New Adult Day Shelter Finally Opens Downtown

Revised: January 2019

 

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

 

Waiting for Glass at The ARCHES Project's New Day Shelter

A mere 382 days after The ARCHES Project closed down its Madison Street day shelter, the new shelter at 615 Commercial Street NE is now open and available to consumers, although it still does not have laundry, shower or kitchen facilities.  

The shelter would have opened the week of the 9th, had the glass fire doors not been shipped without the glass, as the Mid Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA)'s Community Resource Program (CRP) Director Jimmy Jones explained to Michael on Wednesday, when we dropped by for a few pictures.  Glass arrived Saturday, and the shelter was able to open Tuesday, July 17, following 3 consecutive days of extreme heat.  Hours are 8:30 to 3, M-F.  Max occupancy is 98.

The opening of the day shelter was not the grand affair that accompanied the opening of the co-located Veterans Service Office earlier in the month.  No dignitaries, ribbon-cutting speeches, or crudités -- just sign in, please, for your white-bread sandwich in a sack, which, if you like, you may now eat inside.  [Photo below:  dignitaries at the VSO opening ceremonies on the second floor included State Rep. Paul Evans (tall guy), Polk County Commissioner Jennifer Wheeler (red), ORDVA Director Sheronne Blasi (to Wheeler's left) and Marion County Commissioner Janet Carlson (seated).]
  

VSO Opening July 1, 2018 

To recap for background, MWVCAA purchased the facility at 615 Commercial Street NE in June 2017 for $2.1M, using ~$.5M in state homeless assistance funds (SHAP and EHA) as a down payment.  The balance was seller-financed at 6%, with one quarter-million balloon payment due in 2018, and another in 2019.  Jones had said earlier this year that additional homeless assistance funds would be used to cover the 2018 balloon payment but said recently that those funds would not be used.  Rather, he said, "both the balloon payments and the mortgage payments" would be paid with "unrestricted agency dollars."  He declined to name the source of those dollars.  A review of all MWVCAA's funding sources for PY 2016 (the last year available) found less than $250K in private donations, which might or might not have been restricted.  All the rest was in the form of government grants, which are almost always restricted.  MWVCAA previously has lamented its lack of access to unrestricted funding as a reason for not being able to open winter warming shelters on a more frequent basis.

To renovate the first floor of the facility (as it could not be used as a shelter without extensive renovation) MWVCAA asked to use, and OHCS approved, an additional $.5M in FY 2017-19 homeless assistance funds.  The chart summaries below show how Oregon's homeless assistance funds are distributed statewide (by statute, the funds go to Community Action Agencies).  For an OHCS report on the CAAs' use of SHAP and EHA funds, follow the link in the caption.

Housing Stability Council July Meeting Materials beginning at 35

Last winter, WVCH gave MWVCAA $65K to pay for a Co-Location Services Director at its new facility, which MWVCAA sometimes refers to as the Marion County Resource Center.  Since then, MWVCAA has added Josh Lair, Marion County's LEAD program liason, a Marion County Health Department worker 2x month to deal with the recent uptick in Hep C cases among homeless IV drug users), and of course, the VSO.  The Oregon Law Center, which was reported last January as sharing space in the Center, is there by appointment.  The ARCHES Project, OHA-OHOP (housing for people with HIV/AIDS) and Easter Seals (veterans employment services) were already sharing space and are still doing so.  It would seem there's still quite a ways to go before the facility becomes a true one-stop shop or resource center for people experiencing homelessness, but at least a piece of it finally can be used as a shelter for part of the day.

The opening of the day shelter marks the end of Phase 1 of construction.  Phases II (sprinkler system, kitchen, showers, laundry) and III (sobering center), which Jones says they plan to complete together now that necessary funds have been secured, are expected to begin soon.  (As of January 2019, construction has not begun.)

Jimmy Jones, Michael Livingston & Melissa Baurer Tour 1st Floor

Jones told us constructing the day shelter "shell" cost about $107K.  The remaining construction will take more time and, of course, cost more money.  The building's new uses (showers, laundry, kitchen, sobering center) have made sewer capacity an issue, and will require breaking through the concrete floor to replace pipes and fittings at an additional cost of ~$150K over and above original estimates.  Fortunately for MWVCAA, the City of Salem is providing ~$300K in federal funding and the state legislature has promised another ~$400K, in addition to the homeless assistance funds approved by OHCS for "Rehab/Conversion" (see above.)

A "soft opening" of the "day center" is planned for July 31.  In case anyone is wondering, a soft opening is an informal opening that takes place without much publicity, before the official opening.  Presumably, the "official opening" will take place after construction is complete, which Jones said in July could be November.  "That's when the City wants the sobering center ready", he told us in July.  However, as of January 10, 2019, the estimate on sobering center operating costs has jumped almost $300K to $950K, with only $400K committed.  If the sobering station project does not move forward, Jones says the space will likely be renovated for offices.

As we've had several questions about the history of the Commercial Street facility, here's a recap, beginning in 2009.  (We don't know when MWVCAA first started The ARCHES Project.)

circa Nov 2009 - The ARCHES Project opened at 1164 Madison St NE ( shelter, shower, laundry, commercial kitchen, offices)

circa Jun 28 2017 - closed Madison St, opened at 615 Commercial St NE (offices offering some services, but no shelter, showers, laundry or kitchen)

July 17, 2018 - opened day shelter at 615 Commercial St NE, 8:30 to 3, M-F (still no showers, laundry or kitchen)

as of 1/10/19, construction not scheduled to begin  - showers, laundry, kitchen and sobering center.

Update:  see "City to Build Despite Ops Funding Gap." (25 January 2019.) (Projecting that construction might be completed by mid summer.)