The History of The Wy’east Veterans Shelter
In March 2026, Do Good’s first-ever 24/7 Veteran-priority shelter came to an end due to hefty budget cuts at the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department. It wasn’t our building, and — though we tried — we weren’t able to save it.
Closing a Shelter is Heartbreaking. it’s a loss of community and safety for Veterans across our region.
This is a story about how Do Good Multnomah gave thousands of unique individuals a place to lay their heads, transitioned nearly 500 Veterans into permanent housing, and served hundreds of thousands of meals — all in a building that was never designed to be a shelter.
How it started
Wy’east was our first 24/7 congregate shelter when it opened in 2019.
Before then, Do Good had only operated overnight shelters in church basements: basic mats on the floor that were primarily focused on on getting Vets inside for the night. The Wy’east building was never meant to serve as a shelter space for 100 people — it’s an administrative office building for community safety and rehabilitation.
And yet, it became a place where we spent nearly seven years transforming lives and opening doors for folks in our community.
The Wy’east Veterans Shelter, pictured here in Winter 2021.
As we grew into the space, at times improvising along the way, Wy’east was where countless staff cut their teeth in social services. It was where we invented today’s case management model, where we learned to respond to crisis, where we learned to rely on each other to make up for inadequate resources and an awkward space.
“It was the training ground. I’ve never experienced something like that.”
— Mike Evans, former Wy’east case manager, now Arbor Lodge Kitchen Manager
The whole crew took on multiple jobs: cleaning, cooking with slow cookers and outdoor grills, receiving donations, collecting and monitoring the toilet paper supply – you name it. Everyone was learning something new every day.
“Wy’East is the reason I’m in this field today. Wy’East supported people into housing for almost a decade and crushed it...The reason it succeeded for so long is the staff.”
— Sean Rotbergs, Do Good program manager and former Wy’east case manager
Post-COVID to Today
Between 2019 and today, Portland’s housing crisis has worsened. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to that significantly and made congregate spaces like Wy’east tighter amid the need for social distancing. The more people we saw at Wy’east every day, the more we realized that what a lot of people needed most was to be seen, to take a moment to breathe, or to just take a seat somewhere soft.
“So much of the community was around food and having a place in the day room to just ‘be.’ That’s what Wy’east really offers: a place for folks to just be for a moment. Where you’re not having to wait for appointments, you can just sit on the couch in a safe place and know there’s gonna be a dinner.”
– Jess Smith-Carlock, Wy’East program manager
A popular sight during Wy’east’s early days: ‘pool table case management.’ That’s where participants and staff would get to know how to best work with each other over some friendly competition.
More than a shelter
That sense of trust and community grew between participants and staff, too.
Staff routinely accompanied participants at parole hearings, virtual court hearings, helped schedule doctors’ appointments, and more. Jess recalls a time when they helped lead a group of participants to speak at a local city council meeting to talk about traffic safety on 122nd. Another time, Wy’east participants lobbied a nearby library to add an outdoor water connection so that they could bring in mobile shower trucks for their parking lot!
Moments like that bolster Wy’East’s participants in their roles as community members that contribute to the neighborhood, even if houseless.
“We mobilized a base of concerned citizens. There’s dignity in that. You live here, you care about what’s happening…That was an example of giving people a pathway to being heard.”
— Jess Smith-Carlock, Wy’east program manager
A Wy’east barbecue from 2021 — not an uncommon sight given Chef Mike’s penchant for grilling and smoking meats.
Community connections
Wy’east is also where we fostered a lot of relationships with other organizations that shape our work today. It’s where we first touched base with the local VA, where we met some of our most generous in-kind donors, and where we started working with local churches and businesses to hold meal services.
“One Veteran I remember I referred was able to stay at Wy’east for 4-5 months. We were able to do so much for him because he was in one place all the time instead of us having to do street outreach to find him every day. That stability went a long way to crossing things off our list.”
– Phillip, VA Community Resource and Referral Center
Often, neighbors are opposed to the idea of a homeless shelter operating nearby. With Wy’east, so many folks saw the strength and value of this space and offered a helping hand instead of skepticism.
Moving forward with our mission
In its last few weeks of operation, the Wy’east team successfully moved dozens of participants to other 24/7 shelter programs or other positive exits in preparation for the closure.
As we continue to face challenges with funding and operations, the question remains: how do we go on serving Veterans experiencing houselessness?
“I’m a firm believer in the fact that we rise together or we fall apart.”
– Ike, Wy’east overnight team member
That will always be the truth. Wy’east was a story defined by its obstacles but ultimately one where we created a haven of opportunity and growth for our community’s most vulnerable. We know this continues to happen every day across all of Do Good’s sites.
To the participants, staff, neighbors, volunteers, and community members who have been touched by Wy’east since 2019: thank you.