On Nov. 24, tents gave way to more stable, if still temporary, housing in the city-sanctioned C3PO camps for people experiencing homelessness.
The camps were created as part of the city’s pandemic response to keep people experiencing homelessness safe and socially distant. Until recently, they’ve been filled entirely with individual tents positioned on wood pallets.
Now, single-person, insulated pods are being built by Pallet, a Washington-based company that has built pods for houseless communities across the country. Each 64-square-foot pod includes a heating unit, two electrical plugs, lighting, a lockable door, four windows, a fire exit and insulation. The pods are built to last for 10 years, are easy to clean and intended to be reused. Forty pods have been allocated for the C3PO Old Town village, and 60 for the two villages in Southeast.
Each pod costs $5,600 with electricity. The pods are paid for through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) and the Joint Office of Homeless Services, with a budget earmarked specifically for weatherization with additional funding from the city.
The pod installations come in the wake of a major camp sweep near Laurelhurst Park, which drew protests from homeless rights activists.
STREET ROOTS NEWS: After painful sweep of Laurelhurst Park, unhoused residents want a space to exist
Pods will not be provided for those campers, however. Zach Kearl, policy adviser to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office, said the unit price is too costly to maintain for “unsanctioned sites” and these pods would not be allocated for houseless communities outside the C3PO villages.
“I think they’re awesome. It’s really good what Portland and Oregon (are doing),” said Brian Hall. Hall used to live outside the Old Town C3PO camp and was eventually given a spot inside. He works as a lead in C3PO village and has found a lot of support during a big transition. He moved to Portland earlier in the summer and was working for Amazon and living in hotels until it got too expensive.
“When you have support like this, it really makes a difference,” said Hall, who has been working as a lead at his C3PO village for four months. “It’s just a step in life, not forever.”
In addition to being a camp resident, Bob Brimmer is the president of Cascadia Clusters, the organization building the platforms to support the pods.
Brimmer used to camp outside City Hall and began building in 2015 through Tivnu, the Jewish gap-year program. “Shelter is a thing you need to live,” Brimmer said.
“Once you get wet here, you never get dry again. The villages have provided things like hot showers and laundry — things you take for granted,“ said Dave “Red” Dotson, an onsite leader who runs the kitchen at the Old Town camp. Dotson is a chef by trade but was clipped by a car in 2015 and is now unable to stand for more than eight hours. Once he was unable to work, he started staying on friends’ couches until eventually pitching a tent. Dotson is excited for the security and safety the pods will bring to the community. “(It’s) a place to call your home, keep your stuff safe, with a locking door.”
“I think there should be a million more,” Dotson said about the C3PO villages. “It’s cooperative, community run.”
Michelle VanGordon has been resident at C3PO since April and lives with her husband and dog. She’s excited about pods and remembers the council meeting when the project was being considered, and eventually voted on. “Now it seems absolutely real.”