighborhood Center, a place were positive neighborhood services
    and development can occur. Now you are going to put a homeless shelter and all the problems that come with it right in the middle of our neighborhood. There’s a dialysis center going in down the street on SE 67th, these 2 combined will drive investment and people away from our neighborhood.
    There should be a lot more research on siting such a facility. There may be a place in Foster-Powell for a shelter but this is not it. Why no locate it nearer to 82nd, or the Springwater Corridor where the homeless population is huge. The Springwater Corridor has become unsafe and unusable by the very citizens who pay taxes to maintain it and other parks. Just image what Laurelwood Park or Kerns Park are going to be like after this goes in, tents, needles, garbage.
    Stupid, inconsiderate location. Homeless populations do bring crime and garbage, that cannot be denied nor can you control it. Stop dumping on less affluent neighborhoods. Shame on you Portland and Multnomah County.

    1. Dan McElligott

      Putting it on 82nd does not jive with your “Stop dumping on less affluent neighborhoods” statement. How about Alberta or Mississippi Ave?

      1. Carmen

        Very true. I wish they would put shelters in those areas but they seem to have already decided to put one in Southeast. The 82nd area just has more large commercial zoned areas with less direct proximity to homes and schools.

    2. JACK PEEK Sr.

      This is the FOSTER-POWELL, neighborhood….I was the president a few years back…I fought with no success, the placement of a very dangerous group home for the CRIMINALLY INSANE..those judged guilty but insane of murder rape..arson..

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      1 · Yesterday at 8:48am
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      Jack Peek Sr. Now….I went to a meeting the past month…and told them, that the state has and is making plans to dump a 100 or more of the same people into Portland areas….WITHOUT NOTICE..these horrible people just about booed me out of the meeting…I told the group…at least 2 people have died not in this location I mentioned, but in two other group homes just like it..one man said…OK, HE KILLED SOMEONE…BUT WHAT HAS HE DONE SINCE HE WAS PLACED THERE, I said nothing..YET…but he has 90 minutes of unsupervised walks from the house, past the grade school ..WELL SHAME ON YOU I HEARD…AGAINST THE MENTALLY ILL…I SAID YES…FOR SURE IF THEY KILLED SOMEBODY…and walked out…..typical PDXERS..they refuse to consider the broad nature of the term criminally insane…and lump them all under one blanket;..;.I support the opening of this shelter…and hope as I follow the state is going to do….drop another CRIMINALLY INSANE group home into FOSTER-POWELL…they can take them a plate of cookies…but to keep people from dying of exposure…THEY ARE AGAINST THAT…The hell with them all, I working now without the FP people to at least pass a bill for notification of any PSRB patients…THESE ARE NOT NICE MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE….The state is going to place more ….I’m well connected on this issue…perhaps they should support me…the mayor…and Kafoury are worthless.

  15. 61st Ave Resident

    This proposed location makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

    For one thing, its proximity to schools and children is alarming. It’s on the same block with a high school that serves 160 at-risk kids, is one block from a big YMCA daycare/child development center, and less than half a mile from Arleta, the only elementary school in the neighborhood. Making matters worse, the proposed facility is a low barrier shelter, so that means that drug addicts, people with violent criminal records, and even sex offenders will be allowed to stay there.

    This location also seems destined to fail the exact population it seeks to help. There are no facilities nearby to support the proposed shelter. There are no hospitals or clinics, no grocery stores (the Fred Mayer on 82nd is closing), and there is limited access to public transportation (bus only). Then there is the issue of policing, which currently isn’t even adequate.

    This doesn’t even take into account the impact this decision would have on the local economy. Fledgling businesses and the hundreds of new residents who have been attracted to the area because of the long-touted economic development the city has been promising on Foster Road would be left in a lurch. This would be a big a huge step back.

    There have to be better potential locations (82nd?!) that have easier access to city services, support facilities, and don’t sit right next to schools and residential neighborhoods. What a disaster. I vehemently oppose this proposal and plan to be in attendance Monday night to voice my opinion in person.

  16. MW

    There is a huge space opening up on the NW corner of 82nd and Powell as of January 21st. Perfect for a shelter.

  17. FOPO resident

    And here I thought it was bad enough that we were getting a self storage facility up the block.

  18. LH Smith

    Unfortunately, the plan has not been well thought through. I will be attending the meeting.

  19. 61st Avenue home owner

    This is not a good location for a homeless shelter for many reasons as previously stated by others. As a homeowner on 61st avenue, my concern is the value of homes decreasing with a homeless shelter near. There are several studies done that the value of homes decrease by 13% with a homeless shelter in the area. Consider you homes, this is the largest investment that many of us have. We DO NOT need a homeless shelter in our neighborhood.

