Former Oregon State Hospital nurses' dorm in Salem transforms into affordable housing

Once operating as a dormitory for state hospital nurses, Yaquina Hall is set to open soon as supportive, affordable housing for some of Salem's most vulnerable residents: those experiencing or at risk of homelessness and people with serious mental illness.

The opening comes just over a year after crews first broke ground on the project. At the time, Salem Housing Authority officials said almost 4,000 people were on waiting lists for affordable one-bedroom apartments. Wait times ranged from 18 months to eight years.

The opening of Yaquina Hall will add 52 units to the city's housing stock.

Mayor Chris Hoy said the project was years in the making. It involved more than seven years of interagency work and several roadblocks to funding. But despite the long road, the end project will be life-changing for many.

"This home for 52 people will save lives," he said. "People who are not currently thriving on the streets will be able to thrive."

Hoy added that the project was personal to him. He remembered sneaking away from campus at Willamette University to visit his mother while she was treated at the Oregon State Hospital.

"She passed away as a patient here at the Oregon State Hospital because programs like this weren't available," he said.

Previous coverage: With thousands on waitlists, Salem to turn state hospital dorm into affordable housing

What will it look like?

The building, located at the Oregon State Hospital North Campus, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It served as a nurses' dorm from 1947 until 1971.

City officials said several unique historic features will be preserved and enhanced.

The 50,892-square-foot, three-story brick building once housed a library, lounge and wooden pediment holding a medallion with an oil lamp to represent nurse Florence Nightengale.

Retired state hospital nurses who once lived in the dorms returned Wednesday for the ribbon cutting, marveling at the changes to the decades-old building.

Although the rooms originally functioned as minimalist dorms, crews renovated units into full apartments.

How was it funded?

The $18.6 million project is being funded by a variety of federal, state and city sources, including $6.1 million in Oregon Housing and Community Services mental health housing funding and $1.8 million in federal funds administered by the city.

The units will be subsidized through HUD project-based vouchers and residents will pay 30% of their income for rent.

HUD's Oregon field office director Brian Guiney said throughout the region, the private market has failed to deliver an adequate number of homes.

In a housing shortage, families are rent-burdened, priced out of the housing market and more easily pushed into homelessness.

"Partnerships like this … that is the way forward in the Pacific Northwest and in Oregon and how we are going to dig ourselves out of this housing crisis," he said.

Nicole Utz, Salem Housing Authority director, said the project has been years in the making, saying it often felt like a myth or a dream because of how far away it was to completion.

She remembered standing on the steps of Yaquina Hall in disbelief in 2015 when her predecessor, former housing administrator Andy Wilch, declared that the building would be the next affordable housing complex.

Eight years later, that dream became reality, Utz said.

The community room at Yaquina Hall is now dedicated to Wilch, who died in March.

What services will assist residents?

Utz said onsite services will be available to all residents and will be tailored to their specific needs.

Resident Services staff will then implement a comprehensive housing stability plan and promote the connectivity to services like food stability, economic hardship resources for basic needs, access to health care services of all kinds, transportation and job training.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon State Hospital dorm transforms into affordable housing