ARBOR LODGE shelter: Resources and FAQ

Updated May 3rd, 2022

Arbor Lodge is a 24/7 shelter that opened in November 2021 at a former Rite Aid (at 1952 N. Lombard) that was purchased by the Joint Office of Homeless Services in December 2020.

The referral number for access, or to coordinate community donations, is 503-793-9001. Referral information is also online.

(There is currently a waiting list to access the shelter)

Do Good Multnomah is operating the interim shelter, which has space for 70 people. That includes room for 12 neighbors in heated sleeping pods in the site’s parking lot.

The interim shelter is open now while the Joint Office continues to plan for a long-term, purpose-built shelter at this location. The long-term shelter will prioritize serving people referred from the surrounding community and North Portland.

The Joint Office has worked with a focus group of neighbors and community members to design renovation plans for the high-quality, professionally designed long-term shelter.

The Arbor Lodge site was purchased in December 2020 using federal COVID-19 response funding. The initial plan was to use it in the winter of 2020-21 for COVID-compliant emergency shelter on specific nights when the community was experiencing severe winter weather. 

The facility offered that life-saving service during severe snow, cold and ice in February 2021. Then, during record heatwaves this summer, it was used as a 24-hour cooling space. The site has also been used as a Multnomah County COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

Construction on a long-term shelter will start in 2022, with funding support from the State of Oregon and the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure. Those funding sources are also supporting the interim shelter open now. As of May 2022, a Good Neighbor Agreement is being negotiated with stakeholders.

The long-term shelter will offer health and housing services. It will be available through reservations only, and open all day, meaning there won’t be lines to get in or large groups of people leaving. Guests can keep their beds as long as needed. It will offer laundry access, storage, restrooms, a kitchen, offices, parking, and indoor and outdoor common spaces. And the long-term shelter will prioritize people who are unsheltered in the North Portland area. The long-term site shelter will also accommodate sleeping pods, but they will not be the same sleeping pods used as part of the interim shelter.

The Joint Office has a record of opening quality shelters in community, near amenities like transit and libraries. These shelters enjoy positive relationships with neighbors, many of whom donate and volunteer.

This page provides interested community members some basic information about the Arbor Lodge site as well as a way to learn more about the developing programming around the site and to stay connected around opportunities to volunteer and support participants.

We believe that just because someone loses their housing, they shouldn’t have to lose their community, too. 

OUTREACH: FLIER SHARED WITH IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORS AHEAD OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITY MEETING ON SHELTER UPDATES (SEPTEMBER 2021)

outreach: Postcard sent to neighbors of the ARBOR LODGE Shelter site (February 2021)

PRINT OR SHARE: Click here for a PDF version of the feb. 9, 2021, version of this FAQ

keep reading: Review an earlier version of the faq with additional context

Frequently asked questions (Updated May 2022)

What’s happening with the former Rite Aid pharmacy at N. Lombard/Denver Ave.?

• In December 2020, the Portland/Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services purchased the former pharmacy at 1952 N. Lombard as part of its shelter/housing plans.

• The Lombard shelter was initially used over the winter and summer of 2021 as emergency shelter on some of the most dangerously cold and hot days of the year. But it will be operated in two phases starting this fall:

  • Interim shelter: Starting in late November 2021, the site began to be used as a 24/7 winter shelter operated by Do Good Multnomah, funded by the Joint Office through Metro Supportive Housing Services dollars. There is room for 58 adults inside, plus up to 12 more people in sleeping pods outside, and the shelter is operating on a reservation-basis only. Using the interim shelter allows the building to help shelter people instead of staying empty while design work advances on the longer-term shelter.

  • Long-term shelter: Renovations will take place in 2022, after a design process that includes community perspectives. When it opens, the long-term transitional shelter will be reservation-based. It will operate 24/7 with services also provided by Do Good Multnomah, with funding from the Joint Office. The Joint Office will fund renovations with resources from the State of Oregon and the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure. The Joint Office will use Supportive Housing Services funds to pay for operations at the longer-term shelter.

• The long-term transitional shelter is expected to serve at least 80 adults, but that number will likely increase to roughly 100 to 120 people as design, demand for shelter and program considerations permit. Programming at the shelter will support participants as they transition from homelessness to housing. That capacity will include sleeping pods used on the property.

• The Joint Office and Do Good Multnomah have developed a mechanism for referring in unsheltered neighbors from the surrounding area, as well as convening a good neighbor agreement process.

Why did the County pursue this timeline for purchasing the building?

• The timing was determined by the urgent need for COVID-19-compliant space for severe weather shelter — and also by the use of CARES Act dollars. CARES Act funding needed to be allocated by the end of 2020.

• By going forward with the purchase, the Joint Office saw an opportunity to smartly leverage federal funding, instead of local dollars, for a quality shelter space that can serve the needs of the community not just during the pandemic, but for years to come.

• The building is also available for the Joint Office to quickly deploy Metro Supportive Housing Services funds to create additional shelter beds in the community. Those funds first became available to the Joint Office on July 1, 2021.

What does a long-term transitional shelter look like and how does it operate?

