On the night of March 8, a vote by the Kenton neighborhood approved a tiny house village for 14 houseless women with a landslide vote of 178 to 75 in favor of this innovative solution. At the vote, City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly weighed in, “No neighborhood is going to be exempt from this conversation," Eudaly said, "This is a problem for all of us to solve. We're not talking about importing people to Kenton. We're talking about housing your houseless neighbors."
The ReBuilding Center has been reporting on this story. To learn more, read The Oregonian article Tiny house village for homeless women approved by Kenton neighborhood >
““The newest idea in housing homeless people earned the first round of approval Wednesday night with a vote by the Kenton neighborhood in North Portland.
The neighborhood residents voted 178 to 75 in favor of a village of 14 tiny houses for homeless women.
Key city officials back the pilot project to form a community with shared restrooms, common space and a garden at a site off North Argyle Street, near Kenton Park. Charlie Hales kicked off the idea during his term as mayor and now Mayor Ted Wheeler is championing it as a better alternative to people sleeping on the streets or in tent villages.””
The tiny homes were built by students from Portland State University's Center for Public Interest Design and the Village Coalition, a houseless advocacy nonprofit (that RBC helps support) using space and materials provided by the ReBuilding Center.
Before being moved to the Kenton neighborhood, the tiny homes are being stored at the ReBuilding Center's temporary lot. You can spot the ReBuilding Center’s head cashier, Ella Rose showing her beaming smile up on a billboard behind Ted Wheeler in the video below.
