2022 Notice of Compliance

 The City has evidently decided it's a good use of resources formally to provide neighborhood associations an official, hand/ink-signed, snail-mailed notice of compliance with the requirements of SRC 64.280.    

 

 

11/15/22 Minutes

Members: Woody Dukes, Deb Comini 

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Virginia Stapleton, City Council Ward 1;  Linda Nishioka, City Council Ward 2; Julie Warnke, Transportation Planning Manager, Salem Public Works

 

Guests: none

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the October meeting were approved unanimously.

Councilors Stapleton and Nishioka reported their activities since the last meeting.

The board heard a presentation by Julie Warnke on the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan.  Following the presentation, the board agreed to renew its letter supporting the City of Salem's application to the Oregon Community Paths Program for a grant to fund construction of a path running from City Hall, under Commercial Street and the railroad, to Riverfront Park at or near the Eco Earth (aka acid ball).      

Michael Livingston’s motion to reconsider the motion to adopt 2022-2023 annual goals passed unanimously.  Following discussion, the board agreed unanimously to adopt a single civic engagement goal for 2022-2023, to wit:  “To provide continued financial support for Mid-Valley Resources (https://www.midvalleyresources.org/)."  Livingston’s motions to appoint an e-newsletter workgroup at CANDO’s next meeting and to cancel the December meeting also passed unanimously.  

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 7:00 pm.

Revised City Policy on Com Funds

 2022

Irma Coleman, Neighborhood Program Coordinator, City Manager's Office

Revision date and author unknown

 

10/18/22 Minutes

 Members: Charles Weathers

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Virginia Stapleton, City Council Ward 1;  Linda Nishioka, City Council Ward 2;  

 

Guests: Carol Snyder

The annual meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:03 p.m., on Tuesday, October 18, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the September meeting were approved unanimously.

Councilor Stapleton reported her activities since the last meeting.

The board heard presentations by Carol Snyder on the Salem Park Foundation’s Eco-Earth Restoration Project and by Charles Weathers on the renovation of 455 Court Street NE (formerly Whitlocks Sewing & Vacuum).

The Chair opened the floor for nominations to the Board of Directors.  Current board member Bryant Baird nominated himself and the rest of the current board for re-election.  The current board was then re-elected by unanimous consent.  The Chair then closed the Annual Meeting, called to order a meeting of the Board, and opened the floor for nominations of officers. Livingston nominated himself to be re-elected as Chair. There being no further nominations, he was elected Chair.  Michael Livingston’s motion to adopt the proposed 2022-2023 annual goals passed as amended.

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:50.

9/20/22 Minutes

Members: Christy Riddell

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Officer Matthew Gill, City of Salem Police Department;  Virginia Stapleton, City Council Ward 1;  Linda Nishioka, City Council Ward 2;  

Guests: Roberta Cade (briefly) 

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the August meeting were approved unanimously.

Officer Gill reported on the shift of focus, two months in, in community policing to wherever violent crime and “livability” issues, not necessarily downtown, although he noted that, once again, the central area had become a focus for his team.  He invited residents to contact him with concerns at MGill@cityofsalem.net.    

Councilor Stapleton reported her activities since the last meeting.

The board heard a presentation by Christy Riddell on the Rivers Condominiums Building Mural project. 

  

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:53.

 

 

8/16/22 MInutes

 

Members:  Woody Dukes, Deb Comini

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Irma Coleman, Neighborhood Services, Officer Matthew Gill, City of Salem Police Department;  Virginia Stapleton, City Council Ward 1

Guests: none  

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, August 16, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the July meeting were approved unanimously.

Councilor Stapleton reported in follow-up on her report by email since the last meeting, that the $13M grant for the McGilchrist project would free up some (not all) bond funds (bond measure yet to go to the voters).  She said she had expressed interest in serving on the Council steering committee to oversee administration of the bond measure, should it pass, and invited comment on her proposal for a bike lane on Capitol Street and answered questions.  

