Portland homeless services non-profit plans to lay off entire staff

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - A Portland homeless services non-profit has announced it is laying off its entire staff when it closes multiple shelters this summer.

This marks another major change from homeless service non-profit Sunstone Way, this time impacting its employees. With a WARN notice released this week stating, “Sunstone Way will be terminating the employment of all of its employees on or before June 30th.”

“It was something we all more or less suspected was coming, I think, just seeing the writing on the wall,” said Joy Nicholson.

Around 175 employees will be let go, including program managers, shelter staff, and case managers like Nicholson. Nicholson is also a member of the union representing 117 staff members, who are still processing the news of the layoffs.

“Most of the sentiment has been I want to keep doing this, and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to keep doing this,” said Nicholson.

Sunstone Way has been swirling with controversy, announcing earlier this year that its Centennial Shelter will close at the end of April, and then its Weidler Shelter at the end of June.

The non-profit also facing a lawsuit in February by a fired finance director, accusing the organization of financial mismanagement and downplaying its financial troubles.

“We thought genuinely that Sunstone Way could have succeeded under better leadership, better financial management, because at its core, Sunstone Way was an effective organization, it was just being steered by the wrong people,” said Nicholson.

But Nicholson said the union plans to fight until the end to get employees what they deserve.

“We’re going to try to get what we can for the employees of Sunstone Way, whether that’s transfers to new positions, severance, or anything we can to support them,” said Nicholson.