Portland Approves 400-Bed Homeless Shelter

After three hours of public testimony in which neighborhood opposition was stated, environment concerns raised, and legal issues brought up, the Portland City Council narrowly approved plans to put a 400-bed homeless shelter in a vacant warehouse along the water front.

The council approved a plan that would put the shelter at the former Terminal 1 site for six months with the possibility of it becoming permanent if a private developer can follow through on raising between $60 million and $100 million.

Mayor Charlie Hales along with Commissioners Steve Novick and Dan Saltzman voted for the proposal. Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish voted against it.

Under the plan, the city's housing bureau will lease a 14-acre property from the Bureau of Environmental Services, which owns it.

That bureau - acting on orders from the city - had put the property up for sale earlier this year.

Fish has opposed the sale saying the property should be sold to a company looking to create industrial jobs in the city.

In June, Fish sent a memo to his colleagues on the council outlining problems with turning it into a shelter.

High on the list, he wrote, is current "zoning does not allow for shelters or schools, and the Greenway River Overlay Zone requires river-dependent uses."

Fish wrote that he does like the idea of an "Oregon Trail of Hope" type program and encourages the "Council to undertake a broad survey of all available land (public and private) to identify a more suitable site."

"I do not believe a homeless shelter is an appropriate use for Terminal One," Fish said. "I am frankly shocked that any consideration would be given to concentrating vulnerable members of our community in an aging warehouse on the river."

The vote is a victory for developers Homer Williams and Dike Dame who have been pushing the idea that the site could be turned into a one-stop service center and shelter that could house up to 1,400 people.

The shelter could be open by October.