Some homeless women who were staying at the East Portland Community Center have been moved to a motel in Southeast Portland near Mall 205 as part of a plan to empty facilities temporarily loaned for use as shelters.
Roughly 300 people are staying in three Portland Parks & Recreation-owned community centers and the Metro-owned Oregon Convention Center. They were hastily moved there in March from more permanent shelters to allow residents to socially distance.
So far, only medically fragile women who are at the most risk of hospitalization or death from contracting COVID-19 are being moved into the Chestnut Tree Inn, which is closed to regular motel-goers. Officials from Multnomah County and Portland’s Joint Office of Homeless Services said they will continue to prioritize putting people at highest risk in individual motel rooms, so that they can recover as well as not infect others in mass shelters.
A Joint Office spokesman said that the transition from public spaces to motels is part of a strategy to get ahead of Multnomah County’s planned reopening this month.
The county already runs two motel-style shelters with medical staff on hand for people who have shown symptoms of COVID-19 or tested positive. Those will remain open in their current locations for the time being.
The parks bureau has not said whether the East Portland Community Center will be used for other purposes immediately. Gov. Kate Brown’s Phase 1 reopening rules do not list community centers as specifically eligible to reopen.
There is no set deadline yet for when everyone must be moved. No one will lose their spot in shelter, according to the Joint Office. However, some people being moved out of the community centers and Convention Center might end up in another mass shelter.
The shelters, along with other coronavirus-related outreach, supplies and meals, were costing the Joint Office of Homeless Services about $3.5 million a month in March. Officials have said over the last few months that some of that cost will likely be reimbursed by the federal government.
The Joint Office is paying $64 per night for 58 rooms at the Chestnut Tree Inn -- roughly $104,000 per month. The city has provided the community centers for free so far.
But some of the largest expenses appear to be on the horizon. City officials balked at the estimated price tag of nearly $50 million to house about 375 people in motels from now through June 2021 -- the strategy proposed by the Joint Office of Homeless Services.
That cost would be split between Portland and Multnomah County.
The Portland Housing Bureau has begun scoping out what it would cost to buy motels that are going under due to loss of business during the coronavirus shutdowns, a strategy that could cut the shelter operating costs in half. The city would later turn those motels into affordable housing and then potential redevelopment as standard affordable housing once COVID-19 is no longer a threat.
A statement from the Joint Office said that renting rooms at the Chestnut Tree is the first step in relocating people out of the publicly owned facilities but did not say where other people will go if the City Council does not approve more motels.
"I was proud that our community centers could provide space for physical distancing, and as this crisis lingers, we must continue to find clever and innovative strategies for keeping the most vulnerable people in our care safe from infection,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Public health authorities warn that while the rate of transmission has stayed low among the homeless community, there could be a surge when Multnomah County reopens later this month, if the state approves. So far, nine homeless people in Multnomah County have tested positive for COVID-19, out of more than 1,200 cases countywide.
Homeless people tend to be more at risk of contracting contagious diseases from housed people who are mingling with the homeless community, rather than from each other, according to Multnomah County Public Health Officer Jennifer Vines.
"As we move from preparing for disaster to now living with a pandemic, our commitment to protecting our unhoused neighbors must remain the same,” said Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury. “Our public health experts recommend self-isolation as a critical tool to help vulnerable people protect themselves, and that’s why adjusting our shelter strategy to include isolation options is so important.”
-- Molly Harbarger
mharbarger@oregonian.com | 503-294-5923 | @MollyHarbarger
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