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Late last month, WW reported that two homeless shelters funded by the city Portland would close after the nonprofit contracted to run them shuttered amid allegations of fiscal mismanagement.
In a WARN notice posted publicly this week, that nonprofit, Sunstone Way, indicated the scale of the impact for its own staff: By the end of June, all 175 of them would lose their jobs.
In the notice, Sunstone Way HR said it had “anticipated the city of Portland would continue operating the shelters that Sunstone Way currently operates.”
Instead, it said, it had just received notice from the city to the contrary. The 96-bed Centennial shelter that Sunstone Way had operated was now expected to close by April 30. A 38-unit pod shelter complex on Northeast Weidler Street in the Lloyd District would close altogether.
Meanwhile, the letter added, Sunstone Way’s Naito shelter would, after June 30, continue to operate with new management.
The resulting layoffs encompass a range of vocations. According to the notice filed with the state, workers losing their jobs include a mix of full-time, part-time and on-call shelter staff as well as case managers, office workers, and 41 people in management.
Sunstone Way’s troubles date back years, WW has reported, and the nonprofit had been losing shelter contracts lately with both the city and Multnomah County. But its problems escalated rapidly in the period before it said it would shutter entirely.
In February, a lawsuit filed by Kate Fulton, Sunstone’s former finance director, alleged that management overspent on office space, staff retreats to Bend, and overpriced contracts with nonprofits that had connections to Sunstone Way’s top leaders. In the lawsuit, first surfaced by WW, she alleged that after she brought these concerns to the organization, leadership retaliated against her.
In a subsequent court response, Sunstone Way denied many of her claims, including those of financial mismanagement and of retaliation.
In recent weeks, the nonprofit said it would close by July 1—blaming reduced government funding and rising costs.
The news of the layoffs is “not terribly surprising,” Misha Litvak, a program manager and union president, tells WW. Still, he adds, the timing is rough. With government funding cuts, it’s become more difficult to get a job in homeless services, he says.
There were once a good deal of well-paid union jobs in that realm, he said. “Now that bottom has kind of fallen out.”
