PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With fall just several days away, officials are renewing calls to open Wapato Jail as a temporary homeless shelter with social services.
Owner Jordan Schnitzer and Multnomah County Commissioner and Portland City Council candidate Loretta Smith have both advocated to use the jail as a shelter to help some of the 1,700 homeless in the city.
“Wapato is an opportunity, not an albatross,” Smith said. “This is something that we can use to help people who are unsheltered. 1,700 people are unsheltered on our streets. We can help them today. We could house 550-1,000 residents right here at Wapato.”
Multnomah County decided against using the empty North Portland jail for the homeless — saying it was too far from services and too expensive.
Smith’s opponent for city council, Jo Ann Hardesty, feels the same.
“While I respect private entities stepping up and trying to provide solutions, they should become partners in actually helping us get permanent affordable housing, not developing tent cities that are far away from services,” Hardesty said.
Wapato Jail was built in 2004 for $58 million and never housed a single inmate. Multnomah County sold the 525-bed facility to developer Marty Kehoe for $5 million. Schnitzer financed the purchase and took ownership.
Schnitzer previously told KOIN 6 News that he hopes the facility can help deal with Portland’s homeless problem.
“When you’re dealing with community issues like this — my view is you’ve got to dream first, then you’ve got to get practical,” he said. “This is a community problem. It’s not a government problem. It’s a neighbor-to-neighbor problem.”