Garrett Andrews//October 13, 2015//
The Portland City Council this week will consider whether to appropriate money – no more than $500,000 – to help build a walk-in mental health clinic in Northeast Portland.
Four entities are partnering to build the $50 million Unity Center for Behavioral Health on Legacy Emanuel‘s Holladay Park campus at the site of a former Oregon State Hospital facility. Legacy Emanuel, Oregon Health & Science University, Adventist Health and Kaiser Permanente have entered into a joint operating agreement for construction.
The donation of real estate by Legacy will account for $10 million of the project cost. The $40 million renovation will create space for beds to accommodate 79 adults and 22 adolescents. The building will also include a psychiatric emergency unit.
Currently, no Portland facility exists specifically for people experiencing psychiatric emergencies, Legacy spokeswoman Amber Shoebridge said.
Other public entities paying into the project include Multnomah County ($3 million), Clackamas County ($250,000) and Washington County ($200,000). Earlier this year, the Randall Charitable Trust announced a $20 million contribution to the project.
“This project is going to be really interesting,” Shoebridge said. “The reason I think you’re seeing several different municipalities paying in, and four different systems trying to find a solution is that this problem is really too big for any one entity to address. But the hope is that by coming together, we can do more than we could alone.”