Soon, dozens of neighbors will move into new microshelters at Church at the Park’s Village of Hope, which on Thursday, June 25, celebrated a long-awaited expansion to help people move off of Salem’s streets. With 16 new shelters, with room for two beds each, it will allow the site, located at 1280 Center St N.E. across from Safeway, to expand its capacity from 80 to 112 people at a time, according to Church at the Park CEO DJ Vincent.The expansion will give a few more people respite amid rising rates of homelessness, shrinking resources and increased economic strain throughout the state. “We have a waitlist for this site of over 3,000 people,” Vincent said in a speech to elected officials, Salem Area Chamber of Commerce leadership and project contributors during a ribbon cutting on Thursday, drawing concerned murmurs from the crowd.“Those are real people that we have real relationships with. That we’ve heard their story, that they have a real application, and they want help. They want to be seen, they want to be supported to next steps … but we can only serve 112 at a time, of 3,000,” Vincent said. The expansion also replaced rubber-mats on gravel with wheelchair accessible raised walkways, added more bathrooms, washers and dryers and replaced a small, weather-beaten tent with a high-ceilinged, enclosed and sturdy structure for residents to cook and mingle inside. They are the biggest, and most permanent, changes to come to Salem’s inaugural microshelter site since it moved there in 2022.When the site moved to Center Street, it was under a two-year lease, and state guidelines required all structures to be temporary. After renewing the lease last year, and securing million in state funding to remain open, the organization was able to plan long-term. The expansion comes after a year of cuts throughout the agency, including 16 layoffs and a reduction in capacity at its youth microshelter site in the fall after its state budget was reduced by $2 million. While the state money will support ongoing daily operations, the expansion and renovations were funded by $800,000 in private funds, largely from the Lawrence E. Tokarski Charitable Trust, Vincent said.In the coming year, many of the new beds will go to seniors, who are being driven into homelessness at a faster rate than any other group due to factors like fixed incomes, rising rents and cuts to healthcare programs.That includes seniors like Juanita, who was living in her camper van last year when she learned she had an advanced stage of cancer, Vincent said. She was in her early 80s. After a stay in a care facility, she couldn’t find an affordable apartment. So she moved into the Village of Hope, then into an apartment.“Now, in some ways, we were honored to serve her, to see her, to love her, to create acceptance in a place where now she can be in an apartment. But what about the Juanitas who are on the wait list? Who aren’t being cared for?” Vincent said. Vincent said helping the others will require working with the state to sustain funding, and to continue to build relationships with shelter guests and those in the neighborhood.“Last year, this team moved over 100 people into housing. And that’s an amazing effort. And it only happens when we’re truly listening with empathy, and understanding where to start with people. How to do things with people, rather than do things to people, or even do things for people,” Vincent said. Last year, Church at the Park reported that the majority of its microshelter residents, 240 people, were able to move into a positive destination, such as a home or another supportive shelter. That’s considered a high success rate among programs serving people who came directly off the streets. A row of microshelters located at Church at the Park’s Village of Hope, with newly added benches, walkways and planters. (BROOK FERRIS/Salem Reporter) Making peace with neighbors was a central theme of the speeches of the day, amid ongoing community discussions about the impacts of the presence of homelessness in downtown and central Salem.  Among the speakers was Mayor-elect Vanessa Nordkye, who as a Salem city councilor was among those to put Covid-era federal funds toward the original construction of the microshelters.She asked the community to not look away when it sees someone suffering.“Staff at Church of the Park, you know this. You live and breathe this work every day. You will not turn away from suffering. You will lean into it. You will not normalize suffering in our society. You will support those every single day,” Nordyke said. “And so I want to share my deepest gratitude, because without Church of the Park, we would have so many more people on the streets, so many more people suffering every single day, and we need to stop the vilification of those and figure out how we lean into the data-informed work that Church of the Park does every single day.” Jennifer Whitman, Village Of Hope’s shelter manager, explains food and personal storage guidelines in the shelters to a tour group. Residents can use shared community fridges, personal coolers and also store dry food in their units. (BROOK FERRIS/Salem Reporter) Inside the microshelters Vincent said the expansion aims to specifically address rising senior homelessness in the community.Most of the existing shelter residents are over 40, and many are over 55. Moving from the waitlist is based on someone’s availability, and their level of vulnerability living on the streets, such as having health conditions that put them at greater risk of injury or death.To support the expanded shelter space, Church at the Park is adding two more staff, a case manager and peer support specialist, who work to get residents into housing and help them get social security cards, birth certificates and other necessary documents. Other services include help getting into substance use treatment, expunging eligible criminal records, support applying to jobs and helping to reconnect with their kids.Case managers onsite said the seniors they work with are often homeless for the first time in their lives, and dealing with a recent eviction on their record, and accompanying fees. With more seniors incoming, they’re expecting more frequent work with NorthWest Senior and Disability Services, the regional intergovernmental agency that helps with access to Medicare, food and more.All case managers were also recently certified to be community health workers, which allows them to accompany shelter guests to their medical appointments. That means case managers can help make sure guests understand the doctor’s instructions, and help advocate for their needs and concerns. Some of the new pods, now connected by raised metal walkways, were built by the Salem Kroc Center’s I-Build Program, Vincent said, by local teens learning a trade. Each has room for two beds and personal storage space, and is fitted with an air conditioner. A look inside one of the 16 newly added microshelters at Church at the Park’s Village of Hope. (BROOK FERRIS/Salem Reporter) New residents will move in after mid-July, said shelter manager Jennifer Whitman. Those living in the older pods have decorated their windows and doors with art, photographs and in one case, an impressive rock collection. As neighbors toured the grounds after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, existing residents chatted, worked on laptops and ate in the community spaces alongside Church at the Park staff.There’s only one door in and out of the community, and on Thursday staff member Nick McGuire was manning the front desk. He’s often one of the first people to greet a new resident on their first day.He said that, often, they’re most excited about knowing where they’ll be sleeping that night, and knowing where their next meal will come from.“Just having a place to stay, a stable place,” McGuire said. “A lot of times they’re excited to have someone who will give them the support that they need.” John Marshall, Village of Hope’s chaplain, gives a tour of the chapel at Church at the Park which provides a place for residents to decompress. (BROOK FERRIS/Salem Reporter) Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.SIGN UP: “I love and respect what Salem Reporter does for our community.” Salem Reporter covers the people, issues, and stories shaping our city. Stay connected to Salem. Subscribe today. The post Church at the Park expansion to give dozens of unsheltered seniors a place to rest appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less