Oregon Community Foundation and Project Turnkey—Creating Measurable Change to Benefit Houseless Individuals

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Venturing out in Portland and other areas of Oregon, it is nearly impossible not to be struck by the increasing number of individuals who appear to be impacted by houselessness. Groupings of tents and people making vehicles their homes are everywhere, and for those of us fortunate enough to have safe shelter and the advantages that come with it, it is a sad reality and we may feel powerless to help those who need it most. What tangible solutions exist for such a monumental societal problem?

An organization that is helping is the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), whose mission is to improve lives for all Oregonians through the power of philanthropy. Oregon Community Foundation puts donated dollars to work, maximizing impact for the benefit of people throughout the state, with a goal of transforming generosity into impact.

One way OCF is effectively doing just that is through Project Turnkey, for which the organization was named by the Legislature as the fiscal agent and administrator. According to the OCF Website, as the year 2020 approached, there was a deficit of nearly 6,000 emergency shelter beds in Oregon, a problem that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak which made existing shelters no longer safe, and—due to the pandemic—people with housing in need of places to isolate or quarantine, in many cases, lacked adequate space to do so. Further, a series of fires decimated over 4,000 homes across eight Oregon counties. This, combined with the impacts of COVID-19 and winter fast approaching, resulted in almost double the state's already dire deficit of emergency shelter beds.

Project Turnkey emerged—a partnership between the public and private sectors—with a strategic plan to address both immediate and long term housing needs. The Legislature was called upon by members to allocate grant funding that would allow community organizations to buy local motels and convert them into emergency shelters... and eventually... permanent housing.

"Having a place now, it’s night and day, as far as just being able to not look homeless, and being able to open doors for opportunities and whatnot." —Bob Beltran, one of the first people housed at a Project Turnkey site in Pendleton, Oregon (image from oregoncf.org)

Thanks to Project Turnkey, over a period of less than seven months in 2020, 19 new shelters were created in 13 counties, resulting in a 20% increase of shelter beds in Oregon. Due to the partnership's success, the Oregon Legislature has allocated additional funding to the tune of $50 million for emergency shelter and transitional housing throughout the state in 2022 for what has been termed Project Turnkey 2.0.


Organizations such as the Oregon Community Foundation and partnerships like Project Turnkey are creating positive, measurable change for houseless individuals in Oregon and providing a beacon of hope in what can easily be viewed as a hopeless situation.

For more information about Project Turnkey, follow the links to OCF's Website below:

Oregon's Project Turnkey: Bold Action and Collaboration

Interested in donating?


by: Angela Horton

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