An existing day center in Northeast Portland near the border of the Montavilla and Rose City Park neighborhoods is now offering expanded hours and weekend service with help from the city.
A key part of Mayor Keith Wilson’s homelessness strategy has been to open day centers that provide a full range of services for people who are spending nights in the city’s new overnight-only shelters. Wilson has opened 630 of 1,500 promised new shelter beds since he took office in January. This will be the second of four planned day centers.
The mayor’s original day center plan called for a new center in each quadrant of the city. After failing to secure $11 million in expected state funding, city officials announced this week that they would save money by using outdoor locations in some cases and to count expanding hours at existing centers run by nonprofits in others.
The Northeast Portland day center on 1435 Northeast 81st Avenue is run by JOIN, a homeless services nonprofit. The space offers “employment, housing assessment and navigation, service navigation for health care and substance use needs, connections to partner organizations, support in obtaining vital documents and access to a stable mailing address,” according to a statement by the city.
Given the mayor’s plans to once again cite people under the city’s camping ban starting on Nov. 1, the new day centers may soon become more sought after.
As of this week, the center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Starting Oct. 4, the center will also be open on weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The new schedule will add 36 hours of open time for the center, which was previously open four days a week for four hours a day.
“We know that having a safe place to go during the day is just as important as shelter at night,” Monta Knudson, executive director of JOIN, said in a statement Tuesday. “With this expanded schedule, made possible through our partnership with the city of Portland, we are better able to meet people where they are and help them move toward stability.”