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Portland Commissioner Nick Fish has said it before, and he's saying it again: he doesn't want a homeless shelter at Terminal 1 near Northwest Portland's industrial waterfront.
Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees housing, announced yesterday to The Oregonian that in early August he'll be pushing forward with his plans for the Housing Bureau to lease the site from the Bureau of Environmental Services, which currently owns the site.
The site has been suggested as a location for a $100 million homeless campus proposed by developer Homer Williams, which could shelter as many as 1,400 homeless people
Fish, who oversees the Bureau of Environmental Services, has been speaking against turning the vacant 15-acre industrial lot into a homeless shelter since June. He reiterated his concerns in a statement today.
"I do not believe a homeless shelter is an appropriate use for T1," wrote. "I am frankly shocked that any consideration would be given to concentrating vulnerable members of our community in an aging warehouse on the river."
Fish still plans to sell the property to the highest bidder.
"I continue to believe, based on the shortage of industrial land, the existing zoning, and the interests of our ratepayers, that we should use this property to promote family-wage jobs," Fish wrote in today's statement.
Willamette Week
