Residential Builders Nail it!
As Portland’s homelessness crisis made national headlines, local builders were looking for ways to help out. Home Building Foundation (HBF) was one organization that provided an outlet to connect builders to the shelter community by sponsoring volunteer work parties at shelter sites around Portland. This hands-on approach was a team building opportunity for staff, but more importantly work that provided immediate results for shelters so they could focus on more pressing issues of housing people. HBF and several local builders would utilize this strategy to help a Hillsboro non-profit, Project Homeless Connect, get a street outreach center on its feet.
For over a year the fledgling Project Homeless Connect (PHC) was operating out of a cramped Craftsman-era bungalow. Executive Director, Kim Marshall-Gordon, who founded the organization in 2006, bought its first permanent space in 2021 after operating for years out of temporary spaces. The yellow, asbestos-clad house had a sagging roof, broken front steps and a wild landscape.
The PHC Access Center provides outreach to as many as 100 houseless individuals per day, serving hot meals, showers, clothing, and other counseling services. As often the case with shelters, neighboring businesses were irritated with the chaotic orbit of the shelter. PHC asked for help from HBF to renovate the aging structure.
Mountainwood Steps Up
Mountainwood
Mountainwood Homes Volunteers
Mountainwood done
Day is Done!
When HBF approached local builder Robert Wood of Mountainwood Homes about taking on the project, he was hesitant after seeing the poor conditions at the site. HBF’s Project Manager Chris McDowell contacted him and pleaded the case, arguing “If it was easy, we wouldn’t need to help.” Wood agreed and a few weeks later his fifty crew members showed up on a bright September morning eager to help.
Crews used a mini-excavator to clear fifteen-foot-tall brambles in the backyard. Other staff repaired the broken front steps and added new handrails. Another group built a six-foot high privacy fence with new latches and locks. A crew on the porch painted the worn façade. Unkempt bushes obscuring the front porch were removed so the windows were once again visible. In four hours, a transformation took place, mostly with hand tools and the personalized care of volunteers.
Lennar and Roofers Lean In
Lennar
Lennar Team Digs Deep
National Women in Roofing Portland
Women Roofers On the Scene
National home builder Lennar, which participates in quarterly service projects with HBF, caught wind of the project and reached out to help. They brought a sizable crew as well as professional landscape contractor Pacific Landscape Services to rip out the tired landscape and replace it with native plants and fresh mulch, giving the unsightly house some much-needed street appeal. HBF also enlisted Tivnu, a scrappy Jewish gap year program based in Portland, to build fencing, a new trash enclosure and a clothing closet for the Access Center.
A team from the local chapter of National Women in Roofing came in early summer to donate a new roof. Stephanie Baird, GM of Bliss Roofing, who organizes outreach activities for the organization, initiated the day-long work party with volunteer roof contractors from across Portland to provide the new roof valued at $25,000 to the shelter.
When PHC bought a similarly-distressed building next door to provide offices for staff, volunteer crews from Toll Brothers, Fireside Home Solutions, The Oregonian, and Miller Paint came to gut the house and repaint it. Local waste hauler, Clean It Up Mark! carried away old appliances and demolition debris.
Project Provides Homework
Glencoe
Glencoe Shed Project
Constructing Hope
Constructing Hope in Action
Schools also chipped in thanks to Home Building Foundation’s Education Partnership Program that provides materials so local construction students can assist with shelter projects. Glencoe High students built two custom sheds for PHC staff to store supplies. Merlo Station High School students built cedar picnic tables for the back yard.
The capstone for the project was to build a wheelchair ramp to improve accessibility to the Access Center. HBF enlisted Rick’s Custom Fencing to donate the ramp, as well as lead a training exercise. Rick’s staff provided hands-on instruction to Constructing Hope’s pre-apprenticeship trainees, who learned about framing, poured concrete footings, and read construction plans. Another regular volunteer with HBF projects, TaylorSmith Sustainable Construction closed the project out by building the walkway approach to the ramp, buttoning up roof eaves and building custom gates for the new entrance.
Using a modest $37,500 HBF project grant, mainly for supplies, permit fees and some professional services, HBF completed $250,000 of work, primarily by organizing volunteer work parties and support from local home builders. Typically, HBF projects save between 30-70% of building costs, allowing partner non-profits to better use their resources to support the unhoused.
Volunteer organizations like HBF are true partners with shelter organizations because they help create less work for service providers by employing the skills that they know best, in this case, construction. In contrast to a reliance on government funded projects, service-oriented volunteering and support from private companies offers immediate impact without strings attached.
If you'd like to volunteer for an HBF project, contact Project Manager Chris McDowel