Sara Webb, program manager at the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, poses in front of a poster at Tanner Project, a veteran housing project. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter)
Three dozen unhoused veterans in Marion County will move into a space of their own thanks to a federal grant recently awarded to the Mid-Willamette Community Action Agency.
The $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will allow Tanner Project, the organization’s transitional shelter for veterans experiencing homelessness, to transform their rooms into singles with private restrooms.
The facility at 2933 Center St. N.E. currently has 36 beds arranged in single, double and triple rooms, most with some sort of shared restroom arrangement. Since opening in November 2020, it has served 44 veterans, 22 of whom went on to permanent housing. It’s the only place between Eugene and Portland that offers veteran beds specifically for women.
The grant can be used either for a remodel of the building to add additional restrooms and walls to divide larger living spaces, or acquiring a new space to meet those needs, said Ashley Hamilton, chief program manager for the ARCHES Project.
She said the Mid-Willamette Community Action Agency hopes to move all residents into their own rooms no later than summer 2023,
Tanner Project is dedicated to quickly getting veterans into safe and secure transitional housing where they don’t have to worry about meeting their basic needs like beds, showers and laundry daily, and can focus on their future, Hamilton said in an email.
Because the housing is low-barrier, veterans can bring pets and don’t need to be sober to live there.
Once enrolled, veterans also receive onsite case management and behavioral health supports, access to medical services, help getting connected to long-term housing and federal Veterans Assistance benefits.
Among the unsheltered in the region, about 8% are veterans, Hamilton said. That’s based on both in-person surveys of homeless people and data on use of services like the ARCHES Project day center.
That figure is down from 10% pre-pandemic, which she said is likely due to the influx in veteran-specific funding during Covid to expand services and beds regionally.
Hamilton said providing unhoused veterans their own space will help the program accommodate “a higher vulnerability clientele.”
“Very similar to most of us, having a roommate or two can be difficult for anyone,” she said.
Coupled with a history of trauma and homelessness, chronic health conditions and mental health concerns, “living in congregate situations doesn’t always produce optimal outcomes,” she said. “Providing a private, safe, and secure living (arrangement) is vital in securing a veterans future success in transitioning to their forever home.”
The Tanner Project renovations will slow the spread of Covid among the unhoused veterans and reduce risks of congregate-style living. “As formerly unhoused veterans move towards safe, permanent housing, they will have a private, protected space to live where their health and safety will not be at risk,” according to a press release from the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency..
The grant award was one of 36 given nationwide.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley also earmarked an additional $1.2 million for the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency to support Tanner Project, funded by a $1.5 trillion spending bill President Joe Biden signed last month.
“There are big and important things happening at Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, including the acquisition of a new property to expand shelter space and service capacity for veterans in Marion, Polk, and Yamhill counties experiencing homelessness,” said Merkley, who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee that secured funding for the project, in the press release.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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