Housing & Homeless News

 

 Local Housing & Homeless News 

(Cumulative from Nov 2021 to Nov 2024)

Koumoué, C. "Salem microshelter project showing early signs of success."  (17 November 2021, KGW)

Council approved a grant of up to $26K for 10 storage lockers staff report (6 December 2021)

Woodworth, W. "'Less a hotel and more of a home': Shelter opens at a former Super 8 motel in Salem."  (7 December 2021, Statesman Journal) 

Barreda, V. "Volunteers needed for Salem-area warming shelters as overnight temperatures start to dip."  (10 December 2021, Statesman Journal)

City Manager's 12/13/21 Update (City asking for $562K from state, fed emergency mgmt; for  > $5.2M from Marion County etc, completion Sep 2022;  CDBG)

Van Beusekom, M. "COVID-19 much less likely in homeless house in hotels: study."  (14 December 2021, CIDRAP News.)

Harrell, S. "New Warming shelter opens as snow falls in Salem") (28 December 2021, Salem Reporter.) 

Hutcherson, E. "Domicile Unknown." (30 December 2021, Eugene Weekly.)

Barreda, V. "One year in, Police Chief Trevor Womack talks trust, staffing, data and body cameras."  (2 January 2022, Statesman Journal.)

Harrell, S. "Homeless people could soon be protected class under city law."  11 January 2022, Salem Reporter.) 

Woodworth, W. "Homeless camping grows at Marion Square Park in downtown Salem."  12 January 2022, Statesman Journal.)

Harrell, S. "Help count the number of people experiencing homelessness in Salem area."  20 January 2022, Salem Reporter.)

Woodworth, W. "Salem City Council approves 3 sites to house homeless in micro-shelter villages."  (25 January 2022, Statesman Journal.)

Tabriziam, A. "Street outreach team delivers medical care social services at Salem homeless camps."  (10 February 2022, Salem Reporter.)

Harrell, S. "Salem to evict homeless camp at Marion Square Park Thursday."  1 March 2022, Salem Reporter.)

Tabrizian, A. "Salem area gets federal housing funds for homeless, domestic violence victims."  (31 March 2022, Salem Reporter.)

Tabrizian, A. "Once again, crews clear homeless camp at Wallace Marine Park, residents, dispersed."  (31 March 2022, Salem Reporter.)

Woodworth, W.  "Work begins on new Salem microshelter location despite legal challenges."  (11 May 2022, Statesman Journal.)

Alexander, R. "One year in, about half of Village of Hope residents move on to somewhere better."  (24 May 2022, Salem Reporter.)  

Tabrizian, A. "Annual homeless count shows 15% increase in 2022."  (29 June 2022, Salem Reporter.).

Woodworth, W. "Council approves funds for South Salem microshelter village on Turner Road SE."  (22 August 2022, Statesman Journal.)

Tabrizian, A. "New micro shelter village for young adults to open on SE Turner Road."  (23 August 2022, Salem Reporter.).

Tabrizian, A. "Federal grants could help get dozens of Salemites off the streets."  (23 August 2022, Salem Reporter.). 

Tabrizian, A. "City ending homeless rent assistance program to make way for federal housing money."  (1 September 2022, Salem Reporter.). 

Tabrizian, A. "New city team frequents homeless camps for outreach, cleanup."  (7 September 2022, Salem Reporter.). 

Woodworth, W. "'New Salem team is trying a different response to homeless encampments."  (7 September 2022, Statesman Journal)  

McDonald, A. "Salem's community satisfaction survey shows discontent over homelessness, city services."  (20 November 2022, Statesman Journal.).

Woodworth, W. "Unsanctioned camps cleanup closes sidewalks surrounding Marion Parkade in downtown Salem."  (22 February 2023, Statesman Journal.).  

Lynn, C. "Melisa Blake was discharged from Salem Hospital to the streets.  Hours later, she was dead."  (23 February 2023, Statesman Journal.).

Shumway, J  "Oregon House passes $200 million for housing and homelessness, call it a start." 16 March 2023, Oregon Capital Chronicle.).

McDonald, A.  "Local organizations in line for $10 million for more action on homelessness."  12 April 2023, Salem Reporter.).

Shumway, J. "New state-funded homeless shelter opening in former Salem hotel."  (12 April 2023, Oregon Capital Chronicle.).

McDonald, A. "Yet to open, Salem's homeless navigation center could be out of money by 2025."  19 May 2023, Salem Reporter.).

Sharp, N. "Salem won't be getting state help for key homeless services out of 2023 session."  25 June 2023, Salem Reporter.).

Alexander, R., Sharp N. "'A fighting chance': Salem on track to have 1,000 shelter beds this year."  7 September 2023, Salem Reporter.).

Sharp, N. "A guide to Salem's expanding homeless shelters." (7 September 2023, Salem Reporter.). 

McDonald, A. "Warming Shelters to rely on volunteers to keep people sheltered on freezing nights."  (19 October 2023, Salem Reporter.).

Hart, A. "'Street medicine' providers who care for homeless will get federal dollars under new rules." (19 October 2023, Oregonian.). 

Woodworth, W. "Lack of funds hinders Salem Warming Network for homeless people ahead of forecasted freeze."  (27 October 2023, Statesman Journal.). 

McDonald, A. "Community Action plans to end child homelessness in Salem region with new grant."  (21 November 2023, Salem Reporter.).

McDonald, A. "ARCHES seeks volunteers as weekend temperatures forecasted below freezing."  27 October 2023, Salem Reporter.). 

McDonald, A. "Tenants to start moving into Sequoia Crossings." (30 January 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

McDonald, A. "Salem Needs a cohesive strategy, better data to address homelessness, study finds." ( 21 February 2024, Salem Reporter.).

Poehler, B. "Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency to expand homeless shelter in Woodburn." (5 March 2024, Statesman Journal.).

