In a city with a shortage of emergency shelter and supportive housing, a formerly underutilized parking lot at a North Portland Episcopal church will soon offer alternative shelter for its unhoused neighbors.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is now home to a Tiny Home Village (the church’s language) offering 10 adults a safe space to stay and access to services that help people move into permanent housing.

An initiative led by nonprofit developer WeShine in partnership with the church, the 10-pod micro-village (WeShine’s language) is expected to open in March.

The development comes amid what city officials have said is a homelessness crisis, with Portland showing the highest unsheltered homeless rate in its history, as of January. The sheer number of those living unsheltered (roughly 5,400) represents “the biggest humanitarian crisis our city has ever faced,” Mayor Keith Wilson said earlier this year at a city council meeting as he detailed a plan to increase access to night shelters and day centers.

St. Andrew’s, a parish located on the edge of the inner city, decided in early 2023 to transform its parking lot and undercroft into what is now St. Andrew’s Village. That decision was in keeping with the church’s longstanding commitment to open its space for community use, said the Rev. Jennifer Creswell, vicar of St. Andrew’s.

Before Creswell’s arrival in 2022, however, the parish was on the cusp of “winding down ministry,” said the Rt. Rev. Diana Akiyama, Bishop of Western Oregon. The death of its former vicar and pandemic-related setbacks led to a dwindling congregation. And the parish’s building, which once regularly hosted community events, summer camps, quinceañeras, and other gatherings, has largely remained unused since the pandemic.

“St. Andrew’s was really struggling as a congregation,” Akiyama said. “They were dwindling and having a hard time finding a priest who would come serve with them. Since Jennifer Creswell agreed to be their vicar, it’s just kind of been an amazing transformation.”

Creswell said parishioners were “hungry to start something new” and ready to serve their neighbors when she arrived.

“We had, and it’s the story of so many Episcopal churches, more space to steward than we needed as a congregation,” Creswell said.

“When we asked the question Who is our neighbor?, at St. Andrew’s it always seemed pretty clear,” she added. “There were often people sleeping on the porches of the church.”

Creswell began talking with neighbors and nonprofits about how the church might help.

“She just got busy developing community partnerships, talking to neighbors, taking a look at the assets they have on their campus and thinking creatively about how they could serve the community,” Akiyama said of Creswell. “She encouraged the congregation to look outward, to notice what’s around them, and find ways to serve those in need.”

Those conversations led Creswell to Janet McManus, a retired social worker and the executive director of WeShine. That organization emerged as a neighborhood initiative to develop alternative shelters in an effort to address the homelessness crisis in another part of the city. St. Andrew’s Village is now WeShine’s third micro-village in Portland.

“Jan came over to St. Andrew’s, she looked at the space, and she saw potential there,” Creswell said. “As a congregation, we started a period of discernment, where we asked lots of questions, did lots of research, and went on field trips, asking ourselves the question: Is this the next faithful step that God is calling us to at St. Andrew’s? Is this the answer to our prayers and the answer to our community, partnering with WeShine?”

Some opposition arose along the way, initially from a handful of concerned parishioners and later among neighbors.

“There were a few members of the congregation who had some concerns. One of the concerns was that there might be some increased drug use around the church. I think that was based on misconceptions, and we’ve learned a lot since then about the overlap of drug use and houselessness,” Creswell said. “In fact, we were cleaning up drug paraphernalia outside the church quite often when the village wasn’t there. So, drug use was already there. And now that the village is moved in, we realize there will be more people on site, keeping a watchful eye and invested in the maintenance of the property.”

Residential neighbors also pushed back with safety concerns during the early stages of the project. Many were relieved to hear from WeShine representatives about the expectations for villagers, Creswell said.

“For a year, we held community meetings once a month where we invited any curious neighbors to come and ask us questions and learn about plans for the village,” she said. “People showed up, and we learned the names of our neighbors, the people that live on the same block as the church, people we didn’t know before. … The church had not previously had a reason to interact with them, and now we know their names and now we know a little bit of their stories and they know us.”

The congregation voted in favor of the proposal in early 2023.

The parish parking lot has since been consolidated to a smaller space, making room for the 10-pod village in the remaining portion. The church basement, which did not meet accessibility standards, is now available for villagers and parishioners after the city and diocese helped fund the installation of a lift.

In addition to an existing commercial kitchen, basement space has been developed to include showers, accessible bathrooms, and laundry facilities. Future plans for the site include a community garden, which would allow parishioners and villagers to work together to tend it.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, located in the city’s center, has come alongside St. Andrew’s as a partner in the initiative, sending volunteers for work days and funding to furnish each of the pods.

Under the WeShine model, staff will work with villagers to develop plans for them to find permanent housing.

St. Andrew’s Village will prioritize those who are 45 years or older and have physical disabilities, and those who may otherwise fall through the cracks in the housing ecosystem, including BIPOC and LGBT individuals or those who have been camping in the nearby area.

St. Andrew’s partnership with a nonprofit showcases the power of collaboration, Creswell said.

“In our tiny congregation, we don’t have the resources or expertise or finances to do something like this on our own,” she said. “We really needed professionals to come in and work alongside us. And they needed the space that we have. We believe our church was the answer is to someone else’s prayers.”

This article originally appeared at The Living Church and has been reprinted with permission. 

Lauren Anderson-Cripps is a domestic correspondent for The Living Church.