Portland Homeless Family Solutions

An amazing organization.

Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS) is a local organization that provides assistance to homeless families with children—offering temporary emergency shelter, housing and prevention services, teaching life skills to help families achieve self sufficiency, and advocating for the alleviation of family homelessness.

How remarkable is that? They could have stopped at just giving families a place to stay. But went above and beyond, creating programs for learning, and resources to help get them back on their feet…that is amazing! So, when Allwood learned PHFS was building a new campus we knew we wanted to be a part.

New Lents Neighborhood Campus

In 2018, PHFS successfully raised funding needed to purchase a property in the Lents neighborhood. The property will become the new Portland Homeless Family Solutions headquarters, and will be comprised of a 16,000ft² building and eight 2-bedroom apartments. The location will operate as an emergency family shelter for 26 families a night, be the home of PHFS’ housing and prevention programs, and offer wrap-around services like mental healthcare, childcare, life skills training, and more. In addition, the new campus includes an acre of land which PHFS plans to develop into long-term housing affordable to people making very low incomes around 2020.

We reached out and are so excited to say the new PHFS Lents Campus will have Allwood floors.

The perfect color for healing.

The interior color pallet PHFS has chosen is intended to help build dignity, restore power, and promote autonomy based on “trauma-informed” architecture and design. It just so happen Seashell was the perfect color. Seashell is a part of our engineered Bamboo line. In addition to its environmental benefits, Bamboo is an extremely hard-wearing material when manufactured to Allwood’s standards. It is naturally resistant to moisture and is very durable. This—along with Seashell’s tranquil color—made it the ideal choice for the new PHFS campus.

What you can do.

Homelessness is a serious issue in the United States, and one that will not go away without all of us working together toward a solution. According to a report published in 2017 over half a million people in the U.S. are living on the streets, in cars, in homeless shelters, or in subsidized transitional housing. There are many causes that lead to a person becoming homeless. One of the most effective solutions is exactly the service Portland Homeless Family Solutions provides, re-connecting people with housing services. However they can’t do it alone, and it isn’t free. But it is worth the cost. Decreasing homelessness benefits all of us, much more than for just those who find a home. In fact, research has revealed many economic advantages to housing the homeless population.

If you are interested in volunteering or donating, visit the Portland Homeless Family Solutions website.

Or find a homeless shelter near you at homelessshelterdirectory.org

UPDATE: The project has been completed, and it looks amazing!