Clackamas County is moving forward with plans to convert rooms at the Quality Inn off of Interstate 205 into transitional housing units.

Now, nearby business owners are voicing their concerns.

That includes Mario Musil. He moved his law firm from downtown Portland to Clackamas, partially because of the homeless community in the metro.

"We had a homeless issue there. There was a bunch of homeless people that would hang out at the bottom floor at the entrance, and I had clients that were afraid to come in and consult with me, so I decided to move my office to Clackamas," Musil said.

Lizbeth Hale is the president of the Happy Valley Business Alliance. Hale tells KATU she's worried the project could impact the recovery of businesses after the pandemic.

"All I’m asking is for them to please consider the children of this area, the businesses that are already struggling because of COVID, and to just consider a different location," she said.

KATU shared these fears with Adam Brown, the deputy director of Housing and Human Services for Clackamas County.

“Actually, I would turn that one on its head and say that we actually think that this is part of our community recovery effort, that we have lacked critical housing infrastructure in our community which has contributed to some of the livability issues that we see," Brown said.

Brown said a more remote location would distance people in need from key services and transit options.

"This is actually more of a solution to the problem that we all see facing our community than it is something that’s likely to make it worse," he said.

The county has not yet determined when people could move in to the site. They plan to vote to close on the property in the next few weeks.