More than four years after Daybreak closed, an interfaith group plans to reopen family shelters at various churches
National housing nonprofit Family Promise is partnering with local churches to open shelters in East Portland by March 2022, according to Beckie Lee, board chair of Family Promise of Metro East.
Family Promise hopes the new shelters will replace the gap left by their affiliated East Portland shelter Daybreak, which closed in 2017.
“The reason that we’re doing this is that there are a number of congregations that were involved (with Daybreak) that said, ‘Obviously there’s still families who need shelter and support, and we want to stay involved doing this.’ So, we were connected with Family Promise to basically restart that effort with just a little bit of a different model,” Lee said.
Family Promise currently has locations in 43 states across the nation and five locations in Oregon — Metro East will make six. The organization is secular but partners with interfaith congregations to utilize unused and available buildings to house families. Though the host locations are religious centers, families sheltered at Family Promise locations are not expected to participate in any faith activities, Lee said.
A major barrier to getting shelters started, according to Stacy Pollard, regional director of Family Promise, is a lack of interest from churches in prospective areas.
“In Portland, it was the opposite response,” Pollard said. “Churches said: ‘Our buildings are empty, and we want to serve our community. How can we help.’”
Pollard said Family Promise has partnered will “almost every faith tradition,” though the Portland locations are currently all Christian denominations. Family Promise of Metro East is set to have locations at Portland Community of Christ, Portland Mennonite Church, Central Christian Church, C3 Church, Ascension Catholic Church, Family Pentecostal Church of God, Tabor Heights United Methodist Church and Grant Park Church — with plans for five more locations.
Our buildings are empty, and we want to serve our community. How can we help.
“The way our shelter services will work is on a rotation model,” Lee said. “We have 13 host congregations, and families will stay at a congregation in the evening for one week and then rotate to the next.”
In addition to the 13 host locations, Lee said 26 churches are offering support through donations and volunteer time.
Pollard said Family Promise will provide each affiliated church with a 15-passenger van to transport families each week between shelters. Families with accessibility needs will be accommodated and certain locations will be service animal friendly. The families will also have access to a day center, though a location has not been selected yet.
“As a host congregation, we’ll provide the space, we’ll provide dinner, and we’ll provide breakfast and probably lunches for folks to take with them when they head out back to the day center in the morning, as well as, you know any activities that make sense for families,” Lee said, listing crafts and reading times as activity examples.
At the day center, families will be able to access case management and services to help them access stable housing, Lee said.
“That’ll be where we’ll have showers and laundry, where folks can get mail, where school buses will pick up kids,” she said.
Each church will house up to 14 people, Lee and Pollard said, and families will be accepted through an application process.
“Families will be kind of defined by the child family,” Lee said. “All families look different, right?”
As a family shelter, Lee said the locations will be drug and alcohol-free.
While Lee said Family Promise hoped to open the shelters by the end of 2021, the pandemic has challenged their opening goal.
“We’ve been pushing towards opening by the end of this year, but hopefully by March of next year,” she said. “The pandemic, it’s a little more challenging right now to both be in touch with congregations as some are open and some are not. Some are remote and some are in person. But our hope is March.”
In order to open by March 2022, Lee and Pollard said they need to organize five more host locations and gather more volunteers and support congregations.
“Homelessness only continues to be more of a challenge in our community,” Lee said. “We need more shelter and support for folks getting back into stable housing, for sure. We’re all concerned about homelessness, and not quite sure what to do to be part of the solution, and the thing I really love about (the) Family Promise model is that it puts assets that we have in our community — buildings, for example, that are empty at night, congregations with folks who want to serve — and puts those underutilized resources into action.”
Lee said people interested in learning more about Family Promise of Metro East, can visit Family Promise’s website at
www.familypromisemetroeast.org or reach out to Lee at beckie@familypromisemetroeast.org.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2021 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404.
