A camp pictured at Oregon State Capitol State Park in December 2019 (Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter)
Oregon’s capital city will see millions in state money for a homeless shelter and affordable housing if the Legislature approves funding requests from the city of Salem.
Salem has faced a growing problem with homelessness. The number of homeless people in Marion and Polk counties rose to nearly 1,500 in 2019, according to the most recent official count. Last year, a survey of residents identified homelessness as the most-pressing issue facing the city.
Salem Mayor Chuck Bennett said that the city will ask the Legislature, which convened this week, for money aimed at getting people at the margins into some kind of housing.
“That’s really where we are focusing attention,” he said.
The city is requesting $3.1 million in state funds to help the Yaquina Hall affordable housing development. Salem has planned to remodel the former residence hall for nurses into 52 affordable apartments but has faced delays for years. The money would help with renovation and improvements for the parking lot and streets.
Another priority for the city is $5 million to cover operational costs of a proposed “navigation center.” The facility would be open 24 hours a day to help people find aid with housing or other more immediate basic needs, such as toilets or potable water. The city would purchase the location for the navigation center using urban renewal funds. The requested $5 million would fund its operations for two years.
A study published by the state of Oregon in 2019 recommended that Salem build the center as a stop-gap to help it get a better handle on its rising problem with homelessness.
Salem, and other cities, were poised to get money to build navigation shelters during the 2020 legislative session as part of a $120 million housing bill sponsored by House Speaker Tina Kotek. But after Republicans staged a walkout of the session over climate change legislation, the housing bill was among hundreds that stalled.
Justin Martin, the city’s lobbyist, acknowledged the possibility of another walkout during a meeting of Salem’s legislative committee last week.
“So we’ll see how this session plays out,” said Martin. “I hope there’s not that kind of vitriol within the process. But again, as we all know, the state of politics, both on the national level and even at the state level are pretty heated right now.”
But he said he remained optimistic the city would get funding. He said he met recently with state Rep. Dan Rayfield, a Corvalis Democrat and co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, who was understanding of the city’s needs.
Danny Moran, spokesman for Kotek, said in an email that the speaker would try again to pass a housing and homeless bill this session. While he said details were still being worked out, Kotek said in written materials to a legislative committee last month that the state’s housing and homeless situation has grown more severe.
“This was the situation before the greatest public health and economic crisis of our lifetimes,” she said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified this crisis. And now winter is here.”
Additionally, the city will also be asking for $1 million to cover the two-year operating costs for a sobering center. Bennett said the city has sought the center for years but had difficulties getting it up and running without ongoing operational funding.
Contact reporter Jake Thomas at 503-575-1251 or [email protected] or @jakethomas2009.
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