increase font size Portland residents seek referendum to block large homeless shelter The proposal aimed at the November ballot would limit the size of new shelters to 50 people and would thwart the city's efforts to build a new, 200-bed homeless services center in Riverton. Share A group of Portland residents is pursuing a citizen initiative to limit the size of new homeless shelters and block the city’s plan for a 200-bed shelter near the Westbrook border. The proposal, which organizers hope to get on the November ballot, would limit the size of new shelters to 50 beds. That would exclude the 200-bed homeless services center planned for Portland’s Riverton neighborhood. Organizers say it will not affect the city’s existing Oxford Street Shelter, which has a capacity of 154 people.