McDonald, A. "What the Supreme Court's Grants Pass ruling means for Salem" (28 June 2024, Salem Reporter).

Woodworth, W. "Millions in state funding saves three homeless shelter sites." (25 July 2024, Statesman Journal.).

 McDonald, A. "As Salem's homeless services grow quickly, disagreements emerge on overhead spending" (1 August 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

McDonald, A. "Building Salem:  Veterans housing opens in Grant Neighborhood" (9 August 2024, Salem Reporter.).

Woodworth, W. "Salem approves grant for downtown security fence to address homeless camping." (12 August 2024, Statesman Journal.).

McDonald, A. "Salem man loses life attempting Willamette River rescue." (19 August 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

McGuinness, H. "From camping to a dog park:  Cottage Grove evictions expose Oregon's homelessness crisis." (23 August 2024, Eugene Register Guard reprinted in Statesman Journal.). 

McDonald, A. "Simonka Place renovation will add space for 11 homeless women, children." (27 August 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

Crombie, N. "Oregon's drug decriminalization experiment Saturday.  Here's Measure 110's story by the numbers."  (27 August 2024, The Oregonian.).

McDonald, A. "Church at the Park to expand adult micro shelter site." (29 August 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

McDonald, A. "ARCHES hopes new day center fence will help clients feel safer, deter after-hours gatherings." (5 September 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

Woodworth, W. "Why the Marion County Transition Center closed and what's next." (6 September  2024, Statesman Journal.). 

Moore, M. "Salem clinic combines medication and counseling to treat opioid addiction." (10 September 2024, Salem Reporter.).

McDonald, A. "Grace House to add more beds for homeless women." (10 September 2024, Salem Reporter.).  

McDonald, A. "What Salem is doing to fight homelessness." (25 September 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

McDonald, A. "The problems and promise of downtown Salem." (26 September 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

Siess, J. "Here's how Salem-area governments spent their Covid relief money."(3 October 2024, Salem Reporter.).

Lugo, D. "Kotek touts gains made on homelessness as Oregon nears some goals, lags on others." (3 October 2024, Statesman Journal.).  

Tabrizian, A. "Salem police cutting downtown, behavioral health teams."  (9 October 2024, Salem Reporter.). 

Mason, A. "Oregon's new Medicaid rental assistance aims to prevent homeless."  (30 October 2024, Statesman Journal.).  

News from the Continuum

Campsite on Marion Street, est. fall 2021

Since the last News was posted (July 2, 2021), UGM opened its new men's mission. Alexander, R.  "UGM more than doubles space to get men off Salem’s streets."  (27 July 2021, Salem Reporter.)  The City wrapped up the camping "program" in Cascades Gateway and Wallace Marine parks and set about removing trash.  Ditto the tolerance program at Market Street.  Barreda, V.  "People vacate homeless encampments on Market Street ahead of sweep."  (18 July 2021, Statesman Journal.);  Alexander, R.  "ODOT will sweep camps on Market Street, Salem Parkway starting July 19."  (12 July 2021, Salem Reporter.)  As campers dispersed, homeless services providers tried to expand outreach efforts.  Lugo, D. "As homeless camps close, advocacy groups must adjust to maintain services."  (23 August 2021, Statesman Journal.)  And Council passed Resolution 21-451, extending the state of emergency relating to unsheltered homelessness to June 28, 2022.

Last July, the City thought its new navigation center would be open by now.  Harrell, S. "Navigation center for Salem homeless could open this winter."  (16 July 2021, Salem Reporter.) (quoting Sen. Courtney -- who was instrumental in securing the necessary state funding for the navigation center -- "We [Salem representatives] have been way behind compared to some places the state. Salem has been very conservative for asking for help.”)(Emphasis added.)  In fairness, Sen. Courtney was busy raising $1-2M for the new amphitheater at Riverfront Park, and $12M to build a new YMCA, while the City did not, until fairly recently, consider homelessness within its remit beyond law enforcement and annual contribution of $400K in federal matching funds.  The City now expects the navigation center to open in the spring, though the building or some part of it is slated for use as a warming center.  See here page 72.      

Salem Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher wait list remains closed.  Tabrizian, A. "Salem's wait list for housing vouchers dwindles, but years-long pause on new applications still stands."  (1 November 2021, Salem Reporter).  Vehicle-camping has continued to occur at Wallace Marine, as has enforcement action.  Cascades Gateway remains closed for restoration (restrooms shelters, parking lots, trees and green spaces) and the park will probably not open until Memorial Day or possibly July 4th. Campsites such as the one on Marion Street in the photo at top are again commonplace throughout the City, as are complaints/inquiries about them.  See Barreda, V. "'I got no place to go': Remaining unhoused campers cleared from Portland Road property."  (30 September 2021, Statesman Journal.)  But, the City recently put up a "Homeless Camping Complaint" portal so complaints can be dealt with more efficiently.  The City has also resumed trash collection or "cleanups" at Marion Square Park, the Rite Aid block, and the area around Marion Parkade, and cooperated with ODOT removing trash from five locations off I-5 (Hawthorne near Hyacinth, Portland Road, Fisher Road, Ridge Drive in Keizer, Mill Creek), and 12th Street at Shelton Ditch.  State and federal homeless funds are believed to be covering some if not most of the costs of clean up.    

The City's efforts since July to expand the "Salem Safe Parking Network" (rebranded presumably to make the name match the "Salem Warming Network") to meet need have not been successful, with 130 individuals currently on the wait list.  Similarly, efforts to expand the number of managed camps into every Ward of the City are falling short (so far just the 2 in Ward 6).  (Windows on the West and Wallace Road NW could not be made to work.)  The winter shelter at 2640 Portland Road has reopened (the last season DEQ rules will permit its use for this purpose) (25 mats indoors + pallet structures + vehicle) and there is the new site that opened as planned at 3737 Portland Road (60 mats indoors + 30 pallet structures + vehicles).  The 15-hotel-rooms-for-10-weeks program is operating, and the Project Turnkey hotel program, or the Arches Inn as it is now called, is or soon will be housing wildfire victims.  

