SAN DIEGO - The city of Portland, Oregon has been dealing with a large unhoused population since the late 1800s. According to Shelter Portland, Portland had the most homeless people per capita in the U.S. by the turn of the century. It remains a humanitarian crisis in the city to this day.
"They [unhoused people] are dying, they are experiencing violence at disproportionate levels compared to housed folks," said Laudi Porter, Community Engagement Coordinator at Portland City Shelter Services.
In recent years, Portland has developed a successful blueprint to serve the needs of its unhoused residents through a community-based tiny home shelter model.
According to Porter, the idea for Portland’s tiny home shelters can be traced back to the city’s longest running village-style shelter called Dignity Village. The city then used the model to establish emergency shelters to keep the unhoused community safe during the pandemic.
“It empowered us to go out and create these shelters,” Porter said.
The scene at Dignity Village. Photo from dignityvillage.org.
Once the model was established, city officials passed the Streets to Stability Ordinance in June 2021. This ordinance provided a guide for permitting emergency outdoor shelters. It included dimensions, safety considerations and what type of land to look for.
According to the City Shelter Services program overview, the tiny home villages function under a partnership between the Shelter Services team, Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services, shelter operators and neighborhood associations.
There are a total of 10 sites within the Shelter Services program which primarily consist of tiny home shelter villages, but also include Portland’s first RV Safe Park and a combination site with RVs and tiny homes. Each location provides case management, behavioral and mental health services, laundry, toilet and shower facilities and housing navigation.
The style of individual units varies at the different sites, but they all come equipped with heating, AC and electricity.
Originally, the first sites were intended to have a maximum of 60 units, but the success of the model has led to several sites now containing over 100 units.
Data collected by the city of Portland shows that the tiny home villages are making a dent in the unhoused crisis. Between July 1, 2022 and Sept. 30, 2024, 1,444 individuals exited all of the City Shelter Services sites after staying an average of 102 days. Of those individuals who exited, 35% moved on to permanent housing situations.
For comparison, data from the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness shows that 27% of clients from shelter and rapid re-housing programs exited to permanent housing.
The evidence of this model’s success in Portland demonstrates that it can also be effective in San Diego.
Porter said that one of the barriers in establishing this model was getting the initial buy-in from the communities in which the tiny home villages are located. Overcoming that barrier has been key in making the shelters work in Portland.
Portland City officials prioritized involvement from neighborhood associations and community members and established the Good Neighbor Commitments, a series of rules to increase the integration of shelters in the community, which includes a no-camping buffer zone around each village.
“Most of the neighborhoods with shelters, we try to meet with them monthly to hear what’s going on and how we can address those issues to continue that integration process and that acceptance process,” Porter said.
San Diego can increase its chances of making tiny home shelters successful by incorporating a community-first value system in the same way that Portland has.
Porter believes that helping the unhoused community isn’t a matter of choice, but a civic duty.
“We, as government systems, have an obligation to serve the most vulnerable in our society. A lot of folks are causing livability issues for others, but also primarily, they are experiencing a massive public health crisis by living outside,” she said.
Credits:
Story by Jeremy Burton. Dignity Village photo courtesy of the Dignity Village website. All other photos courtesy of Portland City Shelter Services Media Resources.