Salem Navigation Center: Providing Services, Stabilization and Sustainability in Transitional Housing

Join Energy Trust of Oregon for an Allies for Efficiency webinar on the newly opened Salem Navigation Center, where a panel of experts will discuss how this impactful project supports the region’s houseless population and how it uses sustainable design strategies and health services to center on the region’s most vulnerable populations.

The Salem Navigation Center is the first of its kind in Marion County, serving Salem’s unsheltered people while operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a low-barrier shelter that was renovated from an office building. It features 75 beds and intensive case management to connect people to public benefits, health services and permanent housing.

Learn firsthand from the City of Salem and the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency about the project team’s design decisions and incentives to offset higher up-front costs for appliances and equipment, making the center more energy efficient and ultimately less expensive to operate.

Panelists will discuss how:

• Early design assistance informed equipment and appliance choices
• The project team maximized incentives to offset long-term energy costs
• The facility provided stabilization to its population without the barriers of traditional centers
• Vacant office space can be converted into a low-barrier navigation center
• The project design aligned with Salem’s sustainability goals

The project’s impact on the facility and its at-risk populations extends far beyond the efficiency of building systems. The annual energy cost savings will enable the City of Salem to continue its lifesaving work, empowering people to change their lives and escape poverty with dignity and hope.

When: Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Presentation time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

CEUs: 1.5 AIA HSW available, pending approval.

Where:

Webinar presentation through GoToWebinar.

Webinar login information provided at event registration.

Meet the presenters:

Luke Gmazel, senior project manager, City of Salem

Gretchen Bennett, homeless liaison, human rights and federal compliance manager, City of Salem

Sara Webb, program manager, Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency

Moderated by Elin Shepard, senior outreach manager, Energy Trust New Buildings