PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — KATU is On Your Side covering the homeless crisis that has gripped our city and the solutions that are working. And we have some good news about a formerly homeless man we've been tracking since December, when KATU's Angelica Thornton connected him and two friends with the resources they needed to get off the streets.
Daniel King finally has a place of his own to call home.
"We were actually straight across, right over there," said King, pointing across the Willamette River.
King is talking about the campsite where we first met him just before Christmas. His tent was tucked away in the trees in the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. He can now see it from the roof deck of his new apartment building along the south waterfront.
"Pretty nice. I like it up here," said King. "It's actually really relaxing, especially at night."
King's friend Patrick Jensen is the man who got the ball rolling.
"It's kind of ironic. That's all I can say," said Jensen. "I mean, who would've guessed that we would be just across the river in what, five months?"Jensen emailed KATU telling us he and two of his friends, King and James Jones, had been homeless after losing their jobs during the pandemic. They couldn't pay rent and were evicted.
They were scrambling to find any kind of housing and kept hitting dead ends.
After KATU reached out to Mayor Ted Wheeler's office, all three got spots at the Clinton Triangle Temporary Alternative Shelter site.
As we showed you in January, Jones was the first to get an apartment, just 26 days after he checked into the tiny home village.
READ MORE: From Tent to Apartment in 26 Days
And now, it's King's turn.
Seven days after moving in, he proudly gave us a tour of the one-bedroom he now calls home. He says he's still stunned by the change.
"I was totally shellshocked when I saw it," said King. "Because this is a nice place and it's just like... I didn't think they would accept homeless people here."
King says it's beyond anything he imagined after years of instability. He told us he's been homeless off and on his entire life.
Patrick Jensen is still at the Clinton Triangle, but not for long. Case managers also helped him get his ducks in a row and apply for apartments. He gets the keys to his new place in two weeks.
"Coming here makes me really excited because then I'll have my own place and I can do what I want. I can start my life and get a job, you know?" said Jensen.All three men get a year of free rent and utilities so they can set up for their future.
"I've been given this opportunity and I'm gonna take the most advantage of it I can," said Jensen. King tells us this is exactly what he and his buddies needed to reboot their lives.
"I'm off the streets. I've got a place to live and I'm thankful for Urban Alchemy for all the things they've done for everybody, for me, my friends Patrick and James. They said they would get us into a place, and they did," said King.
As for what's next, King says he's working on getting a job and hopes to have his own home someday.
"I'm excited for him. I'm excited for my future," said Jensen.
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