Stories of Salem: Salem Navigation Center
Produced by Meghan Jonas and Ashley Jackson Lawrence
Salem’s new Navigation Center looks like it could have fallen out of a brochure for a college dorm.
Rocking chairs and comfortable seating line one side of the communal area, complete with pillows adorned with taglines like “Best Day” and bumblebees. Calming blue murals in the abstract shape of mountains and waves decorate the walls. On the other side of the room sits a row of computers, just a stone’s throw away from a yet-to-be-finished industrial kitchen.
By the end of May, this communal area will be filled with Salem residents that are experiencing homelessness. The low-barrier, first-of-its-kind shelter in Marion County will provide a much-needed respite for unhoused people in the area, providing stabilizing services while transitioning folks into permanent housing.
“The Navigation Center is our new refuge. It is a place for our unsheltered neighbors to come in and really take that immediate breath, that sigh of relief,” says Ashley Hamilton, the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency Chief Programming Officer.
In 2022, the point-in-time count documented more than 1,566 people that are living unsheltered in Salem, and Marion County is home to 8% of Oregon’s total homeless population, according to the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance.
Unhoused people may experience intense trauma and victimization when they live outside, says Hamilton. The Navigation Center is, “The place where they come in, feel safe and secure, and start working on their personal goals.”
With 75 beds, the Navigation Center provides a variety of services as well as a place to sleep. Residents have access to meals, self-service laundry, individual showers, storage for personal items, and a pet run and dog wash.
“When you're worrying about where a meal is going to come from, where you're going to shower next, or how am I going to feed my adorable pet…it's a day-to-day existence,” says Hamilton. When basic needs are met, people are able to start focusing on other goals, like attaining safe, secure and permanent housing.
Personal goals will influence the service plans created by case managers working at the Center. These goals can include anything from getting proper personal documents or applying for the Oregon Health Plan, to receiving support for mental health disorders or substance abuse issues.
Low-barrier housing is designed to eliminate many of the obstacles that keep people out of secure housing, says Hoy. Many traditional housing models that serve unhoused people require sobriety upon entry, separate by gender, or don’t allow pets, which can all be deterrents to those seeking services.
“We’re doing all we can to get people off the streets and back to a better place,” Hoy says. “If you haven’t found that right place in the past, if you haven’t been successful in other shelters, maybe give this a shot. Maybe this is the thing that’s going to give you what you need to get that leg up.”
Mayor Hoy encouraged community members to push for continued funding for the Navigation Center by contacting their legislators. Currently, there’s no ongoing funding supporting the program.
“People are dying on our streets. And we have to do whatever we can to stop that. And it's programs like this, that are gonna make that happen,” says Salem Mayor Chris Hoy.
The Center has been funded by $3 million from the City of Salem, $3 million from Marion County, $3.2 million from Oregon Housing and Community Services, $5 million from the Oregon Department of Human Services and a $1.3 million grant from Oregon Housing and Community Services to the Mid-Wilammete Community Action Agency.
Salem Navigation Center uses a coordinated entry system, managed by the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance, to enroll residents into the program. ARCHES, the City Housing Authority, and other service providers can refer residents to the program, and there are allotted diversionary beds available for Salem Police to use when working with unhoused community members.
“When we conduct surveys of people who live, work or play in Salem, they repeatedly tell us that this is the number one issue,” says Gretchen Bennett, who has been the City of Salem’s Homelessness Liason for over a decade. She has received countless calls from folks looking for supportive services, making the urgent need for safe and secure housing all the more obvious.
Bennett also prioritized the importance of acknowledging each person’s lived experience.
“One thing I've noticed is, when I interact with people in the community, often people maybe have met someone experiencing homelessness, or they know someone, and from that tend to interpret that experience to the broader population,” she says.
While there may be underlying factors that can lead to homelessness, like past traumas, Bennett stresses that each person is unique and may have unique needs. The Navigation Center, and its continuum of care, work to meet those needs.
“The city, I feel like, really takes people in with open arms,” says mayor’s office intern, Connor Mullany. “I’ve just noticed how much the people in the city genuinely care about everyone.”
Hamilton had an important message for people experiencing homelessness right now.
“First and foremost is, I'm sorry. I feel that a system has failed you, people have failed you, communities have failed you,” she says.
While advocates don’t know how or why someone is experiencing homelessness, or how many times they’ve been unhoused, they do know that those experiences matter and impact people in a profound way.
“I still believe in hope. And I still believe in the human experience and the human spirit,” Hamilton says. “There are resources out there and people out there that think you matter. And these services will matter for you. So please come in, give us a try. Maybe it won't work the first time, we'll try again. And eventually, we will get you where you want to be.”
For more information on the Salem Navigation Center, visit
For more information on ARCHES and their Drop-In Day Center, visit
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