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The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a historic investment to own its first transitional housing property.
“Our residents recently prioritized homelessness as the number one issue they care about,” said Clackamas County Board Chair Tootie Smith. “We know that purchasing this property is the right thing to do to help residents living outside stabilize their lives and get into permanent housing.”
In a crucial step on the path to ending prolonged homelessness in the county, the Board approved purchasing the Quality Inn located at 9717 SE Sunnyside Road in Clackamas for $15.2 million. No county general funds are used for the purchase of the hotel.
Funding for the hotel purchase comes from an approximate $8.0 million award from the Oregon Community Foundation as part of Project Turnkey. The remaining amount is covered with a combination of state and Metro voter approved funds.
The hotel will provide approximately 100 rooms and a safe place free from violence and substance abuse for people to get the care they need, education and support to transition into permanent housing.
“The county pledges to be good neighbors. We are among the safest counties in this state because of the investments we make in public safety infrastructure,” said Smith. “We will bring those resources to the table for this project as well.”
The program will have 24/7 security, property management and crisis staff. Services will include case management, support finding and applying to permanent housing, physical and mental healthcare, substance use treatment, financial education, and healthy food.
After a 30-day escrow, a service provider will be selected and the site and services will be readied in March through June. The first residents will begin to move in from July through September.
The county will continue to hold frequent meetings with adjacent businesses and will create a Good Neighbor Agreement with them.