Salem plans new pilot programs to tackle homelessness and mental health

SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — Salem city leaders are presenting a multi-pronged proposal to expand homeless outreach, enhance mental health crisis response, and intensify public maintenance efforts.

The new initiatives come amid growing concerns over safety, cleanliness, and homelessness in the downtown and Northeast Salem areas.

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At a council meeting last week, councilors reviewed a proposal to add staff, launch a mental health co-response pilot program and increase level cleaning.

The first phase, estimated to cost approximately $650,000 in total, is scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2026. The program has the potential to grow into a $2.7 million a year program.

Mental health crisis team

Salem Fire Chief David Gerboth advocated for a six-month pilot program that would pair a paramedic, an emergency medical technician (EMT), and a mental health professional.

The team would respond to medical calls involving behavioral health or mental health crises.

The trio would operate 40 hours a week. Operations would start downtown and would then move to northeast Salem on a rotating basis.

Gerboth said it is difficult enough to be a medical health clinician with a master’s-level degree. He proposed using a mental health assistant, which is a bachelor’s-degree-level mental health worker, as they are more readily available.

“This is a model that incorporates emergency medical services and mental health and substance use expertise to ensure the right care at the right time in the right place,” said Gerboth.

The program would launch in January. The six-month pilot program would cost $196,302.

During the city council meeting, Gerboth said the goal of this program would be to move beyond the current approach of reviving patients with Narcan only to have them leave in withdrawal.

He said that there have been over 1,000 recorded overdoses in the city this year and added that the actual number may be higher.

“There is an exponentially larger number that comes over as something different. It can come over as a cardiac arrest. It can come over as a respiratory arrest, and it is actually the result of an overdose.”

Gerboth added that the program would reduce the burden of call to the agency. According to Gerboth, less than half a percent of 911 callers create over 6% of Salem Fire’s call volume in some months.

Expanding homeless services team

The Salem Police Homeless Services Team (HST) was created about three years ago to address homelessness in the city.

“This is about managing and mitigating the situation that’s on the ground before us now,” said Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack. “I’m not proposing an end to homelessness through HST. I am talking about managing and mitigating some of the public safety issues we see associated with our encampments and our folks that are unsheltered.”

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It focuses on working with individuals experiencing homelessness, coordinating with social service providers, shelters, and nonprofits to connect them with the services they need.

They respond to complaints of criminal activity, such as theft or trespassing, connected to homeless encampments or individuals, aiming to balance enforcement with support, according to Chief Womack.

“Their mission is not to make arrests at all. Frankly, it’s to try and mitigate some of those public health situations and those public safety issues by connecting people to services through relationship building, but also keeping everyone safe,” said Womack.

Womack said HST takes pressure off other police officers, freeing them to deal with more traditional calls for service.

“These are the only two officers that handle the dozens and dozens of complaints that come in,” said Womack. “Without HST, we’d send a patrol officer into that. It’d be a call to service on patrol. We relieve that by having dedicated full-time HST officers. We should be doing that seven days a week.”

The team currently has two officers who work four days a week. The proposal would add two more officers, enabling the team to operate seven days a week.

Womack said on Wednesday that Salem ranks 8th in police staffing among Oregon’s eight largest cities while having the 2nd highest violent crime rate after Portland.

“Some of these situations, sometimes we don’t talk about this often, are very dangerous. There’s sexual assaults. There’s murders,” said Womack. “These are realities of the situation that are associated with the encampments.”

Questions about impact

Jimmy Jones, executive director of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, said while he supports the council’s budget for next year, he is skeptical about the impact these programs will have.

“These kinds of crisis management responses are sort of acute in nature; they’re short-term, they’re designed to resolve the public’s complaint, the business owner’s complaint, but they’re not really designed to end homelessness,” said Jones.

Jones emphasized that genuine progress stems from “housing first” strategies, which include more permanent supportive housing, increased shelter capacity, and coordinated systems.

“I have very little expectation that this will make much of a difference, but down the road as the city’s financial condition improves, hopefully I do think that they’ll should, I do think that they should take a longer look at proven strategies for housing success,” said Jones.

Next steps

City officials plan to have funding in place for these programs by Jan. 1, 2026.

Salem’s Chief Financial Officer Josh Eggleston said the city budget committee will convene on Oct. 22, and then the council will discuss the matter more on Oct. 27.

City leaders also discussed reinstating police bike patrols downtown after business groups raised $360,000 to help cover the costs of two officers.

The private funding was raised by the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and the Salem Main Street Association. City Manager Krishna Namburi stated that the city council will still need to approve the funding.