City of Portland discusses plan to expand its Multnomah Safe Rest Village

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- As Portland continues to battle its homelessness crisis, one plan is in motion to get more people off the streets: expand one of the city's existing Safe Rest Villages.

The Multnomah Safe Rest Village opened in Spring 2022. Out of the ones that have opened across the city, it's the smallest with 28 beds. Now the city plans to expand it with input from the surrounding community.

During a listening session Wednesday evening, the room was divided as attendees considered what would make an expansion "successful." Some mentioned safety concerns, and others encouraged fellow neighbors to help however they can. 

With a dire need for shelter beds, affordable housing and other resources to meet the community's levels of demand, the city is in need of solutions. But this time, leaders heard from community members directly before any final decisions are made -- something they say didn't happen before.

"We know we had some hurt feelings in the past when this site was announced and there wasn't a lot of discussion of how it was going to be built," Safe Rest Villages program communications liaison Bryan Aptekar said.

One of the biggest concerns voiced by community members is the possibility of drugs and crime rising in nearby neighborhoods. In response, organizers say they have explicit guidelines for all who sign on to receive shelter there.

"We expect you to not use drugs or alcohol in the village. we expect you not to possess these things in the village," All Good Northwest executive director Andy Goebel said. All Good Northwest is the non-profit overseeing operations.

The city says an expansion will come with more staff to handle the increased number of folks receiving help. They're also looking at a physical expansion of the Multnomah Safe Rest Village's footprint that doesn't infringe further on nearby homes, but still provides the room needed for services.

"There's structures on the site, it's a footprint that's only so big," Aptekar said. "We want to make sure that we're not just, you know, sardining people in. We want to have community spaces. We want to have rooms for meeting with case managers and behavioral mental health folks, the sort of operations of the shelter."

An exact expansion size has not been decided as they take input and look at a new footprint. However, during the meeting, officials say they're looking at 60-100 total beds.