Officer Gill, in response to previous inquiries about how much attention downtown was getting from the bicycle patrols, reported they are there about three hours a day, and that seemed to provide a good balance, though there remain areas of particular concern.  He also reported on the youth-focused bike rodeo at MAPS, with participation from several downtown merchants.  In response to a question about enforcement of traffic violations (bicycle), Officer Gill diplomatically reminded the board that SPD is not able, and is unlikely to be able in the future, to spend the time on traffic enforcement that citizens might wish.    

 

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:33.

7/19/22 Minutes

Members:  Woody Dukes, Deb Comini, Valorie Freeman

Organizations: none

 

City, County and State Representatives: Officer Dalton Bodine, City of Salem Police Department;  Virginia Stapleton, City Council Ward 1

 

Guests:  Keith Higgins, Eugene, soon to be a member of CANDO

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the June meeting were approved unanimously.

Officer Bodine, subbing for Officer Gill, touched on the upcoming National Night Out and the City’s homeless-related complaint portal.  He encouraged CANDO to report suspected "bias crimes" to police.  He reported that the recent Iron Man and HOOPLA events went well from a police perspective and that it is now Department policy not to respond to calls about noise or similar nuisance behaviors unless the circumstances indicate criminal conduct is occurring.  As an alternative for ongoing problems of that nature, he suggested the local community dispute resolution center.

Councilor Stapleton reported that: (1) in the future, non-profit groups using city park facilities will receive an automatic 20% fee waiver;  (2) the Eco Ball in Riverfront Park has been proposed for inclusion in the National Historic Register; (3) a 40-unit micro-shelter village will be installed on Center Street near 12th on vacant land across from the Safeway store; (4) Salem's new City Manager, Keith Stahley (the former Assistant City Manager for Olympia Washington) begins work in September; (5) the Our Salem plan for guiding Salem's growth and development has been approved; and (6) among the projects to be funded through the upcoming bond measure is the Union Street Bikeway and a buffered bike lane on Capitol Street between Center and Market.  

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:36.

State Kills Minimum Parking Requirements

By Elliott Lapinel

 

Households in Oregon face a lot of barriers trying to find affordable housing. Decades of discriminatory zoning practices and chronic underproduction of housing have not provided enough homes at affordable rates. Oregonians eligible for housing vouchers spend years on wait lists. According to the Oregon Regional Housing Needs analysis, construction of regulated affordable housing will need to triple for the next twenty years to dig out of this hole.

Luckily, one barrier to building more affordable housing will be eliminated by the end of the year. Under a new set of state land use and transportation planning rules called Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities by the Land Conservation and Development Commission, affordable housing developments in much of the state will no longer be subject to minimum parking requirements.

Many people don’t realize that since the mid-twentieth century, all new buildings in Oregon and across North America have been required to comply with off-street parking mandates: predetermined ratios of required parking spaces per home or square feet of a store. While well-intended, these parking mandates result in an oversupply of parking spots. Vacant spots aren’t just an eyesore, they increase rents and can prevent new housing from being built at all.

Down the block from me in Salem, the results of reduced parking minimums are already in action. The Evergreen Presbyterian Church is currently being converted into 18 affordable homes, including 9 set aside for chronically homeless veterans.

This is only made possible by the fact that the site was within one-quarter mile of transit, and therefore exempt from Salem’s requirements that multi-family housing have 1.5 parking spaces per home. At that rate, the site would have needed parking spots for 28 cars, three times more than what fit after the small existing parking lot was redesigned for handicap parking.

People with lower incomes are the least likely to not own a car, and in the most dire need of this type of housing. After the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission finalizes the temporary rules in July, nearly 60 percent of Oregon’s population will live in a place where it will be legal to build affordable housing like the Evergreen Church. 

