60-pod village ready to house 70 homeless people in Aloha

A 60-pod village will be ready to open by the end of the year, providing housing for up to 70 homeless people in Aloha. The pod village will be operated by Hillsboro nonprofit Open Door HousingWorks, offering a stable place where people can begin rebuilding their lives with respect and dignity. The event to dedicate the new shelter was held on October 27, with former homeless individuals and community leaders in attendance. The 60-pod village will be funded in full by the Metro Supportive Housing Services measure, with Oregon Housing and Community Services contributing $1.5 million to the yearly operating budget.

Evan Hehring, a former prisoner and now member of the Washington County’s Lived Experience Advisory Committee, shared his journey from homelessness to stability through the support of Open Door and Washington County Housing Services. He credited the staff at the Beaverton shelter for their friendliness and the site for its cleanliness and maintenance. He moved into his own apartment by June 2025, six months after leaving prison, and said that transition would not have been possible without the stability and support provided by the shelter and housing services.

The 60-pod village will offer more than just the basics like meals, bathrooms, showers, linens, and laundry services. It will also provide community and around-the-clock professionals who are trained to help people find stability and the support they need so that they can take next steps. Washington County District 1 Commissioner Nafisa Fai said the new pod village will offer a stable place where people could begin rebuilding their lives with respect and dignity.

Gerritt Rosenthal, a Metro councilor, said that recently 5,000 people in the tricounty area have been brought off the streets, and about 16,000 have been either kept from being homeless or taken off the streets from being homeless. He said that since being passed by voters in 2020, Metro’s Supportive Housing Services measure has moved more than 16,000 people from homelessness to housing and provided eviction prevention to more than 20,000 households.

The event to dedicate the new 60-pod village will be held on October 27, with former homeless individuals and community leaders in attendance. Liz Weber, the director of the Housing Stability at the Oregon Housing & Community Services Department, said she was delighted with the upcoming opening of the pod village, calling it a place that will provide safety, stability, and hope for people experiencing homelessness in Washington County.