South Park Blocks
New Avenues for Youth

Project

New Avenues for Youth
Located at 1220 SW Columbia

Project Goals

Development of transitional housing for homeless youth. This goal is identified in the Multnomah County's Committee Report on Service Plan and Allocation Recommendation, from the Ad Hoc Committee on Downtown Portland Homeless Youth Services (Follow-Up Report #6, 10/2003)

Project Description

Adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of an 18,000 square foot, two-story (plus basement), office building located at 1220 SW Columbia Street for use by New Avenues for Youth (NAFY). NAFY is a non-profit agency dedicated to helping homeless youth gain the life skills and support necessary to permanently leave life on the streets.

A homeless youth transitional housing shelter with 20 SRO units occupies the 10,000 square foot second floor plus an entry area and stair well on the first floor. NAFY administrative offices occupy the first floor and basement areas of the building. The shelter space consists of four clusters of three to five bedrooms with a small common area and a shared bathroom. The clusters are arranged around a large central common area that adjoins a shared kitchen, laundry room, and staff offices. All 20 units are subject to PDC affordability restrictions at 30% of area medial income (AMI) for a period of 30 years.

PDC's Partners

Owner/Property Management: New Avenues for Youth is the owner, developer, and operator of the Project. NAFY was founded in 1995 to address the needs of homeless and runaway youth in downtown Portland. NAFY currently provides a variety of programs and services that includes: a drop-in center, a reception center (screening and intake and referral services to youth detained under status offense statutes), and case management services.

Investor: Partners For New Avenues, LLC (the Partners) is a private group of donors including a number of participants in the Citizen’s Crime Commission and the Association for Portland Progress. The Partners played an active role in the formation of NAFY. They purchased the property in November 1998 to house NAFY’s expanding operations. The Partners leased the property to NAFY at a below market rate, providing $1.28 million in grant funding for project rehabilitation and three years of limited operating subsidy to cover insurance and maintenance expenses.

General Contractor: R&H Construction Co.

PDC's Involvement

Item	Date

PDC provided a $750,000 recapturable grant to NAFY in to develop a 20-unit transitional housing facility for homeless youth. The grant was funded with $500,000 Community Development Block Grant and $250,000 in tax increment funds from the South Park Blocks Urban Renewal Area	June 1999
PDC approved NAFY request for a grant increase of $71,918 for a Transitional Housing Program for Homeless Youth, increasing total grant to $821,918. The funding source was tax increment funds from the South Park Blocks Urban Renewal Area.	September 2000
New Avenues for Youth shelter completed	2000