Brad Ketch, the former tech executive-turned-nonprofit director who recently lost an emergency shelter contract with Multnomah County amid accounting disputes, is charging ahead with plans to build 56 units of affordable housing in the Rockwood section of Gresham, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the metro area.

The Gresham Design Commission reviewed the proposed four-story complex, called “Pine & Ash,” at a meeting Aug. 6.

East County Housing LLC, an entity controlled by Ketch, aims to combine four lots it owns between Southeast Ash and Pine streets off 181st Avenue and erect an L-shaped, 55,000-square-foot building, according to plans submitted to the Design Commission.

East County owns another building 1½ miles north on 181st: Rockwood Tower, a family shelter that, until July 1,

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