Skip to main content
The lender to Rockwood Tower, a shelter for homeless families that Multnomah County dumped as a contractor over accounting issues, foreclosed on the property earlier this year.
In a complaint filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Jan. 12, WaFD Bank alleges that East County Housing LLC, the entity that owns the 65-room shelter, is in default on a $2.37 million loan, a $1 million line of credit, and a corporate credit card with a balance of $108,251.87.
“Borrowers are in a well-publicized dispute with Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services, their primary revenue source, regarding alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of funds,” WaFD’s complaint says. “Multnomah County terminated its contract with borrowers on or about June 30, 2025, creating `financial strain’ for the borrowers and their operation.“
East County Housing and an affiliate, Community Development Corporation of Oregon, stopped paying the credit card bill in August and interest on the loan in September, WaFD’s complaint says. The bank asked the court to appoint a receiver—a neutral third party that manages distressed buildings during litigation—for Rockwood Tower. The request was granted on Feb. 20.
(The Community Development Corporation of Oregon, or CDCO, does business as Rockwood CDC. Seattle-based WaFD was until recently known as Washington Federal Bank.)
East County Housing and CDCO were founded by Brad Ketch, a former technology executive whose penny-stock startup ceased operation in 2008.
After a short stint abroad, Ketch and his family returned to Gresham and set up a network of nonprofit organizations aimed at alleviating poverty in the Rockwood neighborhood. In a book he wrote about his work, Ketch called Rockwood “my Calcutta” because, like poor neighborhoods in the Indian megalopolis, it sits near to wealthy Portland but reaps none of the benefits.
Ketch, 63, vaulted into the social-service big leagues in 2021, when he won a $6.8 million grant to purchase a run-down Best Western hotel on 181st Avenue and turn it into a family shelter.
The cash came from Project Turnkey, a $125 million pot of state money allocated to purchasing hotels and turning them into shelters for people forced out of their homes by fires and pandemic-related poverty. The state called on the Oregon Community Foundation, a highly respected grantor, to distribute the funds, betting OCF could do it quickly.
East County Housing began using Rockwood Tower as collateral for WaFD loans in January 2025, when it took the $2.37 million loan and the $1 million line of credit, WaFD’s complaint says. East County and CDCO got the credit card, with a $100,000 limit, a month later.
Ketch didn’t return an email, text and phone message seeking comment.
OCF made the grant despite accounting issues in Ketch’s past. Mary Edemeades, board chair at CDCO, resigned in 2017 after Ketch failed to produce financial statements she had requested, according to emails previously reported by WW.
OCF has denied WW access to the application that Ketch submitted to win the money, arguing that as a private organization, it isn’t subject to public records laws, even though the money came from Oregon taxpayers. The Oregon Department of Justice ruled in OCF’s favor last month.
One of the public requirements for Project Turnkey grants is that properties purchased with the money must always be used as housing.
“Contracts and deed restrictions specified that the properties must be permanently used as housing assets or else would be divested, with proceeds returning to the state,” according to a 2021 Project Turnkey report to the Oregon Legislature.
Asked about the foreclosure, OCF spokesman Colin Fogarty directed WW to the 2021 report.
JFP Partners, the receiver managing Rockwood Tower, didn’t immediately return a message sent after hours through its corporate website seeking comment on whether the building would continue to house homeless families.
Multnomah County stopped paying for families to live in Rockwood Tower in July. The city of Gresham still rents rooms for families there, spokesman Nate Jones said in an email.
Before joining the social service world, Ketch ran Rim Semiconductor, a company that aimed to speed data along copper wires with specialized computer chips before faster technologies arrived. Rim raised millions from investors and closed in 2008 without selling any products. Its only revenue came from producing Step Into Liquid, a surfing documentary that showed people riding waves in the Great Lakes, among other oddities.
