Estimates for a new homeless shelter in Portland approach $20 million
The expected cost of building a new homeless services center on Riverside Street is more than double the city s $8 million estimate in 2017.
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The cost of building and leasing a new homeless services center could be more than twice the amount estimated by Portland officials four years ago.
Estimates received by developers interested in building a 200-bed homeless services center and leasing it back to the city estimate the project could cost nearly $20 million, which could require an annual lease payment of about $1.5 million. That’s more than double the $8 million cost estimate in 2017, when the city estimated an annual lease payment of roughly $400,000.
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Advocates urge Portland to reconsider needle exchange policy
The city allows clients to receive only the same number of clean needles as the used needles they turn in, unless they qualify for an exemption.
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Portland councilors are expected to begin a public discussion about whether the city should maintain its restrictive policy for providing clean syringes to intravenous drug users during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Kate Snyder said in an email Tuesday morning that she has requested a “management update” on the city-run Needle Exchange from staff for the March 1 City Council meeting. And the council’s Health and Human Services Committee is expected to hold a workshop in the coming weeks on the exchange’s policy allowing clients to receive only the same number of clean needles as the used needles they turn in, unless they qualify for an exemption.
Portland provides hazard pay at city nursing home during outbreak
City officials say the increased pay at the Barron Center is covered by Medicaid and unrelated to a hazard pay requirement in Portland s new minimum wage ordinance.
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Portland officials are providing hazard and incentive pay for workers at a city-run nursing home that’s confronting a COVID-19 outbreak.
The city says it’s able to offer the additional $6 an hour for workers at the Barron Center through Saturday, because the state is offering enhanced Medicaid reimbursements to nursing homes and long-term care facilities when confronted with a COVID-19 outbreak, which is defined as three or more connected cases.