Sen. Jeff Merkley on a tour of Tanner Project, a transitional shelter for unhoused veterans on Thursday. (Ardeshir Tabrizian/Salem Reporter)
In 10 years, Sen. Jeff Merkley hopes to drive into Salem, Eugene, Portland or any other city in Oregon and not see anybody living in tents.
That will require investing in “the whole spectrum” of challenges homeless people face in Oregon, including in warming shelters, gymnasiums with showers and tiny house projects, he said Thursday at a tour of Tanner Project, a transitional shelter for unhoused veterans.
Merkley told Salem Reporter he is working to get more federal money for existing programs such as Section 8 vouchers, which subsidize rent for low-income people and have a years-long waiting list in Salem. He’s also seeking funds for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, which offers tax credits to developers who build or acquire property and rehabilitate it to be used as low-income rental housing.
“There’s a dozen of these programs, and we’re trying to get more funds into all of them because they all have a role to play,” Merkley said.
He said he also hopes the Build Back Better Act, President Joe Biden’s social and climate spending package, is passed as it will provide a “massive infusion” of money into housing infrastructure.
“For Oregon, that bill will be $1.5 billion which would be a huge help for all these organizations,” he said.
Merkley visited the veteran shelter and spoke with city councilors, local homeless service providers and Tanner Project residents about services for homeless people already in place or on their way to Marion County. He recently helped secure a $1.2 million federal grant to help the shelter offer single rooms to veterans, and pushed for another $2 million in federal money to help build Hope Plaza, an apartment building in downtown Salem for domestic violence survivors.
Several other local affordable housing projects are underway.
Rich Drew, chair of the North Willamette Valley Habitat For Humanity’s Board of Directors, told Merkley at the meeting that the nonprofit acquired a small property in Silverton where they are building 18 homes, including homes specifically for families, seniors and veterans.
The Family YMCA of Marion and Polk Counties plans to break ground in June on a new 34-unit home for veterans with 27 one-bedroom units and seven two-bedroom units, CEO Tim Sinatra said at the meeting.
Salem City Councilor Chris Hoy said at the meeting that the city officials five years ago “really weren’t doing much at all” to address homelessness. “We’ve really in the last five years done remarkable things through some great partnerships,” he said.
Councilor Vanessa Nordyke attended the meeting and later told Salem Reporter there was “consensus among those in attendance as to the need for affordable housing.”
“I think we all agree we are years off from closing the gap,” she said in a text.
Merkley said on the way to the tour he had passed the intersection of Northeast Front Street and state Highway 99 East in Salem where police say an intoxicated driver crashed into a homeless encampment on March 27, killing four and injuring two others.
He told Salem Reporter following the meeting that he would like to see a “last resort” option where people who are homeless in Salem and have nowhere else to go can place a tent and have access to bathrooms, a clean water supply, showers and transportation.
“Nobody should have to put their tent on a curb or a sidewalk or the green space in between two streets,” he said. “It’s a challenge. We need to improve, again, the entire spectrum of housing. But we still have folks who are unhoused and need to be able to put their tent in a place that’s safe with certainty.”
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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