Almost all of these folks were homeless before the wildfire, living in the Canyon in cars up forest roads, tenting in someone’s back yard, squatting in abandoned homes and such.  These are generally high needs clients.  We have a very large sum from the State of Oregon (about $3.5 million) just to work with this group, but we are dealing with severe income limitations, criminal histories, substance abuse problems and some level of mental health concerns, beyond the trauma associated with the wildfire itself.  It’s going to take some time.  We’re looking at selectively opening some rooms on the second floor for homeless persons who have serious medical conditions, and have a high risk of dying during the winter season. [Report of MWVCAA Exec. Dir. Oct 2021]

Referring back to the tally publicized last June in the "City Puts 8.1 Million Toward Salem's Sheltering Crisis" announcement, here's how things have turned out as we head into winter:

City's 6/15/21 press release

In addition to what remains of the unspent $8.1M in ARPA funds and the $10.5M grant under HB 2006 for "sheltering", private funds have been raised to purchase 100 additional pallet structures, but the City has been unable to identify any suitable sites for either camps (pallet structure or vehicle) or for indoor shelter.  Gretchen Bennett remains the City's homelessness point person, and since October, residents have been able to view and sign up for her brief weekly updates here.  Her November 8 update was presented to Council as an information report, allowing councilors to ask questions and further publicize the City's homelessness management efforts.  During that portion of the November 8 meeting, Councilor Hoy signaled a willingness to modify (relax) the site requirements given to Bennett (e.g. property is not in use).  Mayor Bennett asked about "sustainability", "how long can we do this" (i.e., pay for programs that manage vs. end homelessness).  Hoy continued to defend, sans evidence, management programs as an "investment", and asserted that such programs were what "the public" wanted.  Bennett (the Mayor) said what the public wanted was for the City to "make it go away."        

November 8, 2021 City Council Meeting

Tonight is the Council's "Policy Agenda" work session.  Hoy is expected to "visualize" the homeless services continuum and Councilor Nordyke has telegraphed she will advocate for some of the $10.5M state grant to revive her zombie CAHOOTS project.  See Tabrizian, A. "County officials point to crisis response services, crisis center as city tables plans for non-police program"  (13 October 2021, Salem Reporter.)  Tabrizian, A. "Salem, United Way halt plans for mental health crisis responder program"  (23 September 2021, Salem Reporter.)  Bennett indicated at the last meeting that he feels the need to "rationalize" to the public the vast sums being spent on homeless management.  See also Mayor Bennett's June 2021 "interview" of Councilor Hoy.  See also Harrell, S. "A managed homeless camp closes at fairgrounds, but provides lessons for social service providers"  (1 April 2021, Salem Reporter.) Will "addressing homelessness through crisis response, homelessness prevention and affordable housing expansion" continue to be the City's No. 1 priority going forward?  Or should the City keep doing what it's doing and call it something else?  Tune in tonight and find out. 

News from the Continuum

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

1185 22d Street selected as site for low-barrier shelter/nav center

City staff surprised no one at Monday night's Council meeting by announcing that the plan to site a temporary low-barrier shelter/nav center in the old Men's Mission building at 345 Commercial Street NE (soon to be vacated) was not going to work.  Its main attraction was the fact that the City owns the building.  This means that Salem will have to wait for rehab/improvements to the permanent low-barrier shelter/nav center site on 22d Street before starting to spend the $5M operations funding that the state legislature appropriated for that purpose in April (SB 5042, signed into law on April 15, 2021).   

Jimmy Jones, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency (whose ARCHES Project will operate the new nav center), told City Council he hoped to open the facility by winter.  Winter begins 21 December 2021, and Mr. Jones is a self-professed optimist.  The City has budgeted $3M of City ARPA funds for the purchase ($2.75M)/rehab of the 22d Street site.  But, the City has not as yet identified a funding source for the $1.5M/yr cost to operate the facility 24/7 after the state funding runs out, as shown in the Budget Committee slide, below.   

Listening to Council Monday night, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this new program was Council's long-held dream come true, but for as long as Chuck Bennett's been mayor, the top of the homeless response wish list has been a sit-lie ordinance and a sobering center, though neither is considered part of the the continuum of care for people experiencing homelessness, much less a "best practice."  There was no navigation center in the City's initial Strategic Plan (2017) -- the City adopted it only after the State identified the need and signaled in the 2020 short session that it was prepared to fund it.  See Oregon Statewide Shelter Study (Aug 2019) and "Council Sets Ambitious 2020 Policy Agenda" (14 February 2020).  No one should think for a minute that Mayor Bennett's changed his thinking as to what's "really" needed downtown.   

28 June 2021 City Council Meeting

For all the talk of the nav center being a "game changer", Council isn't on the team and has never read the rules.  They will take credit when it's due and, when setbacks occur, issue denials and point fingers.  Remember the last time Council asked Jimmy Jones for advice and assistance.  See "Council Throws ARCHES Under Bus" (14 January 2020).  Expecting the game to change in the short term is unrealistic.  The $3M operations grant from the state requires quarterly reports, but meaningful data will lag at least a year (nav center opens, say, January 1, 2022, first quarter teething problems, data by end of second quarter 2022).  Once the facility does open, there will be pressure to sidestep standard admission protocols and accept "referrals" for the convenience of sheriff and police departments -- remember Councilor Phillips comment last January -- there will be, in short, pressure to turn the nav center into an ER and sobering center substitute.  That, however, is the homeless management game.   

