SALEM, Ore. — On Wednesday, Salem Mayor Chris Hoy cut a big blue ribbon on the back steps of Yaquina Hall on the Oregon State Hospital grounds. The old nurses' dorm is now the city's newest affordable housing development.
Hoy said that the presence of this shelter is a necessity to combat the humanitarian crisis on Salem's streets.
"We have people living on our streets and dying on our streets, and it's projects like this that'll help us end that," Hoy said.
"This has been a long time in the making," added Nicole Utz, administrator for the Salem Housing Authority.
Utz is beyond excited about Yaquina Hall's 52 living quarters. Each one, equipped with a bathroom and kitchen, will accommodate anywhere between one and three people transitioning out of homelessness.
Inside Yaquina Hall, residents will also find a laundry room and community room. For those with serious and persistent mental illness Yaquina Hall has offices for wrap-around services.
"Which includes connections to mental health, behavioral health — anything from drug addiction treatment to schooling," Utz said.
It just so happens Yaquina Hall is not the only shelter opening its doors to the nearly 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Marion and Polk counties. There are two more shelters opening in Salem within the coming weeks: Arches Lodge on Fisher Road Northeast and the Salem Navigation Center on 22nd Street Southeast.
Jean Hendron considers herself a rogue advocate for the area's homeless. She believes the shelters will save a lot of lives and improve the quality of those lives, but she is pleading with city and state leaders to do even more to address the homeless crisis.
"I want them to streamline the processes and get it done again and again until we have this problem solved, because this is not the way Americans live," Hendron said.
Few would argue with her on that point, especially those behind the opening of Yaquina Hall — the old Oregon State Hospital nurses' dorm-turned affordable housing development.
"It will save lives," Hoy said. "People who aren't thriving on our streets will thrive here."
Yaquina Hall will welcome its first residents at the beginning of May. The arrivals will be staggered in the weeks to follow to ensure all residents get the support they need during the transition.