 

Learn more about these updated land use regulations at www.oregonsclimatefriendlyfuture.com,

Elliott Lapinel is a data administrator at the ARCHES project, a part of the Mid Willamette Valley Community Action Agency

Featured Photo by Krzysztof Kotkowicz on Unsplash

6/21/22 Minutes

Members:  none

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Matthew Gill, City of Salem Police Department;  Irma Dowd, City of Salem Neighborhood Services; Virginia Stapleton, City Council Ward 1

 

Guests:  Keith Higgins, Eugene, soon to be a member of CANDO

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the May meeting were approved unanimously.

Officer Gill reported on a meeting of downtown businesses, attended by about 30 individuals, calling for “more bikes downtown”, echoing comments heard at CANDO meetings.  The issue is of course that the Community Action Team is now tasked with citywide coverage, although there are 10 bikes downtown, but the expectation is that the newly formed and funded Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST) will be responsive to situations about which Salem Police are often called.  There are also limitations on the ability of the Marion County jail to accommodate individuals that Salem Police might arrest.  There has been progress in protecting unsheltered individuals in need of protection, and focusing on those criminal elements that prey on them.

Councilor Stapleton reported on the City Manager search, the work of the Budget Committee, focusing on amendments to the recommended budget, and the re-approval of the Center Street organized camping site.  

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:26.

5/17/22 Minutes

Members: Deb Comini, Woody Dukes

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Gregory Walsh, City of Salem Emergency

Manager; Irma Dowd, City of Salem Neighborhood Services.

 

Guests: Keith Higgins, Eugene

 

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

 

The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference. The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer

were present.

 

The agenda and minutes of the April meeting were approved unanimously.

 

Councilor Stapleton was unable to attend but sent the following by email:

 

A few big things that are in process right now are the budget for this coming year,the project list for the bond, and Our Salem. Each of these are coming before Council in the coming meetings this month and next, so a very busy time indeed.In taking a look at the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) for the next five years, it's amazing to see all the work that will be happening in your area [Central Salem]. Over $28 million for street improvements, parking structure upgrades and repairs,the continuation of the streetscaping project, and a water main replacement. I look forward to seeing those get completed. 

 

The bond continues to make [progress], we had a great meeting yesterday where we talked about the project list. I'm advocating for money to be set aside for protected bike lanes with the projects being focused on missing links in our bike network (the last two blocks to the 12th Street Promenade from Union Street is one example). 

 

Next Monday the Council will vote to move the project list forward and to put forth another poll to Salem residents. Over the summer there will still be time to make adjustments after gathering more community feedback. 

 

The budget has been moved from the Budget Committee onto a full Council vote. No changes were made by the committee.Interviews for the City Manager position will be on June 2nd, they will still be confidential until we get down to the finalist. At that time the city will do more outreach to local groups, including neighborhood associations.

 

The board heard a presentation from Greg Walsh on emergency preparedness for

businesses. When asked about emergency preparedness for those in multifamily housing –

which is where most CANDO residents live – he said that his presentations to multifamily

owner/operators generally reveal vulnerabilities they would prefer not to discuss. (CANDO

had previously asked for a presentation on emergency preparedness for multifamily.)

 

Michael Livingston’s motion to spend up to the current balance of our communication funds to

renew CANDO’s sponsorship of Northwest Human Services’ Mid Valley Resources website at

the Silver level passed unanimously.

 

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:48.

4/19/22 Minutes

Members:  Deb Comini

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Virginia Stapleton, Ward 1 Councilor;  Matthew Gill, Salem Police Department Community Action Unit  

 

Guests: Linda Nishioka, Ward 2 City Council candidate;  Spencer Todd, Marion County District Attorney candidate

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:02 p.m., on Tuesday, April 19, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the March meeting were approved unanimously.

Sergeant Gill  apologized for recent absences at CANDO meetings and said he or another officer from the Unit would attend regularly in the future.  Although the problems homelessness creates for the police are “community-wide,” the Unit is not “giving up on downtown.”  The police will begin escorting service providers & outreach workers into homeless camps before the camps get “out of control.”  About 70% of the Unit’s resources will be dedicated to the safety of homeless camp clean-up efforts.  There is a new “transparency portal” on the Police Dept website.  The Unit is now fully staffed, and officers will be patrolling downtown on bikes.

