The City of Salem is opening its first navigation center open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help people experiencing homelessness to access behavioral health services, medical care and transition to more stable housing. The facility is scheduled to open to the public on April 24, 2023 and will be the first of its kind in Marion County.
City of Salem
Later this month, Salem will open a new, 75-bed facility for people experiencing homelessness.
The Salem Navigation Center is the first of its kind in Marion County. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But unlike a traditional shelter, it will allow all genders as well as the partners and pets of people experiencing homelessness. Sobriety is also not a requirement at the facility.
Chris Hoy, the Mayor of Salem, said that the new facility is intended to be a “low-barrier shelter” and a first stop for clients coming off the streets on the way to obtaining more stable housing.
“People can come and stay for a period of time, maybe up to 60, 90 days, while we’re getting them ready to go off to their next place, whether it’s permanent supportive housing, whether it’s an affordable housing unit, or whether it’s into a market rate unit at that point,” he said.
A team of caseworkers will be on hand to provide clients with housing assistance and help them access medical care or behavioral health services, such as treatment for a substance use disorder.
The Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency has been contracted to operate the center, which will open in Salem on April 24.
It’s one of several efforts the city has launched to tackle homelessness, which has grown in the Salem metro region in recent years.
A point-in-time count conducted last year found nearly 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Marion and Polk Counties - a 15 percent increase from 2021.
To address this crisis, the role of the Salem Housing Authority in providing low-income housing assistance has evolved in recent years to include the development of permanent supportive housing units for people who are chronically homeless and have a disability or complex medical or behavioral health needs. Service coordinators are available to help residents with transportation to medical appointments, enter substance use treatment programs and promote economic stability.
Twenty units of permanent supportive housing are slated to open this spring inside Yaquina Hall, a 52-unit affordable housing project that was once the site of a nurses’ dormitory at the Oregon State Hospital.
Residents are encouraged, but not required, to participate in the treatment support available to them. Sometimes that encouragement may take time, and meeting people “where they’re at” is important, according to Nicole Utz, the administrator of the Salem Housing Authority.
“I can tell you that we can maybe talk to an individual 97 different times before they decide that they’re ready to come in and have peer support services or gain some additional help through wraparound services,” she said.
But it’s the lack of affordable housing that remains a key driver of homelessness in the Salem metro area, according to Mayor Hoy.
He said the city is using several tools to spur the construction of affordable housing, from tax incentives for property developers to changing zoning rules to allow for taller buildings and more density along public transit corridors.
Still, the Mayor acknowledged that it will take time for these new efforts to bear fruit and benefit those most in need of stable and permanent housing.
“It took us a long time to get to this place and it’s gonna take us a long time to get out of it,” Hoy said. “But I think that we have all of those things in place here in terms of building that capacity and getting to a good outcome.”
Salem Mayor Chris Hoy and Salem Housing Authority Administrator Nicole Utz spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation: