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Multnomah County’s sobering center won’t be a sobering center, at least for a while.
Until mid-2025, no one who arrives intoxicated at the sobering center—known more formally as the deflection center—will get sobering services or medications for opioid use disorder, according to a presentation to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners by county health department director Rachael Banks today.
Pressed by Commissioners Sharon Meieran and Julia Brim-Edwards for answers about what constitutes deflection and whether intoxicated people will be treated, Banks said the county will take a “phased approach.”
Facing public outcry, the Oregon Legislature in February passed House Bill 4002, recriminalizing hard drugs with the proviso that Oregon counties assemble programs that deflect people from jail if they get caught with small amounts. The Legislature also appropriated $25 million for Multnomah County to build a deflection center. Commissioners Meieran and Brim-Edwards understood it to be a place where police could bring intoxicated people to sober up.
“I’m curious who would end up there if it’s not people who are intoxicated,” Brim-Edwards said.
“That’s a great question,” said Alicia Temple, an adviser to County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson. “Sobering is intended to be included in Phase 2.”
Brim-Edwards has been working on a plan for a sobering center. She released her proposal for on in April, saying it would fill a gap left in 2019, when an old one closed amid concerns about safety for staff and patients. The plan presented today didn’t draw on that work, Brim-Edwards said.
“We just went through a six-month process where law enforcement pretty much said what they need is a 24/7 drop-off sobering center,” Brim Edwards said. “This plan doesn’t have that until 2026.”
County commissioners and the public learned late last month that Vega Pederson’s staff had negotiated a lease on a vacant building where the county will begin deflection by Sept. 1, as required by HB 4002. Phase 1 will include assessment, screening, connection to treatment services, and transportation, according Banks’ presentation. Phase 2 will begin in the second quarter of 2025 and will include sobering. A permanent center is scheduled to open in 2026.
The county revealed the budget for the center today. It’s paying rent of $144,000 for the first year and $264,000 in the second. Capital improvements on the 14,000-square-foot warehouse are expected to cost as much as $2 million, the county said. The building on Southeast Sandy Boulevard is an old Precision Images printing facility.
Naming is also underway. The county is working with people who have lived experience to “identify a name that says what it is we’re really trying to do, and is something people want to come to,” Banks said. “We will continue to have those conversations in the next number of weeks.”
Commissioners pressed Vega Pederson and her staff for answers about what constitutes successful deflection. Under HB 4002, people arrested with small amounts of drugs may choose deflection over entry into the criminal justice system. Questions remain about whether people can be compelled to fulfill treatment options.
“What are the responsibilities of somebody who chooses deflection over arrest?” Brim-Edwards asked. “If that question doesn’t get answered, the questions around security, around transportation, and where things are located are going to continue to swirl. The sense is that it will just be a free for all.”
Vega Pederson and her staff said that the process is “iterative.”
“We’re still having conversations about a to-be-determined engagement requirement,” Vega Pederson said. “The leadership team is working collaboratively to further define that engagement requirement by Sept. 1.”
Further work on the deflection center was deferred for the day because Banks had another engagement at 12:30 pm.
Plans for the deflection center are being worked out in closed-door meetings with Vega Pederson, District Attorney Mike Schmidt, his elected successor Nathan Vasquez, Portland Police Chief Bob Day, representatives from the Portland mayor’s office, and mental health experts.
“I just absolutely insist those meetings need to be public,” Brim-Edwards said. “It’s going to go into a private meeting, and then something is going to pop out. It’s not going to satisfy the accountability for the county to provide legitimate deflection and services, not only to the individuals who are suffering from addiction but also to the broader community.”
The deflection center became a hot topic in June after The Oregonian reported that people choosing deflection would not be required to undergo drug screening or take part in treatment. Earlier this month, a county spokesperson told WW the plan had changed and that screening and referral to treatment would be required.
The center has become an election campaign issue, too. Vadim Mozyrsky, an administrative law judge who is running for county commissioner, watched today’s meeting and said the county was dawdling.
“The public and the Legislature wanted a place for people to sober up,” Mozyrsky said. “Instead, what were seeing is a place for people to voluntarily go if they are already sober.”
Also today, county commissioners approved the new intergovernmental agreement with the city that will govern how they operate the Joint Office of Homeless Services.
The agreement had gone back and forth between the two. It passed by a vote of 4–1. Commissioner Meieran voted no after proposing an amendment that would have enshrined accountability metrics, already in city code, into the agreement itself. Her amendment failed 3–2.