Category Homelessness
Punx With Purpose moves into downtown resource center
Hundreds of youth have already gotten support at Stormie’s Place, a new youth resource center in downtown Salem offering a safe haven, needed supplies and connections to resources for all teens in the community, including those without a safe place to stay.
City plans to pull funding from safe parking, warming shelters
The city’s proposed budget would pull some of its last remaining annual investments into homeless services, which have supported safe parking options and warm shelter on freezing nights for hundreds in the community. The programs plan to turn to state funding.
Oregon bill would stop bans on mobile homes
Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, said her proposal to prevent mobile home bans in planned communities is a step to address Oregon’s housing crisis.
Record number of homeless people counted in Marion, Polk counties
An annual count which attempts to measure the number of people experiencing homelessness in the region counted over 2,100 people, and nearly half said they were homeless for the first time in their lives.
Salem Housing Authority pulls out of homeless outreach effort due to limited budget
For the past eight years, the Salem Housing Authority has helped unsheltered people move into permanent housing. Following budget cuts, they’ll pivot to focusing on keeping people housed, leaving homeless outreach work to other agencies in the network they helped build.
Sentenced to the Sidewalk: 4 takeaways from our series
A lengthy investigation by Salem Reporter led to publication recently of a three-part series on flaws in Oregon’s civil commitment process. Here are the key findings.
HUD funding delays threaten rent assistance for Salem domestic violence survivors
With $4 million in funding toward Salem-area homeless services in limbo, providers worry that changes in federal contracts indicate deeper cuts and more restrictions on care ahead.
SENTENCED TO THE SIDEWALK: Legislators sharpening focus on reforms to help troubled people
After years of inaction, lawmakers are turning their attention to key flaws in Oregon's civil commitment process. But needed space to treat people with severe mental illnesses still lags behind.
SENTENCED TO THE SIDEWALK: In ‘revolving door’ of Salem’s psychiatric unit, getting better is a matter of luck
Oregon has no functional system to compel psychiatric treatment for unsheltered people dying slowly from neglect. That leaves Salem Hospital as the only outlet for many of Salem’s most vulnerable.