A new 60-pod shelter village in Aloha will house up to 70 people experiencing homelessness once it opens later this year.
Representatives from Washington County, Metro and Open Door HousingWorks gathered Tuesday, Oct. 27, to dedicate Next Step Community, located at 3390 SW 209th Ave. near the Reed's Crossing residential development. The village will be staffed around the clock, according to a Washington County press release. No official move-in date has been set, though officials said residents would arrive by year's end.
The voter-approved Metro Supportive Housing Services (SHS) measure funded the development's full $3.695 million cost. Oregon Housing and Community Services will contribute to the $1.5 million yearly operating budget, county officials said. The Housing Authority of Washington County owns the site, which the county's Department of Housing Services purchased in December 2025.
Open Door HousingWorks, chosen through a competitive process, will run the village. The Hillsboro nonprofit already manages similar pod sites in Hillsboro, Cornelius and Aloha, according to the county.
Each resident gets a 64-square-foot Pallet Shelter pod with a bed and storage area, The Oregonian reported. The site includes communal bathrooms, showers, laundry, meals and case management services. Residents can stay up to 120 days and must work with staff on a housing plan, which can include getting health care, attending school or pursuing employment, according to Open Door site manager Tonya LaMar.
Washington County District 1 Commissioner Nafisa Fai, who represents Aloha, said a 2025 point-in-time count found 800 people experiencing homelessness in the county, a number she said did not capture everyone. Fai said the county went from zero year-round adult shelter beds in 2021 to more than 400, according to the Beaverton Valley Times.
Metro Councilor Gerritt Rosenthal, who represents District 3, said the region has seen progress but acknowledged the scale of the challenge. "And so we have had some success, but it's a big process. We've learned a lot of complexities. It's been a big learning curve, really," Rosenthal said.
Since voters approved the SHS measure in 2020, it has moved more than 16,000 people from homelessness to housing and provided eviction prevention to more than 20,000 households, according to Metro officials.
Evan Nehring, a member of Washington County's Lived Experience Advisory Committee, spoke at the dedication about his own path. Released from prison in December 2024 with no place to go, Nehring used $1,000 he had saved to stay in a hotel. Washington County's Community Connect program connected him to a bed at a Beaverton shelter run by Open Door in early January 2025, he said.
By June 2025, he had moved into his own apartment.
Looking into one of the new pods after the ceremony, Nehring said having a separate unit makes a person feel more secure. He called the individual heating and air conditioning in each pod "wonderful."
LaMar, who also manages the Cornelius pod site, said one of the hardest parts of the work is convincing people to come inside after they have been living outdoors. Washington County and Open Door worked with neighbors to craft a Good Neighbor Agreement, and camping near the site is prohibited under the county's Time, Place and Manner Policy. Neighbors can contact Open Door through a dedicated phone line and email address with concerns about the site.
