Portland’s new deflection center for drug users lands on east side

Multnomah County on Thursday finalized a two-year lease with the owners of a Buckman property that will be used as a round-the-clock drop-off center for people caught with fentanyl and other street drugs.

County leaders called the commercial building at the corner of Southeast Ninth Avenue and Sandy Boulevard “strategically located” and hailed it as an important element of what they say will be a broader range of services for people addicted to drugs.

County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement that the “readiness center” will serve as “an important entry point to create accountability and healing for all of us affected by addiction.”

It will serve as the base for Multnomah County’s deflection program, the centerpiece of a new approach to drug possession cases envisioned under House Bill 4002, the Measure 110 rollback legislation passed earlier this year that makes minor possession of drugs a misdemeanor crime again in Oregon starting in September.

Lawmakers urged counties to adopt policies that steer people found with street drugs away from the criminal justice system and toward treatment. The state pledged millions to support an approach intended to address the public’s impatience with public drug use and skyrocketing overdoses.

Vega Pederson said people brought to the Portland center by police will be able to receive treatment referrals.

County officials kept the location of the center under wraps until the deal was signed. Some neighbors raised concerns at Thursday’s Board of Commissioners’ meeting earlier in the day as word circulated about the location. They expressed alarm over the lack of transparency around the deal until it had been finalized.

The 16,600-square-foot building sits near the Soho House, a posh social club where the annual membership costs nearly $2,000. A dual-language preschool, Escuela Viva, also operates in the immediate vicinity.

Longtime Buckman resident Rick Johnson said his “neighborhood hasn’t been involved in the process.”

“It’s in a neighborhood that is already bearing more than its share of social services,” he told commissioners at their regular meeting. “While Buckman is a welcoming neighborhood, we do have our limits.”

Susan Lindsay, co-chair of the Buckman Community Association, said she worries police will relocate drug users from Old Town and downtown to Buckman – and drug dealers will follow.

“There was no on the ground involvement of anyone from the neighborhood or from the business community in terms of the siting of this,” she said.

She joined Johnson in urging county leaders to be transparent about the center and its operation.

Angie Garcia, owner of Escuela Viva, said she is reserving judgment. “I am not a not-in-my-backyard type of business owner,” Garcia said. “I want to hear what they have planned and if they have a thoughtful plan, then I am willing to consider it.”

The general manager for the Soho House did not respond to an email seeking comment or a phone message left at the club.

The county will pay $12,000 per month for the building for the first year and $22,000 a month for the second, according to a county spokesperson. The county plans to use 9,000 square feet in the initial phase and will expand after that.

Officials said the building doesn’t require significant structural improvements, allowing leaders to meet the Sept. 1 deadline set out under HB 4002. That’s when criminal penalties for drug possession kick in. The county sought a location that had primary access on the ground floor, two entrances and functioning heating, cooling and fire suppression systems; this site met those criteria, according to officials.

Outgoing Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt called the location “a gamechanger” that allows the county to provide “pathways to treatment and services.”

Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said the center will help provide “critical support for the community’s most vulnerable.”

It is unclear how many cases will stem from enforcement of the new law. Analysts with the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission project Multnomah County could see nearly 500 new drug possession cases per year.

The state commission, which will play a key role in managing state money for deflection programs and tracking their effectiveness, predicts Washington County may see 212 new drug possession cases a year, while Clackamas County is likely to see 336.

Some people may end up in deflection programs and others may get routed to court, depending on each county’s criteria.

Under the plan still being worked out, Multnomah County officials said once a person is delivered to the Portland center, they will be required to check in. Checking in will satisfy the deflection requirements.

People won’t be required to enter drug treatment -- and regardless, it’s unclear that the county has the resources to meet demand for treatment.

The lack of requirements around treatment are controversial; the Multnomah County district attorney-elect, Nathan Vasquez, said he intends to make accountability and treatment central to the county’s approach.

Trained and state-certified staff in long-term recovery are expected to be on hand to talk with people who enter the center. It remains unclear what services and resources will be offered to people who choose deflection. The county is in the process of soliciting bids for providers to staff the center.

Vega Pederson said the group involved in crafting the approach remains committed to giving people found with drugs an alternative to the criminal justice system. She said she doesn’t want to duplicate “the system that wasn’t working well before, which was just incarceration without access to treatment.”

-- Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184; ncrombie@oregonian.

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