HILLSBORO, Ore. — Washington County is preparing to open its second safe rest pod village in Hillsboro off Southwest 17th Avenue — a location where the unhoused community resides, according to the non-profit Open Door Housingworks (ODH), which will run the village.
“People are camping along Dairy Creek and other areas around the railroad tracks,” said Jeremy Toevs, executive director at OPH, “so we want to provide services where people tend to want to be.”
The site has a total of 30 pallet homes available, and 10 will be used for couples. That means 40 people will be able to stay here at full capacity.
Like many Safe Rest Pods and Villages in Portland, ODH will use a referral program with Community Connect — that way they’ll bring people into the village who are ready to take the next step.
“While they are here, we are caring for them and helping them get access to permanent, supportive housing or affordable housing — and that's just the beginning steps of so many great things for them," said Toevs.
Every pallet shelter at the site in Hillsboro will have air conditioners and heating to keep up with the climate year-round.
“To be this winter to have additional shelter capacity is exactly what we need to see,” said Gov. Tina Kotek.
The ODH village was funded by Gov. Kotek’s executive emergency declaration around homelessness. She added that community partnerships make a concept come alive, all with the hope of getting people off the streets.
“The ultimate goal is to get people into housing,” said Gov. Kotek. “But this is that first step — from the streets to transitional shelter to getting into housing. And we need to build more housing.”
Washington County officials tell KGW this pod village will be open year-round. ODH said they are working on a permanent shelter site at that location, so until then, they will keep these pallet shelter homes readily available.
“Understand that we have a crisis, and we can’t just ignore it,” said Toevs. "We have to provide bold and brave solutions to make sure that we’re addressing that.”
The site will officially open for people on Monday, Dec. 11. They're expecting to see between five to ten people move in next week.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that safe-rest villages in Portland don't have heating and air conditioning.