Inspection Chronicle of a Housing First Facility

By Nancy English

Over the years, the City of Portland has cited three housing first facilities owned by Avesta Housing with many housing safety violations. Preble Street provides support services at the facilities, including casework for community, living, and tenancy skills and works with tenants on personal goals including recovery from substance use disorder.

But adjusting to a life indoors can take months or years to achieve, Andrew Bove, Vice President of Social Work at Preble Street, said. “Independent apartments are not necessarily the right, appropriate situation for some people. But people change over time.”

Residents may have endured chronic homelessness, Danielle Smaha, Preble Street Senior Director of Communications, wrote in response to questions about specific code violations. “One big way that the work Preble Street does in housing has changed since Logan Place opened is that people are experiencing homelessness for longer and longer periods of time.”

In Search of Stable Housing

An inspection report of Logan Place was provided by the City of Portland on May 12th, 2025. Some complaints are dated and italicized below.

May 25, 2021: “Unit […] is posted against occupancy due to the extremely unsanitary conditions and excess storage that is obstructing egress from the apartment. The unit may not be occupied until it has been professionally cleaned, excess storage has been removed and a licensed pest control company has treated the infestation.”

Bove talked about how a relationship with possessions may be disordered after living on the street, but that eventually a sheltered person may come to realize they no longer need, for example, ten blankets. His staff tries to bring clients toward that goal with their cooperation in order to achieve progress toward true independence.

“The goal of housing first is to house people who are the most challenged in the community. It has never been surprising that there are some challenges with housing that group. It’s different than housing any other population in the state,” said Jon Bradley, who was involved with the first years of Logan Place when he was working as Deputy Director at Preble Street, applying for grants that funded Logan Place and Florence House. He now works to research homelessness and solve shelter issues around the state. “In the past, clients had had houses, families: but some on the street today have never had stable housing.”

October 18, 2022: “Early this morning, we went to 52 Frederic St., Logan Place, for a medical call. Upon entering the first floor hallway, we noticed a large amount of insects crawling on the floors, walls, and ceiling. A sticky strip in front of the door to one of the apartments was covered with insects. The unit we went in […] was absolutely infested. The ceiling had hundreds of insects crawling on it and flies swarming.”

Changing Needs of the Population

Preble Street staff helped people get ready for inspections in the 30 units of Logan Place when it opened in 2005, Bradley said. He could not comment on any of the current issues. When Logan Place first opened, after Avesta Housing finished construction and was the landlord, the buzzer system had to be moved inside the locked inner door. All guests are required to sign in and sign out. “There were lots of people who were not allowed in.”

In 2005 the primary concern was alcoholism and some mental illness. “We have a whole different population now,” Bradley said, because of illegal substance abuse. “People get very desperate in different ways.”

March 16, 2023: [Portland Fire Department] responding to an [Emergency Medical Services] call observed several units that have been demo’d [as a result of water damage]. One of the units has a person living in it. I responded and posted 3 units […] against occupancy. I additionally posted a 4th unit […] for unsanitary conditions that was also occupied.

June 4, 2024: “Due to water damage, units […] are posted against occupancy […]. The units will need to be re inspected by the City before they can be reoccupied.” [One unit “met minimum sanitary requirements” as of June 14, 2024; the other apparently did as well by July 15, 2024.]

March 7, 2025: “The fire load in unit […] is very dangerous due to excessive storage of items and personal belongings….”

Preble Street works with an array of providers. They must navigate, for example, a Medicare home health aide who may decline to be exposed to cigarette smoke; its work is hemmed in on all sides by many factors.

During the March 2025 inspection, the inspector noted that tenants are allowed to smoke, despite the registration stating this was a non-smoking building. As of May 12, 2025, the unit that was too full of storage still needed work but another unit had received the extensive cleaning requested and passed inspection.

Nancy English ran for Portland City Council D2 in 2024 and is a former paralegal for the City of Portland.