Saying yes to women
Blanchet House celebrates grand opening of Bethanie’s Room at Northwest 17th and Lovejoy
The need was as clear as it was devastating.
A couple of years ago at their nightly dinner service, the Blanchet House team began seeing more and more women coming into the cafe asking for a safe place to sleep.
The 2023 Point in Time Count confirmed their experience. The count documented 20,110 people experiencing homelessness across Oregon. In Multnomah County, 43% were women.
Other than the coed Agape Village shelter at the Church of the Nazarene on Southeast Powell, there were few overnight-only options, and the 24/7 shelters for women had long waitlists.
Turning women back outside to face the constant risk of harm was agonizing. Rather than waiting for the city or county to act, Blanchet House stepped up. This week, it celebrated a triumph: the grand opening of Bethanie’s Room at Northwest 17th and Lovejoy.
Beginning Feb. 9, the shelter will serve up to 75 women and gender-expansive individuals nightly from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. In addition to a safe place to sleep, guests will be offered hygiene items, a sack lunch at night, a light breakfast in the morning, and connection to services and housing opportunities. Rose Haven will continue to offer services during the day at its center on Northwest 17th and Glisan.
“When women needed a place to go, we had nothing to offer,” said Mary Ann Walker, former Blanchet House board chair, at the opening. “That ends today. I am personally so grateful that we can now say yes to women.”
Shared commitment
The path to the new shelter began in 2024 when Blanchet House’ board committed $1.5 million from reserved funds to the project and began fundraising. Gifts from $5 to $250,000 poured in from donors, ranging from the well-heeled and compassionate to grateful women whom Blanchet House and Rose Haven have served.
They purchased a former bicycle shop at 1015 NW 17th Ave. last June for $2.1 million and sunk $500,000 into creating a calming, safe, comfortable and quiet place. Initial costs for the 16-member staff were $300,000, and immediate supplies cost $100,000, for a total of $3 million.
Blanchet House engaged neighbors and took an earful from some who felt taken by surprise. Blanchet House worked to address their concerns in a neighborhood pledge posted on their website. Shelter guests are not allowed to line up until 7 p.m. for the 8 p.m. nightly opening.
The grand opening celebration, led by Steve Cook and Emily Coleman, who stepped in as co-executive directors when Scott Kerman left in December, included classical music by Chatter PDX, chocolates by Creo and tea by Smith.
U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Maxine Dexter gave formal remarks. State Sen. Lisa Reynolds, Multnomah County Commissioners Julia Brim-Edwards, Meghan Moyer, Shannon Singleton and former Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran attended.
Origin story
Speakers included Jim O’Hanlon Sr., the last living founder of Blanchet House in 1952:
“Father Kennard, Kevin Collins and myself were walking down 4th Street, and we came to the corner with Glisan and there was a guy there,” O’Hanlon said, parking his walker beside the podium. “We got in a conversation with him and we said, ‘We’re looking for a place to rent so we can start a house of hospitality.’ And the guy said, ‘Well, what’s going on with this place here?’ And we said, ‘We don’t have any money or anything like that.’ And he said, ‘I’ll rent it for you for $30 a month.’ And that’s how Blanchet House got started.”
Rick and Shelley Johnson, parents of the shelter’s namesake Bethanie, an artist, singer and musician who struggled with mental illness and died unhoused in Portland in 2024, represented their daughter.
“As Bethanie was growing up, we were often told … that she was going to be somebody who was going to make a difference in this world,” said her mother. “This room is her way of doing that.”
Charity and Lexi, co-founders of PDX Peers that will provide peer support at the shelter, channeled those difficult moments when there was nowhere to send women to sleep after the dinner service.
“Blanchet House saw that gap and responded in the most powerful way by becoming that next step,” said Lexi, fighting back tears. “A step toward safety, peace, and continuity. A space that carries forward the same hospitality Blanchet House is known for. And maybe because of this space, tomorrow will look different.”
Get involved
Bethanie’s Room is holding an open house for neighbors Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the shelter. Opportunities to donate items and volunteer are listed on the Blanchet House website.
Gender expansive sounded pretty self explanatory to me, but here's the formal definition: Individuals whose gender identity, expression, or experience falls outside traditional, binary (male/female) social and cultural norms.
Thanks for the question and for reading the article.
Oh good, at this point we should just rename it The Shelter District.