Last week, after some gentle prodding, the City of Portland announced that it'd be opening one of two day storage sites for homeless people this week, months later than planned. We reported that'd be happening.

It hasn't.

The west end of the Steel Bridge has neither the 53-foot modified shipping container officials said was on the way, nor the restrooms and dumpsters they say will create a needed new resource for homeless Portlanders in and around downtown.

"The delivery driver got the flu," says Jen Clodius, a spokesperson for the city's Office of Management and Finance. The new plan? The storage containers are slated to arrive on parks land beneath the Steel Bridge next Tuesday, with the second container delivered to a spot near the Hazelnut Grove homeless camp on North Greeley on Wednesday.

"Mind you those are just deliveries," says Clodius. "There's still set-up work to be done."

As we've noted, the day storage sites will help fill a gap in service for the city's growing homeless population—offering them a place to store their belongings without fear of theft. Those places exist in Portland—for instance, at the Bud Clark Commons in Old Town—but can't possibly keep up with demand. That will almost certainly remain the case even with the planned city operated sites. Cities like San Diego and Vancouver have similar systems.

Portland officials say the storage sites will run for at least six months. People will be able to drop off belongings from 6 to 7:30 am, and pick them up from 4:30 to 6 pm. Belongings that aren't claimed will be kept onsite for three days, before being transferred to another facility.