Salem homeless service providers cautiously welcome city plan to fix gaps, with questions (Oct. 23)
Quick Read
Salem City Manager Krishna Namburi has started a process to map gaps in the city's homeless services with other governments, shelters and service providers, beginning with an Oct. 19 City Council work session.
Shelter and service leaders told Salem Reporter they welcome the citywide look but want clear goals, no duplication of the regional homeless alliance's work and no new layer of bureaucracy.
The regional alliance's chair says the shared housing referral system is not working as intended and its data covers only part of local shelter and housing beds.
Staff plan to bring partner feedback to a Nov. 16 council work session, followed by a February meeting on shared actions ahead of the city's next budget.
Salem's homeless shelter and service providers say they are cautiously optimistic about a new city effort to find and fix the gaps that keep people from getting off the streets, but several want to know exactly what role the city plans to play, Salem Reporter reported Thursday.
The effort is led by City Manager Krishna Namburi, who plans to bring local governments, shelters and service providers together to look at homelessness as a shared, systemwide problem, according to the outlet.
What the city laid out
Namburi presented an informational report to the Salem City Council at a work session on Monday, Oct. 19, at the Salem Public Library's Loucks Auditorium, according to the meeting agenda. The agenda said the report assessed community conditions, the people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and the work already underway by government agencies and community partners, and that it documented preliminary gaps and service pathways. The council took no action; the item was listed as information only.
Salem Reporter previewed the plan in stories on Oct. 16 and Oct. 19, reporting that the city's overview covers the full path into homelessness, from families struggling to pay rent and buy food to people sleeping on the sidewalk.
What providers told Salem Reporter
Lynelle Wilcox, who manages the SafeSleep United shelter in central Salem, told Salem Reporter about a woman who had been unsheltered for years and struggled with fentanyl addiction. Wilcox said she finally got the woman to agree to treatment earlier this week, but the rehab center's intake took four hours and the woman got up and left. Wilcox said she sees the city's effort as a chance to show staff, councilors and the public how hard those hidden barriers are.
Jimmy Jones, who runs the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, which manages most of the region's homeless shelters and services, said his biggest concern is that the city's goals are unclear. "If we are adding another layer of bureaucracy, there needs to be a clear benefit to the people being served," Jones told the outlet. He said he does not expect much new city money from the talks, but that paying for a single place to coordinate housing assessments would be a big improvement.
Jones also said he felt encouraged that the city had re-engaged with the issue after a couple of years focused more on sanitation and law enforcement, according to Salem Reporter.
DJ Vincent, founding pastor of Church at the Park, which provides shelter, said he hopes the process produces a roadmap of who is responsible for what. He pointed to the latest survey of unsheltered people in the area, which found about 30% were living in cars, and noted the city created and then ended a safe parking program, the outlet reported.
All of the providers said there are more homeless people than shelter beds, Salem Reporter reported. Wilcox said most people she talks to on the street want bathrooms, benches and access to water while the community works to add capacity.
The regional alliance's concerns
Jeremy Gordon, a Polk County commissioner who chairs the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance, told Salem Reporter he wants to make sure the city does not spend money duplicating work the alliance already does. The alliance is the HUD-designated Continuum of Care that coordinates homeless services for Marion and Polk counties, according to Gordon, and the city of Salem already holds two seats at its table, Salem Reporter reported.
In a letter to the council dated Oct. 19, Gordon welcomed the city's review and agreed with city staff that the region's Coordinated Entry system, the shared list used to refer people to housing based on need, "is not functioning as intended." He wrote that the alliance has brought in a HUD-certified technical assistance provider to analyze the problem.
Gordon's letter said the region uses a "multi-door" approach, with staff at several provider agencies doing housing assessments, because no single organization can afford enough assessors for the whole region. He wrote that he does not believe that model is ideal and suggested the community look at the single-door system used in Vancouver and Clark County, Washington. Salem Reporter reported that the uneven approach can mean the same person lands near the top of the housing list at one shelter and lower at another, adding months to their wait.
The letter also said the alliance's homeless data system covers about 76% of emergency shelter beds, 37% of transitional housing beds and 40% of permanent supportive housing, short of an 85% target. Gordon offered alliance staff time to work with the city over the coming month.
The city's own funding pullback
Salem Reporter noted the city is likely to face questions about its own retreat from paying for shelter. Most of the city's shelter investments relied on one-time federal pandemic money, and after that ran out, the city's spending on the issue shifted mostly to housing production, camping enforcement and the Salem Housing Authority, the outlet reported. The city has cut funding for the housing authority's outreach team and its contribution to warming shelters run by Jones' agency, according to Salem Reporter.
Namburi has said input from people who have experienced homelessness is part of the plan, Salem Reporter reported. Willamette News did not find a public response from the city to the specific concerns providers raised.
What happens next
City staff plan to return to the council's next work session on Monday, Nov. 16, to discuss the gaps and share feedback from partners, followed by a February meeting on shared actions ahead of the city's next budget, according to the agenda and Salem Reporter.
Council work sessions can be watched live on the City of Salem's YouTube channel and on CC:Media Channel 21 for Comcast subscribers, according to the city's agenda.
"Her time frame is extremely ambitious," Wilcox told Salem Reporter of Namburi. "I don't know how she's going to do it, but I admire her optimism."
Sources
Salem Reporter: Local homeless service providers cautiously optimistic about city plan, by Abbey McDonald (Oct. 22, 2026)
Salem Reporter: With new initiative, Salem seeks to strengthen local network of homeless services, by Abbey McDonald (Oct. 16, 2026)
Salem Reporter: What gaps in homeless services the city of Salem aims to address with its new initiative, by Abbey McDonald (Oct. 19, 2026)
Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance: Letter from Chair Jeremy Gordon to the Salem City Council on the Oct. 19, 2026, work session
City of Salem: City Council work session agenda, Oct. 19, 2026 (as posted by Muyni)
Cover photo: Pathway in front of Salem City Hall, by N9002U, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
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