FILE - Beds in Bybee Lakes Hope Center in Portland, Ore., in a 2020 file photo.
Rebecca Ellis / OPB
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson plans to open 50 new shelter beds for people experiencing homelessness and seeking opioid addiction treatment.
The city will pay Bybee Lakes Hope Center, a privately run North Portland homeless shelter, to operate a 17-month pilot program using funds the city received through a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. The total cost of the pilot project is unknown.
Wilson announced this program weeks after unveiling a broad plan to end unsheltered homelessness by December. That plan focuses predominantly on opening nighttime-only shelters. The Bybee Lakes shelter will be open 24/7. In a media statement, Wilson pointed to the importance of a mix of shelter styles.
“Homelessness does not have a one-size-fits-all solution,” Wilson said. “Our community has a deep need for 24-hour shelters specializing in opioid addiction recovery, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring hope and recovery to the individuals we can now serve.”
Wilson talked about his plan to address homelessness in a Monday interview on OPB’s “Think Out Loud.
“We are rapidly setting up shelters to care for those in need on the streets,” Wilson told OPB.
Bybee Lakes currently runs 175 shelter beds. Last week, Multnomah County said it was “in talks” with Bybee Lakes to fund 100 additional beds, to make up for plans to shutter a current shelter in downtown Portland. Wilson said his plan is unrelated to the county’s proposal.
The city’s new shelter beds will open in a number of weeks, Wilson said.
Bybee Lakes, which occupies a former county jail facility, has a complicated history with local government. Despite public pressure, Multnomah County declined to turn its never-used jail into a homeless shelter in 2017, instead selling it to a real estate developer. At the time, county leaders said the institutional space wasn’t appropriate for vulnerable tenants. By 2020, Oregon nonprofit Helping Hands rented the property and converted it into a homeless shelter.
The county and city, which help fund shelters, were initially hesitant to support Bybee Lakes, largely because of its “high-barrier” model, meaning people must be sober to get a bed, take classes on how to manage money, and pay rent of about $250 a month.
Money began to flow when the pandemic exacerbated the region’s homelessness population. In 2021, the City of Portland gave Bybee Lakes $1 million and in 2023, Multnomah County gave Bybee Lakes $1.5 million.
