By the time most unsheltered people walk into Salem’s navigation center, the bureaucratic gears are already turning to secure them a permanent home.
That’s been the key to the shelter’s success in the first year, said Ashley Hamilton, chief program officer at the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, which runs the shelter.
The agency’s recent report on first year outcomes found that about half of departing shelter residents, 54 of 103 people, moved into permanent housing between June 2023 and May 2024. On average, people left the navigation center within four months.
Hamilton described the first-year results as “extraordinary.”
Hamilton said when people got a bed at the shelter, they were also enrolled automatically to receive state money to help subsidize an apartment and help with initial costs like a deposit. It’s a program called rapid rehousing. That combination was the best thing they implemented, she said.
“They start working day one, knowing that there’s a housing placement waiting for them at the end,” she said.
Described as the “crown jewel” of Salem’s response to homelessness, the navigation center hosts up to 75 people, while offering case management to stabilize their housing, mental health and employment.
The shelter opened in 2023 after years of effort and escalating construction costs. The city of Salem invested $15.5 million to renovate and open the shelter, including about $4.8 million for two years of operation. The money came from the city’s share of federal pandemic relief, state grants and funds from Marion County. The Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency contributed $1.3 million.
After next June, the center’s future is uncertain. It opened without a plan to fund operations past June 2025. Salem’s proposed payroll tax would have funded ongoing operations, but voters defeated the measure in November 2023.
Salem’s micro shelters, also built without a long term funding plan, are now operating under state grants secured through June 2025.
READ IT: Navigation center first year outcomes report
Daily life at the navigation center looks different for everyone, said Sara Webb, program manager. Lights go on at 8 a.m. in the sleeping area, and by 10 a.m. everyone is either off to work, doctor’s appointments or spending their time in the day use area with TV, puzzles and to chat with staff.
The shelter offers three meals a day. Residents who tend to stay in the shelter all day, often those with disabilities, are actively working on securing housing plans, employment plans or disability benefits, with help from case management. The shelter also has showers and laundry.
“Their day should be fairly filled with activities,” Webb said. Then it’s curfew and lights out by 10 p.m. Sometimes, especially when there’s inclement weather, the shelter puts on game nights with popcorn.
Of the 103 people who exited the Navigation Center in its first year, 49 moved into permanent housing through the rapid re-housing program and five moved into rentals without subsidy.
Others moved into “positive destinations,” shelters like ARCHES Inn and ARCHES Lodge, and some moved in with friends or family. Thirty-four people moved to an unknown destination, according to the report.
It’s a higher success rate than some of Salem’s newer sheltering programs.
In comparison, Church at the Park’s micro shelters reported last year that at the family site on Northeast Portland Road, about one in three people moved into permanent destinations, including housing, and 82% went to “positive destinations.” At the adult site on Northeast Center Street, 23% left for permanent destinations, and 56% to “positive destinations.”
On average, most people entering Salem’s navigation center had been homeless for four years.
Over half of them were chronically homeless, meaning they have a disability and had been homeless for at least a year, or have been homeless at least four times over the last three years, according to the report.
Of the 54 total people who moved into permanent housing, 33 had been chronically homeless when they entered the navigation center, Hamilton said.
Salem’s navigation center combines shelter with housing, two services that are often separated, Hamilton said. Most incoming residents received two notifications: one that they were queued for housing placement, and another saying there was a bed available at the navigation center in the meantime.
“Because it takes a long time to get through intake, to get through the housing search process. Sometimes the units aren’t always ready, even once approved you’ve got to wait for that. No sense in keeping someone outside as that moves through the timeline,” she said.
While people waited, they had help from the center’s staff to gather needed documentation, choose which apartments to apply for, work with landlords and make sure the apartments were livable.
“It was that bridge which made this project so successful, and what makes it a true navigation center. It’s not a traditional shelter. This is a path to get someone as quickly into housing as possible,” Hamilton said.
A major help is that it’s also a low-barrier shelter, said Webb, serving people who might not be accepted elsewhere because of pets, partners or substance use.
“That means you can come as you are. You don’t have to be clean and sober, you don’t have to be in mental health treatment,” she said. “You really get to come through those doors any way you can get through them, as long as your behavior is appropriate once you’re there.”
Webb said they don’t have a “three strikes, you’re out” policy like at most shelters, and they do what they can to address issues as they come through mental health and case management to give people a chance to succeed.
Every resident had case management for housing, personal goals and resources. On top of that, 30% received help with medical case management, like connecting with doctors and health care. About 14% got referrals for behavioral health treatment, and 12% enrolled in drug treatment programs.
Webb said that, having run a lot of shelter programs, she knew that it’s more accessible to allow unsheltered people to bring their pets, who are considered members of the family, into shelters. They’d prepared by installing outdoor pet areas and washing stations, but early on, one of the first clients brought “a bunch of cats.”
“The volume of pets, I think to me, was really surprising,” Webb said. “It was both a learning experience and also a beautiful one to be able to help those in need.”
Fifteen beds at the shelter are reserved for people referred by the Salem Police Department’s Homeless Services Team, who do street outreach and respond to camping complaints. The police give the shelter starting information about what the person needs and how long they need a bed. Since launching in April 2024, the police have referred five people, according to the report.
Despite the positive results, Hamilton said shelters are never running at their best during the first year. They’ve made adjustments to improve case management requests, and staff experience. Webb said they’re working to smooth out the housing voucher process further.
Hamilton said that the program can grow and succeed if there is consistent and transparent funding from the state.
“This program can only become more successful. And we have to continue funding these sort of initiatives, and doing so consistently over time is key,” she said. “Constantly fighting for funding, it ruins the ability to truly be innovative in the work.”
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.