Councilor Stapleton reported that a recent internal audit concluded that the City needs to fill 300 staff positions.  Council approved issuing a request for qualifications to set up a mobile crisis response program.  The council will hold a work session on the proposed bond measure on May 16. Currently, $25 million for “affordable housing” is in the proposal.  The Budget Committee begins its series of meetings tomorrow.  Chief Womack has asked for 6 additional officers.  

Spencer Todd introduced himself during the time for comments from interested citizens and invited questions and comments.

The board heard a presentation from Linda Nishioka, City Council candidate for Ward 2 (unopposed) and current Downtown Advisory Board member.  Nishioka said she looks forward to attending CANDO meetings and working with Councilor Stapleton.  Her priorities for downtown are resolution of homelessness problems, public safety, economic development and tourism.  

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:45.

3/15/22 Minutes

 

Members:  Woodrow Dukes, Deb Comini 

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Virginia Stapleton, Ward 1 Councilor  

Guests: none

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The Chair noted the resignation of Neal Kern due to his having moved out of the neighborhood.

The agenda and minutes of the January and February meetings were approved unanimously.

Councilor Stapleton answered questions on how the City decides street repair priorities, road improvements, etc.  The councilor in this context brought up the upcoming bond measure, and the Council’s intention to use an “equity lens” to decide what projects to include, acknowledging that many roads and sidewalks throughout the city have suffered neglect, and that the most heavily traveled routes – especially those already seen to be “alligatoring” – warrant prioritization.  She also reported on the City Council’s recent activities.    

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:30.

2/15/22 Minutes

 PENDING APPROVAL 

Members:  Woodrow Dukes, Deb Comini

Organizations: none

City, County and State Representatives: Courtney Knox Busch, Strategic Initiatives Manager, City of Salem; Virginia Stapleton, Ward 1 Councilor  

Guests: none

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the January meeting were not approved for lack of a quorum.

Councilor Stapleton reported on Council’s recent work, including implementation of the Climate Action Plan and setting speed limits in residential zones at 20mph citywide. 

Courtney Knox Busch gave a presentation on the City’s plans for a Salem Community Improvement Bond and answered questions.  

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:50.

 

1/18/22 Minutes

PENDING APPROVAL

 

Members:  Woodrow Dukes

Organizations: Leilani Slama, Chief Communications and Community Relations Director, Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics (Salem Health)

City, County and State Representatives: none

 

Guests: none

The regular meeting of CANDO was called to order at 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.  The meeting was conducted by Zoom video-conference.  The Chair and Secretary-Treasurer were present.  

The agenda and minutes of the November meeting were approved by unanimous consent.

Leilani Slama gave a presentation on Salem Health’s request for a variance from land use standards for signage in connection with the patient tower (Building A) expansion to provide 150 ICU-ready beds (no net increase in the number of beds) and shelled space on the first and second floors for future needs.  The building is slated to open in July 2022.  The signage is informational/directional.

Bryant Baird’s motion to submit written comments in support of the variance request passed unanimously.   

There being no further business before the board, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:37.

When is a shed = shelter?

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

 

"Ambiguous Sleeping Locations"

Why, when Janet Carlson says it is!

Janet Carlson is the paid Board Administrator for the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance and its weird twin, the ORS 190 Entity.  Let's call them the Alliance.  See "MWV Homeless Alliance Launches in Pandemic."  (25 May 2020)

In addition to being the Alliance's Board Administrator, Carlson is also a former Marion County Commissioner.  She lives in Idaho.  

Last week, Carlson authorized Jan Calvin, a paid Alliance consultant/contractor who lives in Salem, to reverse the decision of the Alliance's Point-in-Time Count (PIT) Workgroup co-chairs that those sleeping in Salem's "micro-shelters" on Portland Road NE should be counted as "unsheltered" for purposes of the PIT Count.  This blog will explore the reasons for and implications of the reversal.

