By Madeleine Voth
On the corner of SE 82nd Ave. in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood, a cluster of newly installed small, standalone shelter units now sit behind new fencing and fresh landscaping, marking the latest addition to Multnomah County’s continuously evolving homelessness response.
Located at 1818 SE 82nd Ave., the Harrison Community Village houses rows of compact “lit pods” that stand ready for future residents to enjoy. Each unit is designed as a private, individual living space rather than the open-floor mats or large shared rooms that have long defined traditional homeless shelters. The village, operated by Do Good Multnomah in partnership with Multnomah County’s Homeless Services Department (HSD), is expected to begin accepting residents within the next month, closing out a process that has stretched over years of planning, design revisions and neighborhood engagement.
The 38-unit facility is described as a “purpose-built” shelter, meaning it was shaped by system planners as well as input from people with lived experience of homelessness and nearby residents. The result is a model that combines basic overnight sheltering with case management, shared kitchen space, hygiene facilities, pet relief areas and around-the-clock staffing.
The site is aimed at adults who are seeking, or willing to commit to, a substance-free environment but who may not meet the threshold for residential or inpatient treatment, as well as those who have already completed treatment and still need a stable bridge into housing. Designed as a recovery-oriented shelter, the program will offer onsite certified drug and alcohol counseling, housing placement services and connections to outpatient treatment providers, while residents participate in ongoing program requirements including drug testing and a curfew policy.
“There’s all of the necessary amenities to operate a 24/7 shelter,” said Zach Kearl, a management analyst with HSD. “So it’s not set up where, now that you have stayed here, you have to go elsewhere for case conferencing or services.”
The village is also designed to serve mixed-gender residents and allow a limited number of pets, a feature that helps remove one of the more common barriers to shelter entry. The individual pod model is meant to balance privacy and supervision while avoiding the density of large congregate spaces. The pods are expected to last 10 to 15 years, creating semi-permanent infrastructure for transitional intervention.
Still, the project is not without some friction. Nearby residents and school communities raised concerns about the concentration of homelessness services in Montavilla, questioning whether the area is absorbing a disproportionate share of the region’s shelter infrastructure, particularly given its proximity to Oak Street Village, another county owned pod-style site.
Additional concerns focused on safety and proximity to schools, including Harrison Park Middle School and Bridger Creative Science School, both of which are located within roughly half a mile of the site. These concerns were addressed through design changes and operational commitments, including 24-hour staffing, a landscape setback along SE Mill St. and additional fencing added in order to buffer noise and increase privacy. The county also committed to limiting further expansion of county-operated shelters in Montavilla beyond existing projects there.
While the village is intended to provide stability and a pathway into housing, Kearl emphasized that shelter alone cannot resolve the broader homelessness crisis. “Shelter is not an end to homelessness,” he said, noting that the proposed budget includes an additional $10 million for housing placements intended to help move people out of shelter more quickly and avoid extended stays caused by limited housing availability.
Funding for the Harrison Community Village reflects the layered structure of Portland’s homelessness response system, along with fractures in means of funding nationally. The county purchased the property in 2022 using American Rescue Plan Act funds, while ongoing operations are primarily supported through Metro’s Supportive Housing Services measure, a regional tax approved by voters in 2020 that funds both shelter and housing programs across Multnomah County and surrounding areas.
The village is expected to cost about $1.5 million annually to operate going forward, which covers staffing, food, utilities and case management, placing the per-person cost at roughly $107 per night.
Once inside, residents are expected to engage with staff and work toward housing stability, with most stays aiming to be for around 90 days. Kearl acknowledges, however, that such a timeline is shaped by external constraints rather than program design, so limited housing availability and long waitlists often extend stays beyond initial expectations.
“There can be any number of reasons where it takes longer than three months to reach stability to be able to pursue the independent experience of living and having ones own home,” Kearl said.
The site was purchased through a land banking initiative to advance the county’s housing and homelessness goals and is now well positioned to support the community’s broader effort to reduce unsheltered homelessness. While the property could potentially transition to permanent affordable housing in the future if funding and policy conditions align, the HSD website states that there are currently no plans for a different future use.
As SE 82nd Ave. continues to evolve through its own redevelopment plans, the Harrison Community Village has become part of a broader transformation already underway along the corridor, adding another layer to a stretch of roadway that has become central to the city’s responses on homelessness, public investment and urban change.
With the first residents set to arrive soon, the Harrison Community Village represents a new piece of the region’s homelessness response: one built around stability, privacy and connection to services as leaders continue searching for longer-term housing solutions.
Harrison Community Village units. Photo by Multnomah County.