Speaking of games, did everyone see the City's press release claiming the City's ARPA funds spending  would add 543 shelter beds?  Here's how that figure breaks out:

Project Turkey (Hotel with 60 to 80 rooms).............................................................120 beds

Nav Ctr/Low Barrier Shelter (30-40 individuals).......................................................50 beds

$172,830 - Current Hotel Program Extension (15 rooms for 10 weeks)....................30 beds

$1,921,460 - Old Union Gospel Mission Temporary Shelter......................................70 beds

$575,000 - Portland Road Outdoor Operation (outdoors)...........................................70

$200,000 - Portland Road Indoor Operation................................................................25 mats

$540,000 - Windows to the West Outdoor Operations and Shelter  (outdoors)...........30

$1,146,000 - New Site Indoor / Outdoor Operations..................................................148 

That's right, the City assumed double-occupancy of rooms, fudged the nav center numbers, and claimed tent and vehicle camp sites as "shelter beds" in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.  Spending details in the June 14 City Council meeting staff report.  Just whose game does Council want changed?

In addition to funding the City nav center's operations, the 2021 Session of the Oregon legislature secured for persons experiencing homelessness no-fee DMV IDs (HB 3026), 72-hour written notice of intent to clear an established camp site (HB 3124), and the right to challenge to local laws regulating sitting, lying, sleeping or keeping warm and dry outdoors on public property open to public* (HB 3115) (see  "City Opposes State Limits on Sit-Lie, Camping Bans"  (19 March 2021) and Harrell, S. "Salem area officials worry bill to decriminalize homelessness will just lead to more litigation."  (14 April 2021, Salem Reporter.)).  

The legislature also infused funds into the Yaquina Hall project (HB 5002) (see "SHA to Develop Yaquina Hall"  (23 March 2016)) (updated) and told the medical examiner to report "domicile unknown" when issuing the death certificate of homeless persons (SB 850).  See Zuhl, J. "Multnomah County tracks homeless deaths. Now, other counties might too."  (7 April 2021, StreetRoots.);  Whitworth, W.  "'All of them had a name:' No one knows for sure how many people are dying while homeless in Oregon."  (4 April 2021, Statesman Journal.)

The much-touted HB 2417 -- which a City staff report described as allowing local governments to establish "a new mobile crisis response system to meet those in mental health crisis where they are" as well as "new (or support an existing) sobering center"  -- failed to pass as originally drafted.  The original bill was gutted and stuffed with another bill intended to get OHA to study, coordinate and expand access to (in that order) statewide crisis services, including a 9-8-8 suicide prevention hotline.  See HB 3069.  Makes sense to study and coordinate first, at the state level, and avoid the creation of 36 (counties) + 1 (state) separate crisis response systems, criteria, etc., but the setback will, no doubt, disappoint the Salem Budget Committee, which, at Councilor Nordyke's urging, included a 25% match for a CAHOOTS-style mobile unit in the recommended budget for FY 2022.  HB 2417 did allocate $10M to counties for their mobile crisis response units, which in Marion and Polk include the dreaded law enforcement component.  Funding for a mobile crisis unit and sobering center was in Council's 2020 Policy Agenda.  See "Council Sets Ambitious 2020 Policy Agenda" (14 February 2020).  The mobile crisis unit made it into Council's 2021 Homeless Policy Agenda (sort of), but the sobering center -- rightly -- did not.  See "Council's 2021 Homeless Policy Agenda"  (19 January 2021).  

* The Oregonian headline writer had a different interpretation.  See Hayden, N. "Oregon will allow homeless individuals to sleep on public land in all communities." (9 June 2021, Oregonian/OregonLive.)

9/23/21 Update: Tabrizian, A. "Salem, United Way halt plans for mental health crisis responder program."  ( 23 September 2021, Salem Reporter.) Not that it would have made any difference, but Nordyke didn't even talk to the commissioners.

News from the Continuum

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Monday night, after receiving notice on Friday that the Oregon Housing and Community Services department (OHCS) was finally getting around to distributing the second round of pandemic-related Homeless Emergency Solutions Grant funds (ESG-CV2), with about $6M slated to come to providers serving Marion and Polk counties, the City agreed to allow Church at the Park to use the winter shelter site at 2640 Portland Road for 24-hr vehicle- and pallet-structure camping from the end of March through the end of October 2021.  It did so by enacting Resolution 2021-11, which amended Resolution 2020-49 which had declared a state of emergency relating to unsheltered persons through 6 October 2021.  Whitworth, W.  "Salem City Council approves new 'Pallet' shelter site for homeless."  ( March 2021, Statesman Journal.)  Councilor Hoy said Monday night that the funds would be a "game-changer", but did not offer specifics.  

The notice of ESG-CV2 funding is relevant because that is where Church at the Park will get the estimated $275K needed to pay for staff and PPE, and $140K for the pallet structures.  Were it not for the pandemic, these funds would not be available -- and they will not be available for long, nor are they  unrestricted.  Allowable uses are limited to emergency shelter, street outreach and rapid re-housing.     

ESG-CV2 FAQs

Not that anyone would know this from the Council discussion.  For reasons not hard to imagine, the City is taking credit by fronting through Gretchen Bennett's ever-empathetic manner the appearance of sincere concern and a desire to shelter/house more of Salem's chronic homeless population, even as management prepares for a return to the pre-pandemic "policy of chasing them around town."  Under Blake v. City of Grants Pass and HB 3115 if it passes, the City's enforcement policy requires that they have, or be able to argue as the Mayor did in 2020, that the City's homeless services and shelter options are sufficient to "remove any barrier or excuse for anyone to claim that camping on our community’s sidewalks represents a needed choice or situation." See "Mayor Bennett: State of City" (12 February 2020).  