The Alliance is a "Continuum of Care" organized in 2020 to carry out the purposes of HUD's CoC Program, described in 24 CFR Part 578.  Conducting the PIT Count is one if its responsibilities.  However, the Alliance assigned that responsibility to the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (MWVCAA), which happens to be the Alliance's duly designated "Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Coordination Entity."  

One of the PIT Workgroup co-chairs works for Church at the Park, which operates Salem's "micro-shelter" program, and the other works for MWVCAA/The Arches Project.  Their decision was based on HUD guidance and an inspection.  First the guidance:  HUD allows persons sleeping in "ambiguous sleeping locations" such as Salem's "micro-shelters" to be counted as sheltered when they are:

...[O]n a campus maintained by an organization, such as a governmental entity, nonprofit, or religious organization, where toilets, showers, and communal food preparation or food service areas are provided.  CPD Notice 21-12, 15 November 2021 at page 29.

However, "special considerations" apply, namely, "the campus must have enough toilets and showers per capita for the resident population within a reasonable distance from the units to count the residents as sheltered", and, because Salem's "regular seasonal patterns fall below 32 degrees or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit"), "the unit must have heat or air conditioning to be counted as sheltered."  CPD Notice 21-12.

The inspection of 2640 Portland Road NE ("Village of Hope" or DMV) found built-in heat, but only 1 toilet per 13 residents and 1 shower per 65 residents.  Conclusion:  not enough toilets or showers to count as "sheltered."  The inspection of 3737 Portland Road NE (CCS) found 1 toilet per 9 residents and 1 shower per 7.5 residents, but portable heaters (extension cords) for leaky, sometimes moldy, units.  Conclusion:  heating insufficient to count as "sheltered" (cooling capacity not mentioned).    

The decision to reverse was not based on an inspection, but on "information from other CoC's [sic] and consultation with HUD."  Reasons as such were not given, but the text of the email communicating the decision (set out in its entirety at the end of the blog) seems to say that reversal was required by the absence of HUD-established "ratio-based criteria" as to how many showers and toilets are "enough" (though others have figured this out), and HUD standards for whether Salem's "regular seasonal patterns fall below 32 degrees or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit" (she must have missed Salem's years-long controversy over warming).  In sum, the consultant/contractor found: 

The resources invested in these emergency sheltering communities move people from unsheltered to a place with sufficient weather protection and sanitary accommodations to consider them sheltered.  [Emphasis added.]

The first thing one notices about the decision to reverse is that it seems to be a policy decision made by contractors.  Contractors who religiously bring such routine decisions as accepting committee members' resignations to the Board.  Yet this decision was not taken to the Board.     

Another thing that stands out is that their decision gave no deference whatsoever to, or even acknowledged the role of, the Alliance's PIT Workgroup or its HMIS Coordination Entity, to whom the Alliance had given responsibility for the PIT.  It even suggests that the co-chairs' decision was  somehow a "discount" of Salem's "efforts to move individuals and families toward housing stability."  Such disrespect, and that is not too strong a word here, is contrary to the Alliance's mission and purpose, the success of which depends utterly on gaining the goodwill and cooperation of homeless services providers whose committee work is in addition to all their regular duties, which goodwill and cooperation is by no means guaranteed at this point in the Alliance's development.  Trust and cooperation are not built by politically-motivated, ham-handed tactical maneuvering.  

The last thing worth a mention is that, by reversing the co-chairs' decision, the contractors removed a perhaps strong incentive to address the defects that the co-chairs identified and thereby improve the situation for program participants.  Want the "micro-shelter village" to qualify as emergency shelter?  Bring in more toilets and showers.  Do something about the heating situation.  In other words, the decision to reverse may well have hurt those the Alliance exists to help.      

