PORTLAND, Ore. — The sounds of construction can be heard from inside a building off Southeast Sandy Boulevard. It’s a work in progress as Multnomah County has about two months to open what will soon be its deflection center, a place police officers will take people caught with possession of hard drugs like fentanyl if they choose treatment over jail time. That comes in September when possession of hard drugs will be a crime again in Oregon, but people will have the choice of recovery services over jail.
On Wednesday night, the Multnomah County Board of commissioners met with selected members of the Buckman neighborhood where the deflection center will be located.
“Really just looking for more specific information around their evidence-based model for deflection. That’s what the community went in hoping but didn’t really get out of this — we got more questions than answers,” said Jens Knudsen, the Buckman board co-chair.
Knudsen added that they did get a commitment from the county that there will be a limit on the number of times someone can choose treatment of jail time, but they don’t know what that is yet.
KGW is still waiting to hear back from a county spokesperson on whether that limit has been set.
“A lot of our residents are concerned that when people are brought in, they will not leave; they will set up camps right next to the preschool a couple of blocks away (and) over time migrate to living on the streets near Buckman Elementary School,” Knudson said.
“There’s a lot of concerns around where people will stay once they’ve been dropped off and what type of trauma they’ll be experiencing,” Knudson added.
County chair Jessica Vega Pederson told KGW in a statement, “We know connecting people with treatment first, before jail, will mean more people struggling with addiction are likely to recover, heal, and thrive…We’re committed to establishing a good neighbor advisory committee to create shared expectations, communication protocols, and a Good Neighbor Agreement. We’re also committed to staying in active conversation with local neighbors and business-owners and to continually assess our progress and make improvements.”
Multnomah County’s health department created a list of requirements the county had to follow when finding a facility for the deflection program. They included making sure the location was centrally located; larger than 10,000 square feet with primary service access on the ground floor; two entrances; and functioning heating, cooling and fire suppression systems.
Chair Vega Pederson said the location off Southeast Sandy Boulevard fulfilled those criteria, and the center is set to open come September.