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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has rejected the city of Portland’s application for a change of use on a 4-acre Multnomah Village property known as the Jerome F. Sears Army Reserve Center.
The decision casts a pall over the Multnomah Safe Rest Village, a temporary alternative shelter site, which opened in June. Despite the setback, however, city officials say the village will continue to operate.
The feds gave the property to the city of Portland more than a decade ago after it was no longer needed as an armory. The city hoped to use the site for a westside emergency management center, but that project never happened. More recently, officials decided to use it as the Multnomah Safe Rest Village, which provides temporary shelter.
Some Multnomah Village residents oppose the facility, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency previously rejected a city application for changing the intended use of the property from emergency management, which was included as a deed restriction as the intended use of the property when the feds turned it over to the city.
On Dec. 1, HHS rejected a city application to have the property designated for public health use.
“HHS can only consider a public benefit change in use with the 30-year regulatory period. According to the Applicant, the proposed Multnomah Safe Rest Village program is only anticipated to continue through March 2025, coinciding with the current State of Housing Emergency. The Applicant failed to provide any assurance or commitment that the proposed program would continue for 30 years or propose another public health program to be implemented following the closure of the Safe Rest Village,” HHS wrote. “For these reasons, the application submitted by the City of Portland is hereby disapproved.”
Carrie Belding, a spokeswoman for the city of Portland, says it will continue operating the village and is working with the feds to find a way to satisfy their concerns.
“There are no impacts to the current operations of the Multnomah Safe Rest Village at this time,” Belding says. “The city remains committed to providing this temporary alternative shelter and particularly as winter weather is upon us.”
The General Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees federal real estate holdings, has offered three potential avenues to addressing deed restrictions on the property, Belding adds.
“We are carefully considering the options presented and have a deadline of Jan. 10, 2023, to respond, with plans to bring the site into compliance and continuing operations at the Multnomah Safe Rest Village.”