The Alliance might have, but has not so far, developed minimum standards for what constitutes "emergency shelter."  Thus the contractors' decision has implications beyond the PIT in that it will, in all likelihood, mean that Salem's "micro-shelters" will be classified in HMIS and counted as "emergency housing" for purposes of the Housing Inventory Count (HIC), along with UGM Men's Mission, UGM's Simonka Place, Safe Sleep United, The Arches Inn, Sheltering Silverton, Family Promise, etc.  Thus, the contractors' decision is likely to affect the Alliance's "statistics" in non-trivial ways -- for example,  its HMIS bed coverage rate, bed usage rate and system performance metrics.

The contractors' decision will also affect the way Salem looks at Salem's "micro-village" program outcomes.  Church at the Park (CATP) operates Salem's "micro-villages" with periodic grants from the City of Salem.  CATP has indicated variously that its goal is to move participants to "more permanent housing destinations", "positive destinations", "positive exit destinations", and "more permanent locations", and uses the below chart to illustrate.

 

The chart implies participants are moving from CATP's "managed sites" (which include duration warming (= sheltered) and vehicle camping (= unsheltered)) into housing of some sort.  A Statesman Journal story reported 18 people moving from the DMV site into "stable housing" and "67% of households [sic]" from CCS had moved into "more permanent destinations."  Woodworth, W. "Salem officials consider next sites for micro-shelter villages for homeless."  (3 January 2022, Statesman Journal.)  Councilor Phillips said at the 18 January work session, "The testimony from DJ Vincent during our last session in terms of the first year metrics on the micro-shelter sites that are managed is that we ended homelessness for about a hundred people" (at 22') and was not corrected.  In short, Salem thinks managed sites are moving people into housing.  

In fact, based on HMIS information provided by CATP, most program (both DMV and CCS) participants exiting to "more permanent locations" have exited to something other than the three housing classifications shown on the above chart, whether to emergency shelter, hotel, residential treatment facility or detox, friends or family (hardly more permanent).  Thus only 15% of DMV exits  (versus the reported 37%) and only 14% of CCS exits (versus the reported 61%) were to the type of housing advertised [figures revised 1/27/22 to correct math error].  The figures would like be even lower if calculated by household, but CATP did not provide that information.  See the chart at the end of the blog [revised 1/27/22]. 

Classifying "micro-villages" as "emergency shelter" would make moving from them to other forms of emergency shelter a lateral move, not "more permanent."  Those thinking, well, we all know "micro-villages" are subpar shelter must bear in mind that HMIS does not recognize gradations in the quality of emergency shelter.  In HMIS, ES is just ES.

CATP "Micro-Shelter Communities" FAQs

The big unanswered question here is why CATP feels the need, if it does, to be classified as an emergency shelter, or to prove that "micro-villages" are "an effective strategy to reduce homelessness."  Is it not enough that they offer some degree of comfort and safety?  That they offer folks who have difficulty meeting social demands of Salem's emergency shelters a way to reconnect?  See Harrell, S. "Relationship building is key to Church at the Park’s model in tackling homelessness."  (6 December 2021, Salem Reporter.)  Certainly, few true emergency shelters could prove they are an effective strategy to reduce homelessness, nor do they feel the need.  They just do the best they can.  Perhaps if CATP had not felt this unnecessary pressure to be what it is not, and to prove what probably cannot be proved, this controversy would not have arisen.  While it is still possible to correct this bad decision,  people have their ideas and people are stubborn.   

No doubt some will try to have it both ways -- that is, count the "micro-villages" as emergency shelter and count a move from them to a true emergency shelter as "more permanent."  And that's fine, if what we want to do is game the system so as to paint the rosiest possible picture for public consumption in order to make providers and donors and government officials, etc. feel better.  The alternative would be to focus on getting the best information one can about Salem's homeless services delivery system, and then communicating that information with as much focus as possible on the nature and extent of the problems, so that those problems can be addressed.  Nothing about this is easy.  Salem needs less obfuscation and cheer-leading, and more clear vision and leadership.  

 

text of Jan Calvin's 1/19 decision

 

Church at the Park's HMIS-sourced Report + Our #s in pink