The City of Portland Homeless Services Center at 654 Riverside Street will provide low barrier, temporary emergency shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness over the age of 18. The new Homeless Services Center will be open 24-hours a day, 7-days a week with on-site meals and a wide range of services including: health and mental health care, substance use treatment, housing assistance, peer support, case management, employment assistance, and more.
This page contains information about all of the staff presentations made and public testimony given as the City has worked through the public process. We will continue to update the page as new information is shared. Thank you for your interest and support.
Background
The current adult shelter, Oxford Street Shelter, is not owned by the City, is poorly configured,
does not have sufficient day space to accommodate residents, and is unable to offer meals or
sufficient services on site. The building has three floors which require almost double the number
of staff who could oversee guests in a single- story building designed specifically to shelter
guests. It also has cramped sleeping space which necessitates floor mats rather than cots and
utilizes a large area for sleeping in the eaves of the building. It is the goal of the City of Portland to operate a new state-of-the-art, one story, adult Homeless Service Center to replace the Oxford Street Shelter.
The City Council's Health and Human Services and Public Safety Committee moved to recommend the Angelo’s Acre and Riverside locations to the full Council at the April 16, 2019 meeting. On June 17th, 2019, the City Council voted to adopt Order 24818/19 Approving a Homeless Services Center at 654 Riverside Street. The Health and Human Services & Public Safety Committee made a shelter policy recommendation; there was a public hearing on shelter policy at the committee's October 8, 2019 meeting and the committee recommended a Single Adult Shelter Policy Resolution to the full City Council in a 3 - 0 vote on November 12, 2019.
Resolve 719/20 Outlining Policy Goals for the City of Portland's Single Adult Shelter Facility passed in a 6 - 2 vote during the February 3, 2020 City Council meeting. The planning process moved from the Health and Human Services & Public Safety Committee to the Housing and Economic Development Committee. On May 18, 2021, the committee voted to select Developers Collaborative to proceed with negotiations to enter into a public-private agreement to support construction of the proposed Homeless Service Center to be located on City-owned property at 654 Riverside Street.
