Oregon’s largest homeless shelter receives $1.5m in emergency funding to remain open

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Oregon’s largest homeless shelter was saved from shutting its doors Thursday.

In the 11th hour, Multnomah County commissioners provided some much-needed relief to Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers, which was prepared to close its Bybee Lakes Hope Center as soon as this weekend because of a lack of funding.

“We’ve been saying for quite some time now that we knew that we were going to financially make it until the 9th,” Founder and President, Alan Evans said.

See Also: Bybee Lakes shelter could close within days unless Multnomah Co. commissioners approve funding

However, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said she couldn’t let the county lose the services and 175 shelter beds the center provides.So, she and all other commissioners unanimously approved a $1.5 million emergency grant to keep their doors open through December 31.

“Our staff members for one, knowing they’ll continue having a job as well as the people we serve in that facility were excited and right now our staff is having an all staff meeting to just to be able to bring the news to the table to let everybody know they’re going to be okay,” Evans said.

Before then, Bybee Lakes will be required to report data on outcomes, have a third party evaluate their financial recovery plan and do check-ins with the county, which Evans hopes will solidify their partnership with Multnomah County in the future.

“The reason we’re in this situation is that trying to raise money when there’s taxes imposed on major donors and just us raising the money to provide these services in these communities is not a sustainable model,” Evans said. “So, we’re excited about the bigger conversations. How can our model of work that we do be utilized in these communities and what we’re going to find out in that third party evaluations and those check ins is that it cannot be done without a partnership with the county.”

Vega Pederson said she’s looking forward to working with Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers to secure more stable county funding into the new year and beyond.

See Also: Multnomah County directs millions in unspent supportive housing funds

“One of the paths I am very hopeful that they will take up is the joint office RFP process for some of the services and contracts we have so they can come into the fold of our provider network to continue to provide services for Multnomah county,” she said.

Evans said they had to stop taking people in a few weks ago, but once they receive money from the county they plan to reopen intakes.

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