Porter Station creates 60 safe, quality, affordable homes for individuals and families in the St. John Valley neighborhood of Portland’s peninsula. The building includes a variety of unit sizes, ranging from efficiencies to three-bedroom apartments. This neighborhood is known for its historic commitment to workforce housing, and Porter Station promotes that resurgence by providing housing stability at a time when local rents are often pricing people out of living in the city where they work and have roots. This mixed-income community achieves deeper affordability through an allocation of project-based vouchers from Portland Housing Authority.

Porter Station commemorates the historic St. John Valley neighborhood, which housed the bustling Union Station train station from 1888 to 1961. This name pays homage to the largely Black working-class community that lived in the neighborhood and worked at the station or for the railroads. One well-known train porter, Moses Green, was enslaved when he was born and later lived as a free man in the neighborhood; he is known for founding a company that assisted Black neighbors with housing. Porter Station honors this legacy by providing housing stability to people from all walks of life.