SALEM, Oregon — Salem's mayor has expressed serious concerns after the city ran out of funds to open emergency warming shelters, just as cold weather begins to set in. The funding shortfall could put lives in jeopardy upon the arrival of severe winter weather.
Under a tree in Marion Square Park, a dark green tarp covered a cart filled with blankets. The tarp is Skyler’s only protection from the rain.
“I stay warm in my sleeping bag, which is soaked right now,” said Skyler, who's been homeless in Salem for two years.
When it turns cold, he relies on the city’s warming centers.
“It’s not fun when you freeze to death,” Skyler said.
It’s a fear shared by many on the streets this year since Salem has run out of money to open emergency warming centers.
Salem Mayor Chris Hoy said they were using state money they received during the pandemic to run emergency warming centers, but that money was redirected a few months ago. It’s not clear what it’s being used for now.
“It’s a big problem for us when we aren’t able to shelter people during cold spells — people die, and that’s not OK,” Hoy said. “We’re doing all we can to make sure that we keep people safe.”
Salem has $150,000 to put toward warming centers. They need $850,000 more, so they’re asking the state to step in and coming up with other immediate options.
“We are trying to create some contingency plans to use what we have,” said Jimmy Jones, the executive director of the Mid-Willamette Community Action Agency.
The group typically runs Salem’s emergency warming centers. They are now talking of putting up tents for about 90 people in the parking lot of a local shelter as a last resort.
“Warming is so vital in a community," Jones said. "It allows them to get people off the streets; it puts them in a warm space, (a) dry space, lets us get a little bit of food warm liquids in them; and that can interject that cycle of downward spiral many people experience living outside.”
The governor’s office told KGW that it is up to Marion County to declare a severe weather emergency. That’s the only way the state can send money to Salem for warming centers.
KGW reached out to the county to see if they plan to do that this weekend — seeing as temperatures will reach 30 degrees. We have not heard back yet.
Come November, Salem voters will be deciding on whether or not to approve a tax on people’s payroll. The mayor tells KGW if that passes, money from that tax will go towards homeless services like warming centers. The governor has said she plans to vote no on that tax and that there needs to be more conversations around how it would be used.
However, even if the tax does pass, it wouldn’t go into effect until the summer — and that still leaves the future of Salem’s emergency warming centers uncertain for the coming winter.