PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — County officials have advanced plans to open a new homeless shelter in Gresham.
With a unanimous vote on Thursday, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners approved a lease agreement for a motel on 24124 S.E. Stark St. The property will serve unsheltered families, offering 53 units when it opens this fall or winter.
“Motels are a trauma-informed shelter option, especially for families,” Homeless Services Department Interim Director Anna Plumb said. “A parent who’s had to work all day can get a good night’s sleep so they’re well-rested when they go back to work the next day. If a child is sick, they have a bed to sleep in and recover… That private, comfortable and safe space can make a world of difference for a family going through a period of instability.”
The shelter will cost about $1.26 million in its first year of operations.
The county previously proposed Cook Plaza, located on 19421 S.E. Stark St., as the site for the new shelter. The plaza previously held an Oregon unemployment office, but officials purchased it in September 2024 with the plan of utilizing it as a “village-style shelter.”
County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Commissioner Vince Jones-Dixon issued a 90-day pause on plans to remodel the space earlier this summer. Gresham Councilor Cathy Keathley had expressed issues with the proposal, noting that the city already has several other shelters and other East Multnomah County communities could benefit from a new site.
But according to the recent announcement, East County families are in need of a shelter after the Homeless Services Department terminated its contract with another family shelter operator.
The county also cited 211info, which found that 20% of people who were on the family shelter waitlist in Fiscal Year 2023 requested a Gresham shelter. Data also show that 42.9% of the homeless families who contacted 211info from April 2024 to March 2025 were registered to ZIP codes that overlapped Gresham and other East County cities.
Jashayla Pettigrew
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