4 overnight-only homeless shelters are set to open soon in these Portland neighborhoods

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has made opening more overnight shelters a key part of

his plan to end unsheltered homelessness

. At the same time, private nonprofits are also working to add new overnight shelter beds.

Since taking office, Wilson has

opened 200 new overnight shelter beds

at facilities in Northwest and North Portland operated by the Salvation Army. His proposed budget, which the City Council will vote on next week, outlines plans to add 1,500 more beds and several new day centers

at a cost of nearly $25 million

in the coming fiscal year. Those beds are dependent on outside money coming in and the mayor’s budget passing next week, according to city spokesperson Laura Rude.

City officials have plans to add 180 of those beds soon. They’ll be spread between

two new sites

– one in downtown at the old St. Stephen’s Church and one in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, east of Interstate 205 at the Church of the Nazarene. Both are set to open this summer, regardless of what happens with local budgets next week, Rude said.

“We are confident that there will be sufficient funding for these given that the mayor has secured a significant amount of outside funding for the overnight shelter plan,” Rude wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

50 minutes in the cold: Waiting for a bed at Portland’s newest overnight women’s shelter

Two overnight shelters with a combined 200 beds opened in Portland this week. The city and county fund the shelters run by the Salvation Army.

In addition,

City Team

, a religiously affiliated nonprofit, will soon move its men’s shelter from the Central Eastside to a new facility in Old Town that will significantly expand its current capacity. And Blanchet House, which runs a nonprofit soup kitchen and two residential recovery programs, also has plans to open a new shelter on the edge of the Pearl District. Neither of these new shelters are dependent on public funding.

Some neighbors reacted angrily over the weekend to news of the Blanchet House shelter plan. A

petition to stop the shelter on Change.org

had 32 signatures as of Thursday morning. The petition states that while signers support “humane and holistic” solutions, they are skeptical that the new shelter operators and city officials will be able to control the “halo effects” of offering services to a large number of homeless people.

“Our community is made up of professionals who are deeply engaged in the economic development and advancement of the NW neighborhood, and who generate significant tax revenue for the city of Portland without any perceivable return in the form of responsive services to ensure basic safety,” reads the petition.

Scott Kerman, Blanchet House’s executive director, acknowledged those concerns.

“Neighbors have well-earned skepticism,” Kerman told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “They don’t know us. So it’s a lot to say ‘Trust us.’ We have to prove that, we have to earn that.”

A community engagement meeting held last weekend was the first step in that process, Kerman said. He hopes to incorporate what he hears from neighbors into his organization’s plans for the new shelter. And he noted that no neighborhood is a monolith and he’d also received calls of support.

Many on the City Council, especially Eric Zimmerman, who represents the westside, have spoken about the importance of good neighbor agreements when new shelters open. Wilson has publicly committed to

working with neighbors

ahead of any new shelter openings.

Here’s what we know about each new overnight shelter:

Bethanie’s Room

Location: 1015 Northwest 17th Avenue (between Lovejoy and Marshall)

Capacity: 75 beds

Clientele: Women only

Operated by: Blanchet House (private funding)

Planned opening: Summer 2025

Blanchet House first announced its intention to open a women’s overnight shelter in December. The organization recently settled on a property in Northwest where they are now in a purchase agreement with the intent to buy the property and open a shelter there this fall.

Kerman said that while shelter alone won’t solve homelessness, women living outside need more safe places to sleep.

“Women come to us for breakfast at 6:30 in the morning and we can see and hear from them the violence that they’ve been subjected to in the night,” he said. “So, first and foremost, let’s help people from getting victimized (or) killed, in the night.”

While women account for just over a third of people living outside, 57% of unsheltered women have been attacked or assaulted while homeless, compared to 48% of men, according to a 2023 report by the

Minnesota Homeless Study

.

Bethanie’s Room

is named after a homeless Portland woman who was a frequent guest at Blanchet House and who lost her life in 2024 while living outside. Her family remembers her as a musician, artist and singer, according to Blanchet House’s website.

City Team

Location: 219 Northwest 4th Avenue (between Everett and Davis)

Capacity: 30 overnight beds; 80 longer term beds for people in recovery

Clientele: Men only

Operated by: City Team (private funding)

Planned opening: Fall 2025

City Team offers a 12-step recovery program with transitional housing as well as overnight shelter for men, alongside additional services for women and children and other people struggling with homelessness.

Its new facility is meant to open this fall in Old Town and will also be a temporary home for people engaged in the recovery program and job training opportunities there.

Church of the Nazarene

Location: 9715 Southeast Powell Boulevard (at the junction of I-205 and U.S. 26)

Capacity: 100 beds

Clientele: Co-ed

Operated by: Agape Village (city funding)

Planned opening: Summer 2025

The Church of the Nazarene is a Protestant church that has previously hosted a seasonal overnight shelter and has worked with Shelter Portland, the nonprofit Wilson founded.

Agape Village

is a homeless services nonprofit that springs from homeless services work the church began in 2016. Agape also runs a clean and sober transitional housing program.

Operation Nightwatch at St. Stephen’s

Location: 1432 Southwest 13th Avenue (between Columbia and Clay)

Capacity: 80 beds

Clientele: Co-ed

Operated by: Agape Village (city funding)

Planned opening: Summer 2025

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish was built in 1863, one of the city’s early churches. In January, the Episcopal Diocese sold the property to

Operation Nightwatch

, a homeless services nonprofit that had long based its operations out of the church.

Operation Nightwatch will retain ownership of the building and Agape Village will operate the shelter.

Correction: This story has been updated to clarify

the ways the city plans to work with neighbors

living near a new overnight shelter.

Lillian Mongeau Hughes covers homelessness and mental health for The Oregonian. Email her with tips or questions at


lmhughes@oregonian.com


. Or follow her on Bluesky

@lmonghughes.bsky.social

or X at


@lrmongeau


.

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