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Portland commissioner ‘disappointed’ by stalled Safe Rest project amid negotiations

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Since Portland’s Safe Rest Village Program started in 2020, the city has built four of the shelter spaces as Multnomah County works to build more — after closing three shelters with thousands of people on the street.

The four villages scattered throughout the city serve 151 people, according to Commissioner Dan Ryan, who is in charge of the Safe Rest Village program. The commissioner says by the end of 2022, 151 people moved out of the villages — with half of the residents moving to permanent housing or treatment facilities after six months to one year.

“We needed an on-ramp for people who are chronically homeless, who haven’t had a lot of privacy and safety in their lives in the last two to five years and also to bring services to them for mental health, behavioral health case management,” Ryan explained.

“We’re building right now, and we have to continue to look at it like a continuum from people who are chronically homeless all the way to homeownership,” Ryan said. “One area that I noticed when I was elected in 2020 was, we didn’t have very good systems, very good on-ramps for people who are chronically homeless to being successful in sustained housing.”

In addition to receiving shelter and other services, Ryan says the Villages also offer a sense of community.

“It’s quite an isolated world out there when you’re homeless and you’re on your own and you’re just trying to survive every day. So, you go from, I would say, isolation to connection once you’re in a village. You get to build trust with the people in there, the providers.”

With four more shelters on the way, the city has also had to shut down some of the villages, Ryan said.

“We de-commissioned three of the temporary villages that went up down in Water Avenue in Old Town, quite frankly they were dangerous and weren’t getting any results,” Ryan said.

While some of the villages have closed, Ryan says they have faced other roadblocks including negotiations stalling the opening of the Sunderland RV Park.

In August 2022, according to Ryan, the county claimed it was in negotiation with the Salvation Army, which would run the park. Ryan said the county claimed it would have a contract ready by November 2022.

“Sometimes it just takes time when the county’s negotiating with the providers. No one gets more impatient with that than I do,” Ryan said. “I’m really disappointed that it’s been open and ready since November, yet we still don’t have people receiving those services.”