Shining Hope

HBF and WeShine Build “Micro-Village” in North Portland

The mission to create alternative forms of shelter housing in Portland continues. In September, Home Building Foundation approved its newest project to support an emerging non-profit that is building its third “micro village” on the campus of St Andrews Episcopal Church in North Portland. In a partnership with WeShine, this new transitional housing village of 10 sleeping pods will support people over 45 years of age with a preference for individuals with disabilities. Previously, HBF had supported WeShine by providing donated materials to its other two villages – Avalon Village and Parkrose Village. This time HBF is taking an active role in the project by helping WeShine build out its village campus using volunteer and donated labor to help lower the costs not covered by the Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS).

WeShine began its journey to provide housing just a few years ago as a grass roots effort of neighbors in SE and NE Portland. The small organization run by Jan McManus, a licensed social worker who has long worked in social services and adult care, took on the first village in Parkrose with minimal knowledge of construction. As she will tell you, a lot of mistakes were made during the process, but they also learned a lot about how community can band together with minimal resources to build villages in an effort to get people out of homelessness. Parkrose Village opened in 2022 and Avalon Village in 2024, both with an emphasis on the “micro village” concept that only houses 10 people at a time.

Church Exterior 

The new village is employing a similar tactic that has worked well across Portland – using an underutilized church property to house the village. As church populations have waned in recent years, churches have found new ways to become relevant in the community and still fulfill the Christ-centered mission of the church. In this case, St Andrews Episcopal not only had plenty of flat parking areas to provide as a plot for the village, they also can share the basement of the church to be used as the community space with a full commercial kitchen, ADA bathrooms and meeting space. Another great benefit is St Andrews Episcopal already hosts a weekly food bank on its property.

Both WeShine and HBF are hoping this third village called St Andrews Village will be the best one yet. While the pods themselves have already been built by Portland Shed, who has waived a lot of its labor costs, HBF has already dispatched a lot of familiar faces to help out in other ways. Ricks Custom Fencing and Decking is building out the perimeter fence, gates, as well as deck and ramps connecting the pods. Taylor Morrison donated appliances and will be organizing a work party in November to help clad the fence. Schools are building storage bins and seating. The project, which broke ground in October, hopes to be open by January of 2025.