Portland mulls costly plan to build shed-like sleep 'pods' at homeless camps

Portland, Oregon, will seek to improve the facilities of its homeless camps by replacing tents with "sleeping pods," which the city can fund with state assistance. 

"Tents will work," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Tuesday at a virtual town hall. "But if we can also find a quick way to fund and deliver pods — that would certainly be an improvement, from my perspective." 

Wheeler has focused on a plan to create six large outdoor camps that will allow him to reduce and ultimately ban homeless camping in all public spaces, according to Oregon Live. 

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek warned that the city’s camps would not qualify for any of the program funding available in the $200 million emergency homelessness and housing spending plan, as tents do not meet a number of habitability requirements the governor outlined. 

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A spokesperson for the governor confirmed, though, that sleeping pods could qualify for county funding. Wheeler’s spokesperson Cody Bowman said the city is exploring the pods in addition to other options. 

"We hope to have a role in deciding where these funds are directed," Bowman said. "We will advocate that investments go toward the mayor’s temporary alternative shelter sites if eligible."

The Portland City Council set aside $27 million to construct and operate three of the six tent sites for a year, including plans to hire homeless outreach workers and fund the city office that cleans the encampments. The city plans to build an additional three camps within the next two years. 

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Los Angeles has opened a few of these tiny home villages, with the non-profits behind the construction of one of the villages also involved in talks with Portland to build one there. 

Wheeler admitted that the city alone cannot finance the plan and requires help from the county, regional government and state lawmakers. The current plan has around 82% support from city residents, but that comes with similar support for a citywide camping ban. 

Some homeless advocates argue that a mass encampment plan would prove an ineffective use of money and resources and could further harm or traumatize residents. 

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Portland has previously explored the use of pods, with a Portland State University study published last year finding that people who lived in the pods were "largely satisfied" with the accommodations, but that food security remained a significant issue. 

The study also found that neighbors living next to pod-based villages grew less concerned about them over time, saying that "most neighbors who reported concerns… when they first learned of villages being located in their neighborhood reported no longer having those concerns after living near the village." 

The oldest and longest-running community of "tiny house" or pod villages in the county, Dignity Village, was established in 2000 and has "about 60 villagers at any given time." The village costs around $33,000 per year and has 45 pods, according to the study. 

Toddy Ferry, lead writer and researcher on the report, argued that the structure alone is not enough to deal with the problem, and that the government needs to "really think about the social infrastructure and its impacts." 

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"While self-governance might not be possible in all cases, thinking about how to build an agency can be hugely impactful," Ferry told Oregon Public Broadcasting in an interview. 

He acknowledged that the villages provoke "a reaction from neighbors," but said that "we shouldn’t give so much attention to how neighbors feel about it" since many seem to change their opinion over time.