Some might argue that what matters is that the City is working to increase homeless services and shelter options, not why.  However, that assumes all homeless services and shelter options are of equal value when they are not.  They run the gamut from volunteer to trained professionals, from religion to evidence-based, from shoe-string to multi-million dollar institutions, from basic needs to permanent housing.  The "why" dictates whether the approach will be management/minimalist, or ending/maximalist.  Contrary to popular belief, only a concerted effort at the latter can, in fact, reduce the chronically homeless population of Salem.  

The City's rhetoric always has been a problem, but it is getting worse.  Referring to vehicles, tents, pallet structures and parks as "shelter", as the City is now doing, does not make them fit for human habitation.  See "City Approves More Overnight Shelter for Area Homeless"  (23 March 2021, Flash Alert) (referring to the approval of the managed camp at Portland Road).  Council members may make dubious claims that Church at the Park programs have moved people into permanent housing, but have they?  Does it matter?  If the public are somehow persuaded that the City is doing all it can to "address homelessness" with basic needs programs and hopeful rhetoric, will homelessness cease to be the City's top concern?         

The decision to keep the Portland Road site open through next fall was a bit of a bait-and-switch for the Highland and Northgate neighborhoods, whose residents back in November had been given to understand the building would be 1) for vulnerable/elderly participants, 2) overnight only, and 3) winter only.  They were also told in November the program might be expanded to vehicle/tent camping, but not year round.  See November 5, 2020 meeting video here.  The City did recently let neighbors know about the new plan, however.  

Resolution 2021-11 makes much of not allowing managed camps in areas zoned single family (RM), which is small comfort to concerned homeowners on the east side of Brooks Avenue NE in the Pine Street Mixed Use Overlay Zone.  (Portland Road site in red) 

In other news, Oregon took the number three slot for the highest percentage of unsheltered homeless in 2020. HUD's 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress.  If Oregon were to adopt Salem's latest "innovative" approach to the problem, it would need only about 300 Portland Road sites and $1.2M/yr to "address" the unshelteredness problem ($400K per site for pallet structures, staffing and PPE with toilets extra).  Perhaps less, depending how long the pallet structures last.  Wonder why they have not done that.  Will Councilors Lewis and Phillips advocate for expanding Salem's managed camps when the City, as opposed to the federal government, has to pay?  Tune in this time next year and find out.     

News from the Continuum

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

 

Oregon Capitol 2021, closed due to C19 (photo courtesy Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce)

With the Capitol boarded up (first floor windows) and closed to the public, the 2021 Legislative Session feels very different this year.  But, the limited access hasn't stopped the City's Legislative Committee (Mayor Bennett and Councilors Andersen, Hoy and Lewis), who have been lobbying hard for the City's priorities since before the session began on Thursday, January 21 (House, with the Senate following on Friday). 

In December, the City had seven priorities, according to the minutes of the December meeting.

Priorities.  The Committee revisited priorities for the upcoming session: Yaquina Hall funding gap, operations of a navigation center, COVID-19 recovery resources, behavioral health resources, and canyon wildfire clean up, with the inclusion of a sobering center and CAHOOTS-style model for Salem.  The Committee expressed a preference for seeking capital funding for the CAHOOTS model, rather than operating.

Through the sausage process, the City's priorities narrowed to four: funding for navigation ($5M) and sobering ($1M) centers, Yaquina Hall ($3.1M), and "Community mental health impacts."  See Thomas, J. "City of Salem is again asking the Legislature to help fund housing and homeless projects."  (20 January 2021, Salem Reporter.)  

This winnowing was no doubt disappointing to Councilor Nordyke, who has been very vocal in her belief that CAHOOTS is a must-have for Salem, perhaps prompting this advice in the City Manager's 1/15/21 Update:

However, at Friday night's meeting, after noting Nordyke's disappointment that the City was not prioritizing CAHOOTS, the Committee approved a one-pager for legislators that included  CAHOOTS, and described the need as "$800K to cover 12 months of operations" that "assumes partnership with local organizations."  (The Salem version is "CRU", short for "Community Response Unit", and is a fledgling project of the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley that Kim Hanson initiated when she was serving on the Downtown Salem Good Neighbor Partnership.  See "Council Conducts 'Disjointed' Session on 'Non-Criminal' Policing."  22 October 2020.)  

January 22, 2021, Legislative Committee

As Mayor Bennett described the CAHOOTS ask, the City wants the state to fund the City's contribution to the United Way project, which is not something the state typically does.  Thus, it would seem that the City does not seriously expect to receive CRU/CAHOOTS funding, and wouldn't know what do do with it if it did.  See "News from the Continuum"  (23 December 2020.) 

Also this week, the City announced plans to stand up a ~10-week, ~100-space, indoor camping program at the State Fairgrounds beginning early February at a cost of $602K (that's $602 per camper per week at capacity) ($250K from MWVCAA's share of "Out of the Cold" state program funds --see "State Policy Pits BLM vs. Homeless"  (4 January 2021) -- and $352K from the City of Salem -- see "Council OKs $1.2M for Homeless Relief" (10 November 2020). 

The City's announcement (press release, Community Connection, etc.) gives the impression that the program is part of its plan to "carefully conclude overnight camping" in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks, but it really isn't. 

For one thing, the program is open to all.  If there are 600 people camping in those two parks, there are at least that many camping elsewhere in the city.  While this temporary program might be of great significance to the relative few who enroll in it, it's unlikely to have much impact on the situation in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks.  Providers will be doing very well indeed if they manage to house as many as a third of those enrolled.  For more about Fairgrounds camping plans see Whitworth, W.  "Temporary homeless shelter planned for 100 at Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavilion."  (21 January 2021, Statesman Journal.)   Harrell, S. "With space for 100, temporary homeless camp to open at state fairgrounds."  (22 January 2021, Salem Reporter.) 

