BIG News! We broke ground on our most ambitious project yet!

On Friday, September 20th we celebrated something BIG here at Human Solutions: we broke ground to build 75 units of rental housing and a new anchor office for our team alongside Portland’s newest greenspace – Discovery Park in East Portland’s Gateway neighborhood. This new development will provide homes for those in need, a place for local businesses to thrive and a new home for Human Solutions. We can’t wait to invite you to the Grand Opening in about 18 months!

I encourage you to check out the project details on our web site along with some of the architectural renderings. That way you’ll be able to envision the transformation of this empty lot where we will open this new community in Spring 2021. We hope you think it’s as beautiful as we do!

Project partners helped us break ground. Thanks to LMC Construction, our contractor, for the gold shovels!

In addition to adding 75 apartments affordable to a range of incomes, this new space will include an anchor office and service center for Human Solutions. We are thrilled to be building a home of our own in East Portland, where we have been part of the community for more than 30 years. We have outgrown our current leased space, which has long needed an upgrade. We’re ready for our amazing team and the people who seek our support to feel the warmth and sense of value a beautiful space conveys.

Project partners helped us break ground. Thanks to LMC Construction, our contractor, for the gold shovels!

We could not have put this project together without a host of incredible partners – some experts, others investors (and some both!). Our development team: Gerding Edlen, Holst Architecture and LMC Construction. Our investors: JP Morgan Chase, The Collins Foundation, Dudley Ventures, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Low Income Investment Fund, Metro, Meyer Memorial Trust, Multnomah County, On Semiconductor, Oregon Housing & Community Services, Portland Housing Bureau, PNC Bank, and (last but definitely not least!) Prosper Portland.

Among the many wonderful speakers at the groundbreaking celebration one really stood out. Laurie Palmer is not just an eloquent speaker (though she is definitely that). She is an incredible woman with a story to tell who happens to live in another housing community that Human Solutions developed and owns. Her message is perhaps the most important of all, because she represents the reason we do this work: to create a community where everyone can experience the dignity of a well-built, permanent home that they can afford. Our work at Human Solutions helps people overcome the barriers they face in our inequitable economic and social systems. Laurie sought Human Solutions’ help to bust through those barriers, but make no mistake: she is a survivor who got herself where she is today. We’re grateful that Laurie is using her voice to call for a better way. We invite you to take a few minutes (two and seven seconds, to be exact!) to hear her powerful and inspiring message.

Thank you for celebrating with us as we work to build a community that works for everyone,