Multnomah County

Multnomah County is choosing four property owners to host homeless families in a tiny home the county is providing. Two of each design will be tested in the pilot project – one of which will be assembled in the yard.



By Molly Harbarger

The Oregonian | OregonLive

An attention-getting plan to spur homeowners to host a tiny houses for a homeless family in their back yards has been delayed more than six months -- in part, due to Portland's tree canopy rules.



More than 1,000 people applied to have a small pre-fabricated apartment placed in their backyard for free, contingent on renting it to a homeless family with children for five years. The idea came from Multnomah County's two-year-old Idea Lab, which tries to tackle complex issues like the housing crisis with innovative solutions that bypass traditional layers of bureaucracy.



There's something about this that has captured folks' imagination," said Idea Lab director Mary Li.

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Multnomah County

Multnomah County is choosing four property owners to host homeless families in a tiny home the county is providing. Two of each design will be tested in the pilot project – one of which will be built off-site and trucked in.

More than 300 families live in shelters and motels in Multnomah County on any given night. Many work, their children attend school and some have housing subsidies. But they can't find a permanent home. Without a permanent address, many struggle to find work or get on their feet.



The willingness with which Portlanders jumped on board to offer hard-luck families a hand up in the form of beloved minimalist cottages made the test seem like a fast fix and easy sell.



The backyard tiny home concept presented unforseen challenges, however. Even with the county's blessing to seek unconventional solutions, the lab has found it hard to increase the housing supply for low-income people. Finding workable sites, inking the right legal deals and avoiding a punishing tax hit to volunteer homeowners all added to the timeline.

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Rachel Rippetoe | The Register-Guard

University of Oregon students Paige Portwood and Samantha Freson meet Alice Gentry at Opportunity Village in Eugene, a tiny home community for homeless people.

When Li talked to The Oregonian/OregonLive in March, she planned to roll out the first four accessory dwelling units in June. But that date has been pushed back to the end of January, said Multnomah County spokeswoman Jaquetta White.



Li told Multnomah County commissioners in October that the pre-fab apartment idea has earned global attention, with agencies in the United Kingdom and Seattle watching their progress.



Portland City Hall is also forming a similar idea that would add basements low-income homeowners' basements, said Ira Bailey of Portland's housing bureau. The idea is that the homeowners could use the new basement spaces to house relatives or rent to tenants for extra revenue.

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Stephanie Yao Long | The Oregonian

The Kenton Women's Village is the first city-sanctioned tiny home community for homeless women. The village is a form of shelter while the women look for permanent housing.

Portland has strict rules regulating how close a structure can be to a tree. That ended up severely limiting which properties qualified to host a small secondary residence.



The county closed the application page after nearly 1,100 people signed up to be considered. Low-income homeowners and homeowners in East Multnomah County were slightly less likely than others to sign up.



With so many offering to take part, Li and the project partner, nonprofit housing agency Enhabit, narrowed the list based on criteria including how close a house is to a schools, transportation and grocery stories. Then, staff visited more than a dozen homeowners to evaluate whether the street would be wide enough to accommodate a truck carrying a pre-made dwelling unit and whether utilities could easily be connected to it.



The four final candidates are located in North and mid-Northeast Portland, Li said.

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Stephanie Yao Long | The Oregonian

The Kenton Women's Village is the first city-sanctioned tiny home community for homeless women. The village is a form of shelter while the women look for permanent housing.

Commissioner Lori Stegmann, who lives in Gresham, said she thinks not having one of the four small dwelling for homeless families placed east of Southeast 82nd Avenue is a "fatal flaw," because it excludes people who could benefit most.



Li said that if commissioners decide to authorize additional backyard apartments, her office would target more racially and economically diverse areas.



After the sites were chosen, the second hurdle arose: how to form the legal agreements between the homeowner and the homeless family, between the renters and the property manager, between the property manager and the county and so on.

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Mike Zacchino | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Hazelnut Grove in North Portland's Overlook neighborhood is a community of homeless people who live in tiny houses they built themselves.

Enhabit is the project manager for the county, which will track the families to make sure their needs are being met. Enhabit will contract with a property manager for upkeep and also to mediate between the renting family and the property owner if necessary.



The mobile housing team in the city and county's Joint Office of Homeless Services will choose the families who will live in the first four small homes the same way that families are chosen for any new publicly subsidized housing that opens. The people at the top of the list who have only one or two children and are willing to try out the new model will likely be approved.



The team will also provide any needed social services support to the family, such as help if a car breaks down, a medical bill arises or a parent needs to find a new job.

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Mike Zacchino | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Hazelnut Grove in North Portland's Overlook neighborhood is a community of homeless people who live in tiny houses they built themselves.

The four pre-fab apartments set to be installed in homeowners' yards to test the concept will cost no more than $75,000 apiece. Enhabit chief Tim Miller said that he expects price per unit to drop if the project is expanded.



Two of the first four will be pre-made units from Washington-based Wolf Industries, which assembles the houses off-site and then trucks them in. The other two are from a Portland company called SQFT Studios, which will build the units in the backyard. Depending on which one a property owner receives, it will take two to four weeks to have the roughly 300-square-foot home ready for the homeless family.



The project is largely funded by a grant from Meyer Memorial Trust. Li said her office is working with Enhabit to build a five-year operating budget.

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Stephanie Yao Long | The Oregonian

The sleeping pods at the Kenton Women's Village are smaller than the 300-square-foot tiny homes that will be installed in four Multnomah County backyards.

Families in the units will be expected to contribute a small amount to their rent, if possible. Miller said they will pay no more than 30 percent of their income, which will go into maintenance and upkeep of the units.



At the end of the five years, the property owner will be entitled to buy the ADU for its fair market value. That price will factor in depreciation and wear and tear, so Tomkins expects the cost to be low. Alternatively, the property owner can pass on the sale and the county will remove the tiny home at no cost.



If a property owner decides to drop out of the program before the five years run out, that person will have to buy the unit from the county or it will be removed.

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Stephanie Yao Long | The Oregonian

The sleeping pods at the Kenton Women's Village are smaller than the 300-square-foot tiny homes that will be installed in four Multnomah County backyards.

The original idea was that the homeowner would receive the pre-fab apartment for free. But Assistant County Counsel Jed Tomkins said that would trigger a large tax hit. So the sale is a way to protect property owners.



Commissioner Loretta Smith, at the October meeting, said the county should also give property owners a tax break, saying they should get something more than a free tiny home for their trouble.



"We're not giving the homeowner anything for this and we should be giving them a tax abatement or something," Smith said.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger