PORTLAND, Oregon — In a city where agony is second nature to many people living outside, one of the services they need most is now in jeopardy — overnight shelters like Bybee Lakes Hope Center in North Portland. That facility in particular boasts the state's largest homeless shelter and re-entry program.
“We would hate to have to close our doors in all of the communities we serve, because hundreds of people will become homeless,” said Alan Evans, founder of the homeless services nonprofit Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers.
Helping Hands operates 11 facilities in five counties, providing 430 shelter beds statewide per night. Bybee Lakes falls under the Helping Hands umbrella, with the organization reporting earlier this week that the facility has 175 beds in use and capacity for more than 300 residents.
Katherine Wheeler was once on the streets and told KGW that places like these are life-changing.
“Having a shelter, having a place to call home … just having a spot to be able to lay to rest and not have to stress that you're going to be out on the streets, beat up, raped or hurt,” Wheeler said.
But on Monday, Helping Hands stopped taking any new admissions to their shelters, citing a lack of funding.
“The money is going out faster than it's coming in, so we've had to make the call for the time being to halt services that we provide while we come up with a solution to our financial issues,” Evans said.
Meanwhile, Multnomah County is still debating how to spend $65 million unspent dollars intended for homeless services. Evans is asking for $5 million of that. They currently get nothing from the county. Without that infusion, Evans said that they could be forced to close their doors in three weeks.
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“That's what we're sitting (on). Our financial forecast shows that we go into the first week of September making our last payroll on September 9th,” Evans said.
It's an unexpected timeline that hijacks Portland’s homeless day centers, like Rose Haven and Greater Good Northwest, who often send people to overnight shelters like Bybee Lakes.
“We should not be shutting down any beds at this time,” said Eboni Brown of Greater Good Northwest.
“When there are less and less resources available, that impacts all of the nonprofits in our community and our houseless neighbors more than anything,” added Liz Starke, development director at Rose Haven.
Day centers like these two in downtown Portland said that Bybee Lakes Hope Center is one of the few shelters where they can typically get someone in immediately.
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“It's all hands on deck right now, obviously you see we're in a crisis we don't have a lot of spaces. The spaces that we do have available are valued, so to strip that away from the community without any alternative ... what are we going to do,” Brown said.
Multnomah County chair Jessica Vega Pederson told KGW that her team is working with Helping Hands and the governor's office to find a solution for the status of Bybee Lakes Hope Center. She said any investment they make will need to ensure the organization's long-term future.
“We're actually grateful for them listening," Evans said of Pederson and the county's response. "This is the closest we've been able to get since we've been in Multnomah County to feeling like we're being heard.”