Multnomah County looks to empty office building in Northwest Portland for potential sobering center

PORTLAND, Ore. — Behind the tents, RVs and trash is pain. That’s seen under a Central Eastside overpass where homeless people go to buy heroin and others suffer withdrawals from fentanyl. 

“It’s dangerous; it’s really really, really powerful stuff,” said Cam, who was there to get more drugs earlier this week. He started smoking fentanyl two years ago and has been addicted to heroin for the last 50 years.

In Sept. 2023, Multnomah County commissioners voted to put $150,000 dollars toward “planning and designing” a 24-7 drop-off sobering center for people like the ones at that Central Eastside camp. 

Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards is leading the project. 

Her office released its initial plans this week, but she is waiting to talk with KGW until it’s approved. They still need to have meetings with other commissioners before it can get put on the agenda. 

The initial plans show the sobering center would have about 35 beds or “sleeping pods.” It would be a place where first responders and outreach teams can take people in crisis, regardless of if that person is willing to go or not. The goal is to free up jails and emergency rooms while getting people off the streets. 

The county has a list of potential locations. Sources tell KGW a large, empty office building at Northwest 17th Avenue and Thurman Street is among those being considered. A private developer owns it, and after it failed as an office building due to the current state of downtown, the owner decided to turn it into a mental health crisis center.

An average stay at the county's sobering center would be one to two days with the option of a third day if the person is willing. 

But that’s not long enough for people on fentanyl, Cam said.

“The mistake and assumption that five days, you’re clean ... that’s not true: you don’t kick in five days,” he said. 

The last time he “kicked” fentanyl, he was behind bars.  

“I was in jail last time nine days, I think, and I was just as sick day nine. I went right to the dope man when I got out; I was very sick,” Cam recalled.  

The sobering center staff would connect people with further treatment if available. 

The center would open in about one to two years, a timeline that Portlanders, like Nolan Nez, argue doesn’t match the need.

“Our leadership continues to talk about how they have all these plans — 30-day plan, 90-day plan, two-year wait on the sobering center — none of that is impacting anything that is happening on our streets right now … We don’t have two years; these streets don’t have two years,” said Nez, who lives in the Central Eastside. "This is a clear and present issue on our streets right now."

That two-year timeline is one the county is calling “aggressive,” and there is a potential it could take even longer. The county hopes to get things started next month, and the center is expected to cost $14.5 million to run each year.