• Beds in both the interim and long-term shelter programs will be available through reservations and referrals only. Participants can keep their beds as long as needed. Walk-up services are not allowed.

• Both programs will offer access to health and housing navigation services on site, though this programming will be more robust once the longer-term shelter opens.

• The long-term shelter will offer laundry access, storage, restrooms, a kitchen, offices, parking, and indoor and outdoor common spaces. Participants will be able to bring their pets in both the interim and longer-term shelter programs. The winter shelter also offers amenities like restrooms, both inside and outside in trailers. Showers are also available in the trailers outside.

Why is this a good site for a long-term transitional shelter?

• North Portland has significant numbers of neighbors experiencing unsheltered homelessness — but insufficient access to shelter for those neighbors in need.

• This will be the first year-round congregate shelter for adults in the area, joining smaller or seasonal shelters already funded by the Joint Office, like the Kenton Women’s Village, St. Johns Village, Community of Hope and the former Charles Jordan Winter Shelter.

• The site is large enough to provide meaningful shelter space. We are in planning to renovate the site to provide space for amenities and services, including parking and private outdoor space.

• The site is close to amenities: transit, retail, libraries, affordable-housing opportunities, and educational, employment and social services. Service providers including Transition Projects, Catholic Charities of Oregon and Do Good Multnomah, beyond providing shelter, have opened, or are working to open or support, affordable housing in the area.

Will the long-term transitional shelter be an asset for the community?

• Yes. Shelter that focuses on housing and health services is a critical part of the Joint Office’s work preventing and ending homelessness. And like any business or program, they must be well-run to succeed, not just for their neighbors but for their participants.

• We hold our operators to high standards, and support them to ensure their success. We have not seen significant issues with crime or other concerns because of our shelters.

• The Joint Office has opened many similar shelters since 2016, from the Pearl District to Mill Park. Some sit on commercial strips. Some are next to residences, and near schools and parks.

• Those sites include smaller alternative sites like the successful Kenton Women’s Village and the upcoming St. Johns Village. They include a new paradigm for family shelter at the Family Village Campus in Lents and Lilac Meadows in Powellhurst-Gilbert.

  They include the public-private River District Navigation Center in the Pearl District and state-of-the-art facilities such as the Laurelwood Center on SE Foster Road and the Willamette Resource Center in Sellwood-Moreland.

• And they include the Wy’east Shelter in Mill Park where community members and local businesses even threw a barbecue party for shelter participants, bringing their families to celebrate alongside their new neighbors - and then formed a nonprofit to support unhoused neighbors (Cultivate Initiatives)

• After our shelters open, community members have come together to celebrate and support their new neighbors through activities, volunteering, and donations.

How can neighbors stay engaged and get involved as the shelter plan advances?

• We’re working with neighborhood and business groups in Arbor Lodge/Kenton through a focus group and are working with neighborhood leaders to share updates — and how to share about donation and volunteer opportunities.

• The Joint Office worked with Arbor Lodge and Kenton neighbors to host a community update meeting Sept. 9, 2021. Since that meeting, the Joint Office has been convening a focus group of neighbors to provide feedback on the design of the long-term shelter.

• We are currently working with stakeholders to create a good neighbor agreement.

• Please use the form provided on this page to submit your contact info if you’re interested in receiving any updates.

• You can also learn more about or volunteer with Joint Office-funded programs already operating in North Portland.

  • To learn more about community support for the St. Johns Village, check out the St. Johns Welcomes the Village Coalition at sjwv.org.

  • For the Kenton Women’s Village, go to facebook.com/kentonwomensvillage.

What is the best way to submit comments or complaints about camping/trash/drug use in the area near the shelter?

Arbor Lodge Shelter is home for some of our unhoused neighbors.  It offers a safe sanctuary for people who have experienced the trauma of living outside.  Shelter staff work to create a safe environment for our unhoused neighbors to recuperate and get on their feet.  

For this reason we ask that you submit complaints about the shelter through our shelter email address, rather than by visiting the shelter. If you have a specific complaint about an issue directly related to the Arbor Lodge shelter, please email [email protected].

Here is some more info from the Joint Office on Who to Call for What.

Arbor Lodge Shelter welcomes respectful visits from housed and unhoused neighbors. Arbor Lodge Shelter staff place a high priority on community partnership. 

Representatives from Do Good Multnomah attend monthly Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association meetings and monthly Kenton Neighborhood Association meetings. These meetings offer a great opportunity to get to know your neighbors and to bring concerns about and ideas for the shelter.

The Arbor Lodge Shelter provides the opportunity for staff, participants, and neighbors to collaborate to create a future of safety, trust, and belonging for neighbors of all housing status.

There are neighbors struggling with houselessness all over the city.  As part of Do Good Multnomah’s goal to act as community partners, shelter staff and participants discourage people from camping and leaving belongings near shelters. Shelter staff performs regular perimeter checks to monitor the site and take care of trash.  At times staff may miss something or get behind.  

If you have a specific complaint about an unsanctioned camp, you can submit a report on pdxreporter.org. If the complaint is specifically about trash that needs to be picked up, submit a report to Metro RID Patrol to have the trash cleaned up.