Lance Orton, executive director of CityTeam Portland, had seen nearly every vacant building in Portland before securing a new location for the nonprofit's headquarters.
CityTeam Portland is relocating to the Overland Building on Northwest 4th Avenue and Northwest Davis Street, in the Old Town district, with the hopes of opening in fall 2025.
When Orton first toured building he laughed to himself, "thanks for showing me what we could do if we had $10 million."
After a bit of a tussle, and a handful of moments thinking his dream building was a distant memory, he finally secured it for $4.65 million, just shy of his $5 million budget.
The 27,000 square-foot facility enables the nonprofit to provide about 120 beds for homeless people needing addiction treatment, transitional housing, workforce training and job placement.
CityTeam Portland's Southeast Grand Avenue building, which is sitting at full capacity, has been aging since this search started three years ago.
Restored in 2016, the new location has three useable floors for workforce training, offices, early module program residents, work-phase residents, longer term recovery housing, the youth collective program and more.
A huge selling point were the possibilities for trauma-informed design. Upon walking the wood color from floor-to-ceiling is warm, the walls are curved, the furniture is soft — it's all part of the ambience that goes with trauma-informed design.
By definition, this design style includes adaptation to support a strengths-based framework based in an understanding of, and responsiveness to, the impact of trauma. Through architecture, the way a space is designed can help facilitate healing.
Orton, graduate of CityTeam's program himself, knows firsthand the value in having resources that keep those in recovery socialized, safe and supported.
"What we find is that our men and women in the program have become a beacon of light for those out there struggling," he said.
Working to provide integration opportunities is paramount for the nonprofit. It gives their residents the chance to see a life that "could be."
"Addiction comes out of isolation, loneliness, lack of purpose," Orton said.
He found himself at 42-years-old, college educated, but struggling to find something to hold his attention, and after a series of traumas struck, his life led to addiction and homelessness.
Waiting in line for CityTeam Portland, enticed by a free place to live, after three months into the program he fell deeper into fascination for how the program worked — he felt it helping him.
"I got exposed to the industry as a whole. There's my passion, there's my calling, and it keeps my sober every day," Orton said.
To continue developing his goals of helping those in recovery, each floor is designated with a purpose. Here's how it works from top to bottom:
Third floor
Up top, the third floor will provide amenities for recovery and transitional housing residents. This could look like those looking to transition out of the program in six to 18 months, but others may be anywhere from two to three years, depending on their next steps.
The "graduates" living on this floor have typically been sober for six to eight months and have been working in the real world, but still utilize the housing at a reduced rate. The program is divided by modules, so comparatively the "high school seniors," or those in module three and four, are on the third floor.
"The goal is to keep them with us until they're self sufficient, working, have saved enough money, and can move into market rate housing," Orton said.
Residents will have access to 18 bathrooms, a communal kitchen and large living quarters.
Second floor
Tucked in the middle, the second floor will serve those in modules one and two, which are brand new residents to the program, or those early into their sobriety.
As the rest of the floors, there will be 18 bathrooms, living quarters and will participate in daily classes learning about their addiction, counseling options, healthy relationships, financial literacy and more.
There will be a large classroom, conference room and individual office spaces for case managers.
"It's a dream come true," Orton said, walking around the space.
Ground floor
On the bottom is where more of the magic takes place, as it presents an opportunity, through flexible zoning and occupancy status, to develop social interactions with local businesses to provide workforce training and professional skills development.
By partnering with local businesses, residents can gain job experience, build their resumes and find a position for themselves in a desired industry.
"The people in the program are not in a bubble. They are learning to interact," Orton said. "As much as they need their support in here, they need support getting back out there. They need to know that when they walk out that door, there's still going to be alcohol and drugs in the world."
A back corner of the space has room for a commercial kitchen and a large dining area. Adjacent to the kitchen will be an area for about 30 emergency shelter beds, operated though a voucher system.
"You can stay in our shelter for however long it takes as long as you're moving toward your next steps," Orton said.
The emergency shelter has its own entrance and office space for a case manager to meet with potential residents to review their social determinants of health and see how CityTeam Portland can help.
So, how did CityTeam Portland get the building?
Orton loved this building from the moment he walked in, but after only assuming it was far out of his price range, he wasn't sure it could be a dream come true. His hopes went up when he found out its price tag was half of what he expected, and in his budget, but more problems rose.
The day before making an offer, Orton found out the Joint Office of Homeless Services put in an offer and got into contract.
"Rookie mistake on my part," he said. Orton hadn't prepared a letter of intent, there was no backing to show for his plans to put an offer on the space.
The county planned to used the building for an emergency shelter, and when one local business owner got wind of the news, she went straight to the county commissioners and "threw up a stank," Orton said.
At that point, their plans were soiled and the building was back up for grabs.
After spending time talking to neighboring business, Orton implemented their concerns into his plans and moved forward.
"They want to know what your intention is. They don't want a congregation of houseless individuals around the building because that causes problems," Orton said.
He wanted to ensure his plans were welcomed, and that surrounding businesses were heard, because his mission is to keep CityTeam Portland around for as long as possible, which wouldn't have been sustainable in their current building.
Orton said, "To be here, in a building that we own outright, we will be here for the next 100 years, which is really like a dream come true. It's like a life accomplishment, it's not completed yet, but one of the biggest milestones to own this building."
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