  20. 61st Avenue Resident

    Is it even legal for convicted criminals and sex offenders, who may come to this homeless shelter, to be in such close proximity to a school of 160 youth? There is a high school, Mount Scott Learning Center, across the street from this planned homeless shelter which has 160 students. Additionally, YMCA which is a child care center, is less than a block away the planned homeless shelter location. Let us all protect the youth. This is not an area that should have a low barrier homeless shelter.

  21. 9 Year Resident and Loving Neighbor

    Unbelievable! The city that works US OVER at it again.

    An informational meeting!?! Planned during the holidays and with no time to respond appropriately before the City rams another brainless idea down our throats. Next year is less than two weeks away! Its a cheap move straight outta the playbook of our country’s current administration.

    Where is the $ coming for this project? How much of it is from public funds? Who voted to move forward with leasing premium retail spaces on our main streets and turning them into homeless shelters in our neighborhoods?

    They claim the building layout is ideal? Its an empty warehouse!! It needs extensive and expensive renovations to be able to house anyone let alone 100 humans. I guess any empty building is ideal then and one with a several bathrooms would be perfect!

    A good location?? It’s next to a school, YMCA, Bars, and even a 7-eleven for groceries! PLEASE!!

    Committed to working with Stakeholders? Please let us know how we can work together on this.

    Who’s safety are they concerned for ??
    The Foster lane closure is another attempt to limit vehicular traffic into the city and move the unsightly homelessness out of the more affluent areas of “Tent City PDX”. Think Sorrel headquarters and East Moreland.

    There has to be a better way. Tax paying citizens and especially neighbors should be informed well in advance of the city’s poorly thought out plans.

    1. Steve Weaser

      Just another example of the people being governed over, not for. Not checking potential occupants for criminal records or warrants, and relying on criminals to adhere to an honor system is negligence and planned failure at it’s worst. We need to document this deriliction of duty now in case we need to file a class action suit against the city and county when our civil rights are violated by any criminals allowed to live undetected at any shelter.

  22. Charlie Raymond

    I live at 60th and Mitchell and wholeheartedly support this project. There are more than 100 people sleeping outside within a short radius of this location. We should welcome an opportunity to provide a warm, safe and dry location for those people. Please replace your fears with compassion.

    1. Barbara E Liles

      Unfortunately, the way they are planning to operate this shelter as Reservation only will probably not help our local homeless – unless they can get to NW Irving St. and sign up in person or have access to phones to call. They say this is to make it so there will not be lines, but this system will shut out most of the folks here on the eastside. Really ridiculous plan. Basically, just adding to the problem on this side of the river.

  23. Joe

    Over the last year I’ve requested information about leasing this site no less than six times. I manage a 28 year old retail business that employs 30 people in a 9,000 building. I’d like to expand. This site is closer to 14,000 sq ft and could bring 30+ jobs in a family-friendly industry.

    How is this better for the area?

    I live 2 blocks from here. Is this going to improve my neighborhood? Or is it going to make it dangerous for my kid to catch the bus?

  24. Burnside Resident

    If you want to see what’s going to happen when this shelter opens, come on out to the 122nd and Glisan where the county opened the Hansen Shelter without getting any community input ahead of time. Just like the new proposed shelter, it was billed as “shelter with showers and other amenities that will help participants better connect with services. The shelter would be managed by an experienced, proven operator and would run on a reservation-based system to avoid queueing outside.”

    Since the Hansen Shelter went in, crime has increased exponentially in the surrounding area and the bank nearby has been robbed 3x ( that I know of).

    It’s had several different managers. The current “co-managers” are trying and they seem like nice kids but they hardly qualify as “Experienced proven operators.”

    Because the Hansen Shelter doesn’t have kitchen, the residents have no choice but to fan out out into the neighborhood. Come talk to the local restaurants and see how well that’s working out for them.

    People no longer feel safe shopping at grocery across the street because they can’t even get into the store without being accosted n the parking lot and being harangued for handouts.

    The county also told us it would help with East side homeless but in reality they shipped over 100 residents from the Peace Shelter downtown to the Hansen Shelter leaving very few beds for anyone sleeping on the street in the actual neighborhood when it opened.

    To be clear – the problem is usually not the shelter residents, for the most part, they’re trying to get their lives together. The problem is the ecosystem that always seems to pop up around services and shelters and the county’s complete failure to followup on these facilities once they manage to site them with little community input or notification. There’s no accountability, no oversight and no recourse to address livability issues.

