How We Began

Hygiene4All began in 2018, just after The Oregonian reported that people living unsheltered made up 52 percent of all arrests in the Metro area, mostly for unpaid fines or failure to appear in court to respond to citations for sleeping or resting outside. Soon after, another news outlet revealed that two-thirds of all 9-1-1 callers in Portland were contacting the emergency number to report “unwanted or suspicious people.” 

Around this time, the Central Eastside Industrial Council petitioned the City of Portland to form an “Enhanced Service District,” citing problems with bio-waste, trash, and people sleeping on sidewalks. They proposed collecting close to $3 million in real estate and parking fees, intending to spend most of those funds to hire a private security force to patrol public space.

With just two public bathrooms available in the 77 city blocks that make up the Central Eastside, shelters at capacity, and no place to legally dispose of household trash, we knew that private policing would not solve these problems. We argued that these problems were better addressed by creating facilities that would allow those living outside access to safe, clean, and accessible bathrooms, showers, trash disposal, as well as places to sleep.

City officials and Central Eastside property owners rejected our proposal. But instead of walking away, we got to work. Over two years, we organized with our houseless neighbors to envision a peer designed and peer run hygiene hub to address many of the shared problems housed and unhoused Central Eastsiders were experiencing: lack of access to trash disposal, public bathrooms, and hygiene facilities for people living outside. 

After dozens of focus groups and planning sessions, our founding team approached former Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s staff with a plan. Staff helped us secure a spot for the hub on Portland Bureau of Transportation land under the Morrison Bridge. By the summer of 2020, we began building and training our staff and volunteers in mental health first aid, wound care, reducing identity and status related harm, and creating a space of sanctuary focused on building community connection and reducing conflict.

On December 15th, 2020, we held a joyous gathering with representatives of 40 collaborating organizations to open our bright blue buildings, surrounded by murals, greenery, and launch our extraordinary team of hopeful human beings. 

As Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran said on our opening day, Hygiene4All stands as proof of what we “accomplish when we get together, and work with people who are most impacted by our different and ineffective systems and figure out what people genuinely need and want.”