State money will keep Church at the Park’s micro shelters open for at least another year, meaning at least 250 people across three locations will continue to have a place to sleep off Salem’s streets.
About $8.5 million in state funding will ensure the shelters stay open until next June, Church at the Park announced Wednesday. The small shelters offer temporary housing, meals and connections to service providers.
Since Church at the Park established the first Salem micro shelter site in 2021, the city of Salem has paid for its operation using mostly state grants and federal Covid relief money. Facing a budget shortfall, city leadership determined they could not support the shelters when those funds ran out this summer.
Around this time last year, Salem’s micro shelters faced an uncertain future. Proposals for keeping them open included levying a payroll tax on Salem workers, which ultimately failed at the ballot box in November 2023. Local legislators failed to secure state money earmarked for Salem shelters during the 2023 session.
Those efforts meant the shelters faced closure in June 2024 when city money ran out, potentially displacing hundreds of people. But Church at the Park has now secured state money to keep all three of its shelter sites operating another year.
State money began paying for operations at Church at the Park’s young adult shelter on Southeast Turner Road last June after a city grant ran out. The state will pay a total of $2.5 million to operate the site for two years ending June 2025, Founding Pastor DJ Vincent said. The site hosts 38 people ages 18 to 24.
The family site, which hosts 132 children, youth and adults on Northeast Portland Road, is receiving $3.9 million for 18 months of operations ending June 2025.
Funding for the third site, the Village of Hope on Center Street, was up in the air as Salem City Council adopted a budget in June. Church at the Park leaders at the time did not respond to Salem Reporter’s requests for information about the future of micro shelter sites as the city neared a final budget.
State money to keep the site open was the last to be confirmed on July 1, Vincent said. The site has pods for 80 people, and it will be funded through June using $2.1 million in state money.
The city of Salem already approved continued funding to Church at the Park’s safe parking program for the next year, using $260,000 from the general fund. The program gives people living in their cars and campers a place to park overnight with bathrooms and trash-pick up.
The state has also given the organization $1.5 million to expand sheltering in rural Polk County starting this fall. Plans include an emergency shelter for three families at a time in Dallas, and a 14-bed shelter for vulnerable adults in Monmouth.
The organization also plans to increase wages for all staff to at least $19.17 an hour, starting in September, which it based on rent costs in Salem.
“We strive to promote equity and inclusion in all aspects of our work and we believe that all of our employees should earn a dignified wage that affords them the ability to live in the city that they serve without rent burden,” a statement from the organization said.
Church at the Park plans to work with the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance, state representatives and Oregon Housing and Community Services to secure funding past June 2025, Vincent said.
Data from Church at the Park has shown about one-third of its adult shelter residents go on to permanent housing, and about half go on to a “positive destination,” which could include a treatment facility, temporary housing or other shelter.
“In 2023, 203 people moved from (Church at the Park) shelters to positive destinations and the funding from the State enables us to continue to restore dignity and make our community safer, more welcoming, and more livable for everyone,” Church at the Park said in a statement.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
