PORTLAND, Ore. — Inside North Portland’s former but never-used Wapato Jail lies a second chance for those living on the streets.
Alan Evans started Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers 23 years ago, which includes Bybee Lakes Hope Center, the North Portland emergency and transitional shelter. Evans is now looking to add 100 more beds on top of the current 175.
The additional beds are already built and in place — the money to run them is the missing piece.
Those additional beds would be able to help more people, like Mandi who just moved into Bybee Lakes three weeks ago with her boyfriend and support dog, Baby.
“We were on the streets sleeping in a tent that was getting destroyed by the rain and the weather,” Mandi said.
Those at Bybee Lakes looked at Multnomah County's Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS), the group managing taxpayer dollars meant to address the crisis and one that has previously faced criticism for underspending those dollars.
Bybee Lakes told KGW they needed about $800,000 to open the 100 beds. Their application was denied.
"We figured we were a perfect fit for this opportunity, and we already had some conversations beforehand, so we were really surprised when we didn’t get the expansion opportunity," Evans said.
Turns out, Bybee Lakes was one of 15 organizations applying for the same pot of money through a county soliciting process for new and expanding adult shelters. Dan Field, who runs JOHS, told KGW their budget constraints allowed them to pick three of the 15 organizations that applied and that this solicitation was one of several they do throughout the year.
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“We have a whole rubric that we evaluate. Costs, we got to be prudent ... We've got to stretch those dollars as best we can: the mix of services, the geographic location, the readiness to serve a specific population, so it's a complicated mix… This solicitation just wasn’t the right opportunity for that,” Field said of the 100 shelter beds at Bybee Lakes.
The Joint Office decided to divide $7.5 million to three shelters, including a motel, totaling 150 beds. They wouldn’t say which three shelters were awarded the funding but promised to announce it soon.
“We have a lot of providers who want to expand including Bybee Lakes. Some of them have existing beds like Bybee Lakes; others have sites that they want to acquire and build out, so we're constantly in discussions with organizations,” explained Field.
“We need the help. We can't get the help. We are the help. Why can't we be in that conversation?” asked Evans.
Field said he is proud of the partnership the Joint Office has with Bybee Lakes. He said over the past year-and-a-half, the Joint Office has given the organization some $5.5 million and that there will be future opportunities to pay for their additional 100 beds.
However, until that happens, they will remain unused.