More than three years after Salem stopped taking waiting list applications for public assistance to get into housing, residents will still have to wait up to four years for an affordable place to live. As of Oct. 28, 7,578 people from 3,207 households are on the Salem Housing Authority’s waiting[Read More…]
Tag: HOUSING
Eviction moratoriums and rent assistance kept Oregonians housed, but many face barriers to entry as funding runs out
Some Salem renters got a notice on their door starting early summer, advising them the eviction moratorium had come to an end on June 30, 2021. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) Oregonians struggling to pay rent faced barriers to getting assistance and slow payments through a $15 million rental assistance program in[Read More…]
Marion County plans to build housing in Santiam Canyon for wildfire survivors
The Oak Park Motel property in Gates, Ore. on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Marion County officials are planning to build 32 houses in the Santiam Canyon to provide short-term shelter for people displaced by the Beachie Creek Fire last summer. The county will use wildfire recovery funds[Read More…]
City, Church at the Park seek sponsors for temporary shelter housing
A partially-completed pallet shelter on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The city of Salem and Church at the Park want community members to help pay for so-called Pallet structures that are intended to help people transition out of homelessness. The 64-square-foot structures – fitting two single beds with[Read More…]
Concerns over local control arise as state figures out how to apply landmark housing law
Capital Manor’s original tower stands in the distance while construction crews build 17 new duplexes to the west. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) As Oregon prepares to implement a new law intended to spur the development of duplexes and small apartment buildings in cities like Salem, a disagreement has arisen over how[Read More…]
Previously scuttled housing legislation to be revied during special session
The loneliness of being homeless in Salem is accentuated by Gov. Kate Brown’s “stay home” order, which has emptied the city of many people. These individuals comply with the six-foot spacing recommended for effective social distancing. (Diane Beals/Salem Reporter) Salem could see a new homeless shelter approved more swiftly under[Read More…]
Uncategorized Large apartment complex proposed in northeast Salem
The empty lot on Kale Street Northeast where a 324-unit apartment complex has been proposed. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Even more housing could soon rise along Kale Street in northeast Salem. This time, developers propose 324 apartments. Northstar Communities, a development firm that has been turning nearly 150 acres of farmland[Read More…]
Uncategorized Salem staff reveal proposed code changes to spur multifamily construction
Jerry Horner saw opportunity in an empty grass lot on Market Street Northeast. He plans to build a triplex. It made sense, he said, because demand is hot for rental units. “There just seem to be more and more people looking for rental space,” he said. “It’s in demand.” It’s[Read More…]
Rent unaffordable in half of Salem neighborhoods, Census data shows
Half of Salem and Keizer neighborhoods are not affordable for renters as rents have climbed faster than inflation over the past five years, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data. In neighborhoods across central, north and east Salem, a renter earning the neighborhood’s median income spends more than 30 percent[Read More…]