Portland Provides a Small Number of Storage Lockers to the Homeless

The City of Portland and the Portland Business Alliance have announced that they are working together to provide storage lockers to Portland’s homeless community. While many efforts to solve the problem of homelessness have focused on providing homeless shelters, in recent years a few policymakers have been turning to storage as a possible bandaid solution. The homeless population in Portland numbers approximately 1,600, and many of Portland's homeless currently carry all their possessions with them at all times in grocery carts or on trailers.

Unfortunately, the new storage locker program, which will cost about $30,000 to implement, will only provide 40 storage lockers, at least for the next year or so. The 40 storage lockers will be available at Portland’s old Grove Hotel on W. Burnside Street.

“How could you ever do a job interview if you had to cart around all your possessions?” Nick Fish, the City of Portland’s Commissioner of Housing, asked a reporter from KGW.com. “Would you really sleep comfortably at night if you’re also keeping your eye on your clothing and your possessions?”

Actually, the new storage lockers will not help any homeless people to sleep better at night, since the lockers will not be available at night. People wanting to store their belongings will have to do so during the daytime. According to Daniel Ledezma, a policy adviser in Fish’s office, who was interviewed by Portland Mercury blogger Denis Theriault last week, the storage locker facility will open for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Homeless people can drop their possessions off in the morning and pick them up in the evening.

Next June, more than 80 additional storage lockers will become available when Portland’s Resource Access Center opens. The Resource Access Center will provide, in addition to storage lockers, shelter for 90, supported housing and services for 130, and 125 jobs.

Honolulu is also currently considering a program, called Safe Zones, that would offer homeless people access to storage lockers, along with toilets and showers. However, Honolulu offered Safe Zones about 20 years ago, according to officials who were quoted by local news station KHON2. The Safe Zones didn’t work out well, officials said, because they tended to attract homeless people to congregate around them.

Sources used:

Baer, April. “New center will provide resources to Portland’s homeless.” OPB News. Nov. 20, 2009.

Davis, Matt. “Nick Fish: groundbreaker, lovetaker...” The Portland Mercury. Blogtown. Nov. 20, 2009. 

Heu, Olena. “Safe Zones considered but may not solve homeless problem.” KHON2. Aug. 30, 2010.

Hudson, Andy. “Shopping cart storage: housing organization to build storage lockers for the homeless.” Megaphone: Vancouver’s Street Paper. July 15, 2009.

Neves, Randy. “Homeless get storage lockers in Portland.” KGW.com. Sept. 3, 2010.

Theriault, Denis C. “Coming soon: place for homeless to safely stash their stuff.” The Portland Mercury. Blogtown. Sept. 2, 2010.