CityTeam runs four major programs in Portland: 1) Community of Hope, a residential program with 23 beds for women and women with children; 2) the SE Grand Avenue 80-bed overnight shelter requiring drug and alcohol abstinence; 3) outreach projects (Night Strike & We All Have a Name); and 4) the Men’s Residential Program.
CityTeam achieves this with 11 core staff and 8 shelter coordinators on a budget of $1.5 million in 2025. 83% of City Team revenue goes to program services (i.e. helping the homeless) while only 17% is spent on overhead.
CityTeam makes initial contact with the homeless primarily through their two outreach programs, but also by referral from other agencies, court-ordered referrals or walk-ins. If an individual expresses a desire to overcome their addiction, they are referred to short-term centers for stabilization, such as the Hooper Detox facility, and then enrolled in one of CityTeam’s residential recovery programs.
This report focuses on CityTeam’s Men’s Residential Program to demonstrate “Best Practices.” Since1998, the program has achieved remarkable success. 1 year after graduation, 83% of graduates are still sober, housed, and employed; and at 3 years, the rate is 76%. Currently, the program graduates 30% to 35% of those who enter, far above the rate of 20% or less that is common for such programs. And that at an overall cost/person of approximately $5,000.
The program is non-denominational and faith-based, emphasizing spiritual formation paired with the 12-step recovery model that helps participants rediscover identity, purpose, and transformation through a time-tested framework centered on personal accountability, community support, and sustained sobriety.
We entered the Men’s Residential Program on NW 4th Avenue in the old Overland Building, which CityTeam owns and converted from an empty office building to a 110-bed residential recovery facility. This facility opened on October 1, 2025, after CityTeam moved the program from its old site on SE Grand Avenue, which started in 1998.
We were immediately struck by something different. Its 27,000 square feet were quiet, well-organized with attractive amenities, beautiful construction and a feeling of calm.
Those willing to abstain from drugs and alcohol, often after a brief stay at a detox center, can find temporary respite in CityTeam’s high-barrier, 24/7 referral-only Emergency Shelter with 30 beds, providing them with food and lodging without charge. An open and welcoming space, the first-floor hosts a receptionist on duty, an industrial kitchen, dining room, cafe and a community event space with shining wood floors and old growth timber beams. In addition, the program incorporates an evidence-based recovery curriculum and coordinated mental health care aligned with national standards to ensure that participants receive clinically informed education and tools that support long-term recovery outcomes.
Once an individual feels ready to start the long road to recovery, they can opt to enter the Long-Term Residential Care program on the second floor, which provides them food, lodging, training and treatment.
The Second Floor has an atrium open to the floor above and is organized around comfortable sofas surrounding a matching white carpet with the look of a friendly living room. This floor contains 40 beds for Long-Term Residential Care with wrap-around services such as recovery classes to maintain sobriety, training in how to apply for and find a job, and sessions on basic financial literacy. Individuals are mentored in building skill sets to prepare for specific jobs, particularly as peer support specialists in homeless services or in the trades and some white-collar jobs. Typically, this second phase of recovery lasts for 6-8 months. While CityTeam is not a licensed inpatient mental health provider, they actively serve individuals with moderate to high mental health needs through strong partnerships with trusted community providers such as Cascadia Health and LifeWorks Northwest. Through these partnerships, their participants have access to professional one-on-one counseling, psychiatric services, and group therapy as needed, ensuring that mental health challenges are addressed in tandem with substance abuse recovery.
A graduate of this second phase can choose to enter a Transitional Housing program on the Third Floor that can accommodate 40 residents, generally for a year. This floor has a rec room, fitness facilities, and housing in compact apartments with one or two beds that resemble a slightly spartan but functional college dorm. The requirements to stay in this third step are to be sober, employed, and in recovery.
There are very few models for such integrated housing programs and trauma-informed treatment for the homeless in Portland. CityTeam’s Men’s Residential Program demonstrates all the components needed to be successful. The basic principle is a continuum of care that provides detox, mental illness stabilization, temporary shelter, transitional and permanent housing, and employment training and assistance. CityTeam matches the individual with the level and type of service they need at each step of recovery without timing gaps between the end of one service and the beginning of the next to achieve the end goal of reintegration into the broader society with savings, a home and job.
Treatment without stable shelter until the individual is ready to live on their own does not work. Treating substance abuse without providing housing at the same time attacks symptoms but not the underlying destructive pathology of life on the streets. Equally, providing independent housing without treatment fails for the vast majority of the chronically homeless. Inserting an active addict or mentally ill person into an apartment does not end their suffering, problems are often generated for other residents, and provider organizations are becoming insolvent because of escalating insurance and costs caused by fires, property damage, and assaultive behavior, often the result of untreated illness.
Our visit made us ponder the concept of trauma-informed care (TIC), a philosophy endorsed by CityTeam and with growing recognition and support by nonprofits serving the homeless. TIC methodology recognizes the high rate of trauma among the homeless, resulting from physical and sexual abuse, childhood neglect, and the loss of home, safety, and a sense of security. But despite these traumas, the homeless are
individuals with agency, capable of assisting in their own recovery. At CityTeam, the residents assist in their recovery by helping manage the facility: cleaning their rooms, maintaining the common areas, and cleaning up after meals.
The key aspects of TIC are:
The design of the building housing the Men’s Residential Program is a model of trauma-informed design with its natural light and wood floors. The building is locked with a receptionist, and each sleeping quarter has locked doors and private space for storage. Residents must remain sober and respect staff and other clients. The program staff, including the Executive Director, have experienced homelessness and the resulting behavioral problems. As on the street, the CityTeam program staff are a mix of ethnicities and gender identifications.
Our recommendation to replicate the “Best Practices” of CityTeam are:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12512632/
https://traumainformedoregon.org/tic-resources/trauma-informed-organizational-toolkit-homeless-services/
https://www.usich.gov/news-events/news/trauma-informed-care-building-our-commitment-strengths-based-approaches-ending#:~:text=Our%20efforts%20to%20ensure%20that,When%20We%20Talk%20about%20Trauma
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