Note that the City's communiques erroneously cite the City's Emergency Housing Declaration as responsible for lifting the park camping restrictions.  In fact, it was the City's C19 Emergency Declaration that did that.  (City of Salem Resolution 2020-18 prohibited public gatherings on public property and suspended the camping ban in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks.)

The distinction is one that Salem City Manager has been at pains to maintain, doubtless due to the need to maximize the chances that the camping programs, if they can be called programs, can be paid for with CARES Act or other federal funds.  But, if social media posts are anything to go by, there has been an unfortunate tendency to conflate Salem's C19 policy decisions with its homeless policy decisions.  In other words, too many Salem residents believe that City homeless policy has somehow changed from what it was in 2019.  They don't realize the City's 2020 decisions to incur costs in support of camping were prompted in large part by pandemic realities, and very likely would not have been taken without the potential for federal reimbursement.  Once pandemic conditions come to an end, it's highly likely that the City's willingness/ability to fund homeless camping programs will also come to an end.  

In preparation for that day, the City is currently participating in a League of Oregon Cities work group that is "seeking enforcement options for public spaces" in the wake of Boise v. Martin.  Because, even if  the legislature gives Salem another few dozen supportive housing units and another few hundred low-barrier shelter beds, people are still going to be trying to find a place to pitch a tent.  The alternatives are not nearly as humane as people like to think, and there are just too many people living in the streets.  The Mayor likes to insist that Salem is not going to become Portland, but it's just a question of strategy and scale, especially as one considers that "seeking enforcement options for public spaces" is exactly where the City left off 2019.  See "Camping Ban for Christmas" (21 December 2019) and Kavanaugh, S.  "Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s urgent mandate to move homeless campers into ‘humane’ shelters isn’t working."  (23 January 2021, Oregonian/OregonLive.)      

News from the Continuum

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

DevNW CEO Emily Reiman and Federal Programs Mgr Shelly Ehenger at Council on 12/14

At its last meeting in 2020, Council was again asked to approve HOME funding for the DevNW project (as Amendment #2 to the 2020-2021 Annual Action Plan).  See "'Progressive' Council Snuffs Affordable Hsg Project"  (20 June 2020).  It did so by a vote of six (Andersen, Ausec, Bennett, Hoy, Lewis, Nordyke) to one (Nanke -- no reason given), with zero remarks from Mayor Bennett.

Bennett's silence speaks volumes about his character considering that, just last month, he had been the sole "no" vote on the motion to approve the project site plan and design review and had publicly chastised staff (and apparently Council) for "looking at investing City money in this [housing project, which] makes me increasingly uncomfortable that we haven't looked at this closely enough.  I hope in the future we'll look very closely at these kinds of issues."  See "'I do not understand the Mayor'"  (1 December 2020).

The next big NIMBY fit is likely to be over Sequoia Crossings, a multifamily project that will turn vacant Salem Housing Authority property in the Highland neighborhood at 3120 Broadway NE into ~77 units of a mix of studio, one bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments for highly vulnerable families.  Long "in the works", the project finally appears to be gaining momentum.  On December 7, City Council, acting as the Local Contract Review Board, agreed to exempt the project from the competitive bidding process for contracting (i.e., approved using a "Construction Manager/General Contractor" method instead).  See here for details.  A pre-landuse application review conference with the planning department is expected in January, which should give the neighbors something to sink their teeth into.  There will probably be a pre-NIMBYtive traffic study, although there is no parking requirement because the project is within a quarter mile of the Cherriots Core Network.  This does not mean the plan is to have zero off-street parking, just that it won't be 1.5 spaces/unit (the current thinking is ~50 stalls will suffice).  This is a much-needed project that will build on lessons learned from Redwood Crossings.  If all goes according to plan, construction will be completed summer 2023.    

As promised in November and subsequently directed by Council (see "City to Buy Land Under ARCHES"), City Manager Steve Powers reports that the City met with United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley "to develop a plan for the launch of a local Crisis Response Unit."  There were unanswered questions, he says, so they met with staff from Eugene's CAHOOTS program: 

In this second meeting, three key next steps were determined to be necessary to clarify an accurate budget: conduct a Request for Information to determine possible operational homes for the program, conduct a deep systems analysis including dispatch capacity, given trends and needs seen in cities developing similar models, hold a meeting with core partners to walk through workflows and test [them] against common situations. [Emphasis added.] 

This is the second time that the City's tried meeting "with core partners to walk through workflows and test [them] against common situations", the first time being through the Good Neighbor Partnership.  Let's hope for better success this time around, whatever the ultimate outcome.  The budget coming out of the GNP inquiry was firmly in the $500K/yr ballpark for two shifts consisting of two teams of two.  Anchorage is getting ready to use alcohol tax monies to implement a mobile crisis unit that will cost $1.5M initially.  "For the first half of the year, it will operate 12 hours per day, seven days a week. A team will consist of a paramedic and a behavioral health clinician as well as a unit commander."   Wieber, A. "Anchorage funds a new mental health first responder team."  (24 November 2020, Anchorage Daily News.)  (Before heading to Alaska, Wieber covered the Oregon Legislature for the Salem Reporter.)  Our considered guesstimate is that, after all the analysis is done and the numbers are crunched, CRU will not ultimately "pencil out" without a new funding source, such as an alcohol tax,  notwithstanding Council Nordyke's fervent beliefs to the contrary.

The City's two duration warming shelters have been opened several weeks now.  Shelter on State, or SOS, opened November 22, and Portland Road opened ~December 1.  Both programs found they were initially under-subscribed and have had to adjust the initial plan to enroll select individuals (those assessed to be highly vulnerable if left outside and needing supports) through MWVCAA's Coordinated Entry program.  As of December 22, Portland Road is using a first-come-first enrolled plan (Portland Road).  SOS moved to first-come-first-served a couple of weeks ago.  

