— Photos by Diego Diaz —
City officials and business leaders on Monday, Aug. 26, unveiled the new River District Navigation Center, the latest of several homeless shelters opening this summer in Portland.
The center, on Naito Parkway under the west end of the Broadway Bridge, can accommodate up to 100 adults experiencing homelessness, including men, women and couples. It is a 24-hour facility and replaces an 80-bed, night-only shelter downtown. It began accepting clients Tuesday, Aug. 27.
The shelter is described a temporary, low-barrier shelter with intensive case management services to help people connect with health care services, employment opportunities, legal aid, and permanent, stable housing. In addition to the basics, such as bunk beds, lockers, laundry and showers, the center will provide meals, meeting rooms for case management services, and a courtyard for pets and bikes.
The center is not a drop-in facility. To stay there, people must have a referral through Transition Projects, the Portland-based nonprofit managing the center.
Billed as a public-private partnership, the navigation center’s origins are in the business community. Portland Developer Homer Williams founded Oregon Harbor of Hope, a nonprofit that collected more than $3 million in donations for such a project from Columbia Sportswear owner Tim Boyle and other contributors. The Joint Office pays Transition Projects $1 million to operate the shelter. The city retains ownership of the land, and the building is owned by Harbor of Hope.
Earlier in the month, Portland State University and Northwest Economic Research Center released a study that estimates 38,000 people experienced homelessness in the tri-county region in 2017.