  25. Mr. Quinn

    I am appalled by how many of my neighbors are acting like homeless people are rats or villains. There is so little empathy in comments like:

    “The idea of putting a 100 bed homeless shelter right in the heart of Foster is very disheartening to me. It let’s me know that the city has no consideration for Fosters rehabilitation.”

    These people are part of Foster.

    “A less visible, less valuable, equally accessible location would be a much better option. ”

    These people are not an eye-sore and do not deserve to be hidden away.

    “…dread the idea of even more shady characters roaming the streets of FoPo.”

    God, the list goes on and on. This shelter is to HELP. Homeless people are PEOPLE who are in great need of support from their community. A shelter will be an improvement. It will make crime less necessary. It will improve people’s lives. It will help us include marginalized people in our community.
    It is a small step toward solving homelessness and any alternative that requires us pushing these people away is no solution but in fact the very problem itself.

    1. Caitlin

      Here, here! Fear will not help in these situations. I think these meetings are a great way to find solutions and answers to good question. I agree wholly with your sentiment that these people should NOT be hidden away- they are already in difficult situations. I hope they get full services, like food stamps and opportunities for access to employment/ sobriety/ education.

      And for everyone who says “this neighborhood is not a good option,” let it be known that SE is not the only place where shelter sites are being examined. Portland has a highest amount per capita of unsheltered people on the west coast. We can do better. We are part of the solution.

      1. Courtney Jones

        I work in and around shelters every day. No offense, but you clearly don’t have lot of experience with the population to believe that this is a good decision. I have been told by a former heroine addict himself that if you’re going to give shelter, give it to families who’ve been evicted who have children living in their cars. Drug addicts have made a choice and continuously make it if they don’t reach out for treatment. People on the streets know where to get that treatment. Many of them just don’t want it yet. But yah, they do want a hot meal and a shower in between getting high. Everyone here is just saying that the facility should be located closer to where they are actively using… walk down 82nd or the springwater corridor and find a better location. Don’t bring them into a neighborhood that is trying to create a safe environment for their families and come back from an economic downturn with hopes of successful small business.

        1. Courtney Jones

          The city could help improve, expand, replicate services along SE 82nd like the Clackamas Service Center used many homeless sleeping along the springwater corridor.

    2. Courtney Jones

      The city is closing the current shelter (see Hansen Shelter), which is conveniently located for the current homeless residents next to a food stamp office (DHS) and a max line which can take them directly to either hot meals downtown at the Chinatown services (which many of them use) or to a large food pantry on stark. (I know because I assist them there). So they are not ADDING homeless beds, they are just moving them into the heart of foster. They are taking them away from an already functional space that is not in the middle of a residential neighborhood making it less convenient for the homeless people staying there. Go to the Hansen shelter and volunteer and learn a little more about the people who stay there before your sweet little bleeding heart melts for the problems your welcoming into your neighborhood. Yes, people deserve compassion no matter their background or addictions, but this move is putting children and families at risk and making it harder for the homeless residents who want to shelter.

  26. Christy

    I wonder if we might build homeless shelters in Ted and Deborah’s neighborhoods.

    I moved out of Portland because of affordability. I have recently been considering purchasing a home in the Foster-Powell area. I will not consider moving to a neighborhood where there is a homeless shelter.

  27. Rheanna

    I am in full support of this plan to create a shelter in our neighborhood!

  28. Sam

    I live in this neighborhood and fully support this project. 100 beds is a great start!

  29. fopo resident

    Thanks again Portland bureaucrats for not caring what the nearby residents think about your plan. It’s obvious you are going to build it no matter what the neighbors think about it. I am 100% opposed to this and it isn’t just because I live a few blocks away from it. Putting it next to a school (and near another one) and by a child care center is just ridiculous. This neighborhood is already crime ridden (I’ve had my car stripped, my shed broken into, packages stolen off my porch numerous times and my front yard vandalized) and putting a homeless shelter in our neighborhood is not going to improve that sad fact. I agree with the previous comment–let’s put one in Ted and Deborah’s neighborhoods and see how they like it.

  30. Nick

    I am an area resident and 100% in support of the shelter. The area needs a place for houseless people to go, and it has to go somewhere. There is nowhere in a city as dense as Portland that is a “good” location according to the ludicrous list of criteria some people have posted. The people in need of these services are already here, and until we deal with the issues that put them on the street we’re going to have to do something with them.

  31. Amanda

    Absolutely opposed to this location! This is by far the worst location for a shelter! The 7-11 already attracts questionable people, now let’s add a shelter to it? Not to mention there is supposedly a brewery opening on the other side of the building.
    There are so any other locations, why this one? I am concerned about the escalating crime In this neighborhood already. Nope not at all happy about this!