Both programs are attempting to adhere to a C19-preventative cohort model, whereby guests are guaranteed a space for 30 days if they agree to use it, and in fact do so.  Not surprisingly, few guests have had interest in, or perhaps the capacity to keep to, the necessary 30-day commitment.  Many prefer to stay put, given the duration shelter program provides shelter every night, but only at night, and to spend only the coldest nights in a warming shelter or even a hotel.  (Seventy or so hotel rooms have been on offer first-come-first-served when the mercury drops, courtesy the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency and CARES Act funding.)

The cohort model makes perfect sense from a health standpoint (fewer people swapping the same air).  But expecting people to leave a tent camp every night for weeks or months doesn't seem reasonable considering that it means their stuff might be moved or even missing one morning when they come back for the day, or whatever.  And with C19 shutting almost everything down, there aren't a lot of other daytime options.  While the duration shelters do provide some personal storage space, that doesn't address the problem of where shelter guests are supposed to go during the day.  There was a plan to open Center 50+ during the day for the Portland Road guests, but the plan collapsed under November's surging positivity rate.  

How the response to this week's flooding will affect duration shelter program implementation, if at all, remains to be seen.  See Harrell, S. "Homeless campers flooded out of Cascades Gateway after heavy rain."  (21 December 2020, Salem Reporter.);  Urness, Z.  "'People are suffering:' Floodwaters inundate homeless camp of 300 at Cascades Gateway Park."  (21 December 2020, Statesman Journal.);  Barreda, V.  "Crews pick up debris, help replace belongings for campers flooded out of Cascades Gateway Park."  (23 December 2020, Statesman Journal.)  The City is under pressure from Cory Poole, owner of Paradise Island Park (adjacent to Cascades Gateway Park), whose already loud voice has been amplified by the Statesman, to reimpose the ban on camping in the Cascades Gateway and Wallace Marine parks.  City Council is expected to discuss a yet-to-be-developed plan for how to do that at their next meeting, January 11, 2021.  Providers have told the City that the plan must provide, if not shelter, at least a comparable alternative to the park camping.  Given there are an estimated 600 campers in the two parks, the duration shelter program could accommodate ~10% of them, but only through the end of March.  It could be that the City's should focus more on managing expectations that trying to appear to be responsive to impossible demands.    

Council OKs DevNW Project over Mayor/Grant Objection

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Last night (11/23/20), City Council approved DevNW's application for the map/zone changes needed to allow them to transform the Evergreen Baptist Church property at Cottage and D streets into 19 apartment units.  The Planning Commission approved the application, but the Grant neighborhood association appealed the decision.  Grant opposed the project at every step in the process, relying in the main on a floodgates argument against the dreaded scourge of multi-family/low-income housing (aka, "luxury high rise" apartments). 

Grant rep Paul Tigan argues Council should disapprove the DevNW project

Shortly before 10 p.m., Councilor Hoy finally moved staff recommendation to affirm the Planning Commission decision with an amendment to the lower maximum height from 50 to 40 ft.  Seconded by Lewis.  Aye:  Hoy, and Councilors Lewis, Nordyke, Ausec, Andersen, Leung, and Nanke.   Nay:  Mayor Bennett, who not for the first time opted to benefit himself politically rather than fulfill his duty to follow the requirements of City code.  "This could have been resolved with more time and more consultation with the neighborhood", he baselessly claimed, after spending much of the nearly three-hour hearing interrupting with leading questions, shaking his head over answers, and repeatedly signaling his bias in favor of the Grant neighborhood association.  Bennett represents the City of Salem on the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance Board of Directors.

Council had, back in June, sided with Grant resident and former Councilor Cara Kaser in opposing the project, forcing developer DevNW to redesign the project and resubmit the site plan.  See "'Progressive' Council Snuffs Affordable Hsg Project"  (20 June 2020).  For her part in that decision, Kaser was investigated by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.  In late October, she entered into a stipulated final order with OGEC in which she agreed she'd violated ORS 244.120(2).  See November 6, 2020 Meeting Materials at page 123.  The situation recently led at least one observer to conclude:  

It is the Neighborhood Association and the City, not the developer, who has left evidence for bad faith. Until someone turns up evidence that is more than merely conjecture and hypothetical, the developer here deserves the benefit of any doubt or uncertainty.”

"City Council, November 23rd - Affordable Homes and German Baptist Church Project."   (20 November 2020, Salem Breakfast on Bikes.)  See also Harrell, S. "Former Salem city councilor faced ethics complaint for failing to disclose potential conflict of interest ." (23 November 2020, Salem Reporter.)  Harrell, S. "More affordable housing is on the way after Salem City Council approves church property conversion." (24 November 2020, Salem Reporter.)    

While it's never too late to do the right thing, the Grant neighborhood association deserves no credit here, because they opposed the project throughout, as did Mayor Bennett, for the flimsiest of reasons.  While a majority of Council did finally approve the application, that doesn't begin to undo the damage.  Their bad faith refusal to fund the project back in June not only encouraged Grant to continue opposing the project, but also delayed development, raised costs, and generally made it look as though Salem doesn't really want or need all the quality low-income housing that's offered it.  No question that Council got this one mostly wrong.  

In other news, the Men's Mission reopened last week after closing due to a C19 outbreak.  Loew, T. "Salem's largest homeless shelter reopens after COVID-19 outbreak."  (19 November 2020, Statesman Journal.)(C19 winter capacity 110, down from 198)  Alexander, R.  "As temperatures drop, Salem's largest homeless shelter sees Covid outbreak"  (9 November 2020, Salem Reporter.)   Loew, T. "COVID-19 outbreak closes Union Gospel Mission shelter, store in downtown Salem."  (9 November 2020, Statesman Journal.)  UGM managed to isolate affected guests, no thanks to the Marion County Health Department, which seems to have been largely MIA on the pandemic front. Harrell, S. "Marion County has spent more than $1 million on a hotel for Covid respite. Most of its rooms have sat empty," (18 November 2020, Salem Reporter.)  There is a good chance Salem could gain additional shelter spaces through Project Turnkey.  See Radnovich, C. "Oregon lawmakers approve $35 million for homeless shelters amid pandemic, recession."  (10 November 2020, Statesman Journal.)  Awards are expected to be announced in late January/February 2021. 

