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The nonprofit that has operated the city of Portland’s tiny pod village in Multnomah Village since 2022 is being replaced.
Emails provided by Sunstone Way, previously called All Good Northwest, show that the city told the nonprofit earlier this week it had not been selected to continue running the 100-capacity pod village in Southwest Portland, after three years operating the shelter. (The pod shelters were erected by the city over the past three years and are called “safe rest villages.”)
Instead, city officials wrote to the nonprofit, the city will likely contract directly with Urban Alchemy to run the village.
“All of us here are very shocked and confused by this decision that the city has made through its new RFP process,” Devon Hoyt, a spokesman for Sunstone, wrote to WW. “We don’t have much information about why this decision was made and have not received any response when we’ve pressed for more info.”
Sunstone says 30 staffers currently work at its Multnomah Village shelter. The nonprofit operates two other safe rest villages for the city, one in Southwest Portland and another in Northeast.
Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit headquartered in San Fransisco, currently runs the city’s temporary alternative shelter sites, known as TASS, one in Southeast Portland and a second in North Portland. Those sites are a combination of platforms for tents and tiny housing pods—similar to the safe rest villages but larger.
Urban Alchemy has met with a chilly reception from local nonprofits that offer services to unhoused Portlanders since the city contracted with it for larger sites in 2022. Some of the dispute is territorial; some of it is a philosophical conflict over how strictly to police the behavior of unhoused people. Since its arrival, Urban Alchemy has also been the subject of allegations that its staffers dealt drugs to residents and engaged in sexual misconduct.
Another wrinkle in the matter: Sunstone is closely tied to county officials, while Urban Alchemy has tighter relations with City Hall.
Sunstone’s current contract to run the safe rest villages is actually with the Joint Office of Homeless Services, not the city directly. It’s been unclear for months whether the city or the county will take over operational control of the city’s shelters later this July. (It’s been a matter of active discussion behind the scenes between city and county leaders.)
Sunstone CEO Andy Goebel was informed that his nonprofit had won the contracts for the other two villages in an April 3 email from city staff.
When Goebel inquired about the Multnomah Village site, city staffer Marjie Sackett wrote April 4 that the city “intends to enter into negotiations with another organization, Urban Alchemy. For a site as large as MSRV, we want to ensure it is run in line with the vision of the Safe Rest Village program emphasizing a low-barrier, high-service model, utilizing the site and sleeping units to shelter as many individuals as possible.”
The city put out a request for proposals earlier this spring for all of its existing shelters. Goebel says it’s the first time Sunstone has had to reapply for the safe rest villages contract since his nonprofit first secured it in late 2021.
“While we’re focusing on existing shelter contracts first, we welcome your questions and input regarding overnight and day service planning,” Sackett wrote to Goebel. “We are simultaneously working to secure new locations for these new services.”
Goebel laid out his disappointment to Sackett in an April 7 email.
“It’s confusing to be approved to continue operating two of the three shelters we currently run—especially when the requirements outlined in the RFP are consistent across projects—while one of our most established and impactful programs is being handed off to another provider," Goebel wrote. “Can you help us understand the rationale behind this decision?”
Goebel wrote that the city’s pivot would result in Sunstone having to lay off 30 staffers. He noted, too, that the city has historically changed providers only “in cases involving egregious acts of malfeasance.”
“We believe our team has consistently operated MSRV in alignment with the vision and standards of the Safe Rest Village model—low-barrier, high-service, trauma-informed, and community-responsive," Goebel wrote. “Is there anything in our history at MSRV that gave the city a reason to remove us as the service provider? If there are concerns we are unaware of, we would like to address them directly.”
As has been closely reported this year, new Mayor Keith Wilson has an ambitious plan to open 2,000 new shelter beds in the coming months and years. He’s seeking $28 million in general fund dollars in the next budget cycle to do so—and is imploring state and local officials to help fund the project.
City spokesman Rob Layne tells WW that Mayor Wilson and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson agreed to delay the planned county takeover of all village operations, a shift that was initially supposed to take effect July 1.
“Multnomah Safe Rest Village is currently contracted by Multnomah County, but will soon be contracted by the City of Portland as of July 1, 2025,” Layne says. “This is due to the agreement between Mayor Wilson and Chair Vega Pederson to delay the transfer of the sites beyond the July 1, 2025, date. Thus, necessitating a contracting and procurement process.”