  32. Jan Nimby

    Crime in my neighborhood? I want crime in other peoples neighborhoods! Ship them to poorer areas where all the residents are already criminals and sex offender drug dealers!

    1. Courtney Jones

      I live in a poorer neighborhood east of 205 and I don’t want a non-sober non-families with children homeless shelter in my neighborhood. Take it from my experience as your poorer counterpart.

      1. Courtney Jones

        *noting your sarcasm

  33. Courtney Jones

    Dear Mayor Wheeler,

    I’ve been very happy about your run as Mayor so far and I thank you for your good work. But unfortunately with this planned shelter for Foster-Powell you seem to be going the way of Charlie Hales in terribly planned and uninformed decisions about the homeless population in East Portland. Are you aware that the Fred Meyer on Foster & 82nd is leaving due to the crime and theft in the area? You’re move to bring a shelter to the heart of Foster-Powell will decimate the progress gained by small businesses filling the shops in the last few years. Why not locate a shelter on SE 82nd???? Near where people are already selling drugs and sheltering in cheap motels when they have the money. Why bring it to a neighborhood when you could bring it to them by centering it in a location that is already rife with drug use?

    This is so disappointing and another one of the reasons the moves of the Portland city officials is fuelling my urge to leave this city.

    Completely disappointed with your decision making skills and lack of knowledge about this neighborhood.

    1. Frustrated Lents Resident

      Why not locate a shelter on SE 82nd, you ask? Because those of us who live nearby (just east of 82nd, in Lents) already have to run a gauntlet of tweakers and perverts every time we need to be on that street to catch the #72 bus to work, pick up a few groceries, walk or bus to a better neighborhood to do the rest of our shopping, etc. and this will make an already intolerable situation even worse. Thanks, but we already have more than our fair share of armed robberies, assaults, home burglaries, car break-ins, zombie houses full of junkie squatters that we have to walk past every day, creepy men loitering in the bus stops and leering at women as they drive by, and so on. And the city does nothing about it because they think the honest, hardworking people who live here aren’t worth protecting. We can’t even keep a grocery store open at 82nd & Foster because of rampant shoplifting, lax to nonexistent law enforcement, and a rotating cast of unsavory characters in the parking lot (can you say man masturbating in broad daylight, right out in the open, around midday on a Saturday while families with young kids are trying to grocery shop?) Why do you see dumping a low-barrier shelter on us as an acceptable way to keep it out of your neighborhood? I would fully support a drug- and alcohol-free shelter for women and families (sex offenders and domestic violence perpetrators NOT welcome) in any neighborhood in Portland, including mine. I would volunteer there, donate stuff, help out in any way I could. It would be a welcome addition to my community. But I do not want a low-barrier shelter full of drug addicts, sex offenders, and violent criminals in my neighborhood any more than you want one in yours. The solution isn’t to dump that nightmare on Lents any more than it is to dump it in the middle of a revitalizing small business district on Foster. If Wheeler and Kafoury like that idea so much, why don’t they put a low-barrier shelter in one of their neighborhoods? Oh, because their wealthy neighbors would howl in protest. Funny, no one is suggesting putting a homeless shelter where the Pastaworks used to be on Hawthorne, or where the Zupans used to be on Belmont, even though those spaces are empty and there are plenty of homeless folks in that neighborhood. Now why is that, I wonder?

  34. Courtney Jones

    After doing some reading on Willamette week I’ve found out that the city is planning on closing the shelter it has in the old sherrif’s office on 122nd and Glisan (next to DHS and other sevices like the max and a large food pantry). This is called the “Hansen shelter”. Their replacement is the shelter they are putting into your neighborhood. So while they close a shelter that is already located in an area known to homeless individuals near services and off the max, they open it in the heart of your neighborhood near nothing helpful. (I know about the Hansen shelter because I meet some of it’s residents at a large food pantry near there where I teach low income community members.) By the way, this shelter is badly needed where it is at on 122nd and Glisan! Apparently the city thinks you need it next to your house instead of where it is next to the food stamp office where many of the residents connect with services already. AKA… this is more inconvenient for the homeless people already being sheltered at the current site.

  35. Bob P.

    There is a phrase in economics, “supply creates its own demand.” The book Shoeless Joe Jackson, the inspiration for the film, Field of Dreams, applied this to building a ball park in what had been a corn field. Here’s the point – being more accepting of the homeless and providing more and more services doesn’t only serve a static population. It attracts more homeless to the area leading to a demand for even more beds. That corner has been an awful mess as it is. New businesses are moving in trying to get established. Storefronts are slowly being improved. For example, on 12/12/17 a permit was issued for 6112 SE Foster Rd, which is right next door to the proposed homeless shelter.

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