11/25/20 update:  added cite to Salem Reporter coverage

12/18/20 update:  Monday last, Council was asked again to approve HOME funding for the DevNW project (as Amendment #2 to the 2020-2021 Annual Action Plan).  It did so 6 (Andersen, Ausec, Bennett, Hoy, Lewis, Nordyke) to 1 (Nanke -- no reason given), with zero remarks from the Mayor.  Recall that Bennett had chastised staff (and Council?) last month, for "looking at investing City money in this [project, which] makes me increasingly uncomfortable that we haven't looked at this closely enough.  I hope in the future we'll look very closely at these kinds of issues."  See "'I do not understand the Mayor'."  (1 December 2020) and "'Progressive' Council Snuffs Affordable Hsg Project"  (20 June 2020).  

8/10/24 update:  McDonald, A. "Building Salem:  Veterans housing opens in Grant Neighborhood" (9 August 2024, Salem Reporter.)

City to Prioritize "Hlessness Response"

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

 

This week, Council held a work session facilitated by consultants from Moss Adams to update the City's first ever citywide 2017 Strategic Plan.  The three-to-five year plan has not previously been updated.  The update involves choosing new goals and actions.  Below are the goals and actions the City's focused on for the last three years.

Short term (3-5 yrs) Goals from Salem's 2017 Strategic Plan

To update the 2017 plan, City leadership needs to select ("prioritize") three to five strategies relating to the City's six "Service Areas" or "Result Areas" (Safe Community, Welcoming and Livable Community, Strong and Diverse Economy, Safe, Reliable and Efficient Infrastructure, Natural Environment Stewardship, Good Governance).  Moss Adams presented Council a preliminary "short list" of five priorities based on a survey of Council members.   

11/16/20 Work Session on Salem's Strategic Plan

The survey given Council was based on Moss Adam's "long list" (below), which was compiled from surveys of City management, staff and the public (bottom of the post).

 

 

But what does it mean to "prioritize" a phrase that's not defined?  That was up to Council to decide.  Moss Adams told Council that prioritizing financial stability could mean putting extra time, energy and staff resources into identifying new ways to create financial stability for the City.  But first, was Council ok with the short list?

 

At first Council focused on what didn't make the cut.  Councilor Hoy said he saw DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) not as a separate strategy but more of an overarching goal/philosophy, whereas Councilors Ausec and Leung thought DEI should get more attention.  Councilor Andersen said he saw Infrastructure and Public Safety as being subsumed by Environment and Homelessness Response.  Mayor Bennett was concerned that Great Neighborhoods not be left out and was willing to drop Financial Stability.

 

Next, Moss Adams asked Council to discuss what the phrases meant to each of them, starting with Homelessness Response.  What would success there look like?  The City's management teams, for instance, saw it a couple of  different ways.  One view focused on "direct daily response actions" to mitigate negative impacts, the other focused on "preventing homelessness."  The question for Council was, "how would we know we had actually reached a point of success" on the City's homelessness response? 

 

Hoy led out, but ended by saying he didn't understand the question, and was prompted, "What are the specific outcomes you're looking for?", at which point Bennett jumped in saying, "that the public knows what we're already doing right now", and that he wanted "a list of those programs that are actually in the works."  Hoy took a different tack, saying the City needed to "double-down" on partnerships, regional efforts, stop working "in the silos of government", to which Bennett added, "we just can't do it alone."  

We just can't.  It's too big.  We can keep having 36 units here, 25 units there, and a parking lot here, and a parking lot there and a couple of warming centers and we've now taken care of 200 people.  We still [have] 1,300 people unhoused and probably 200 [more] moving into town.  So [success is] really finding some sort of public satisfaction that [the City] has committed adequate resources to addressing the problem.                

Councilor Ausec said, "What I think is important to say is, if as a City we're not capable of housing everyone, what are we going to do for the folks we can't house until we can get to that point."  Councilor Andersen basically agreed with Ausec, but said the City also needed to "respond to the public's concerns about what's going on in parks, what's going on downtown, and that sort of stuff", because "when people say they're concerned about homelessness, many are concerned about issues 1 (Homelessness Response) and 2 (Affordable Housing), but many are concerned about 3 (Economic Development)."  "Probably most", Bennett quipped, chuckling.

 

Hoy summed up the problem as deciding what to invest in managing homelessness (crisis response), and what to invest in ending homelessness (housing).  Councilor Nordyke said she thought "the people of Salem will feel we have made a difference when homelessness becomes less visible" and the best way to achieve that was a Housing First strategy.  Ausec said he wanted to see the top two priorities  reflected in the City's budget.  Councilor-elect Phillips said the top two priorities could be combined, and that he would define success as a mobile crisis response team, a low-barrier shelter, and a sobering center.  Then the discussion bogged down over how much money was needed, what type of housing, the need for collaboration, etc., etc.

 

Wrapping up, Moss Adams told Council that, next, they plan to develop a long list of potential objectives/actions for each of the priorities (like the 2017 goals and actions above), work with Council and management to select which ones to include in the plan (i.e., which to make the measure of success), submit a draft plan by the end of December, and begin developing the 2021 Council Policy Agenda based on the response to the draft plan.  

 

The next work session is scheduled for January 19, 2021, at which point Councilors-elect Gonzalez, Phillips and Stapleton will have been sworn in, and the public will find out just what prioritizing "Homeless Response" will (and won't) mean for the next three to five years.