Northrup Shelter closing pushed off
City secretly signs lease amendment that covers rent through Dec. 31
The promised closing of the Northrup Street Shelter may take longer than anticipated.
The city of Portland privately amended its lease with property owner Vanessa Sturgeon in May, agreeing to pay a $108,000 cancellation penalty and allowing it to remain at 1435 NW Northrup St. through Dec. 31 without making further payments.
While the city has never given a specific date for closing the 200-bed overnight shelter, community members had estimated its exit in October or November.
“Also, this makes provisions for a new lease if the city finds funding to proceed,” John DiLorenzo, an attorney representing owners of the adjacent Oro Apartments for lost business revenue due to operation of the shelter. “It was signed behind closed doors last month without any public announcements.”
Linda Witt, chair of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association Shelter Oversight Committee, finds the revelation disturbing.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” Witt told the NW Examiner. “It now appears the mayor is setting the stage to keep the shelter open through December—walking back the earlier indication that it would close on June 30.
“We’ve also learned that, effective July 1, the city may dramatically scale back—or possibly eliminate—the Central City Concern trike crews that have been essential to keeping the Pearl clean these past few months.
“Taken together, these backroom decisions make it clear that the mayor remains dismissive of the enormous livability and safety burdens he places on neighborhoods and small businesses when he installs low‑barrier overnight shelters in dense residential districts,” Witt said.
“Keeping the Northrup Shelter operating for another six months will prolong the humanitarian misery we witness daily in the Pearl and further delay the district’s ability to recover,” she added.
In nine months of operation, she said, the shelter has failed to move homeless people toward stability, while burdening the neighborhood with a sharp rise in safety, crime and livability problems.