Salem City Council Candidate · Ward ___

Are We Ready to Actually Solve Salem's Homelessness Emergency?

43% of Salem residents say homelessness is their #1 concern. We've talked long enough. Here's a real plan — built by this community, for this community. My name is Manny Martinez, and I'm running for Salem City Council.

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43% Cite homelessness as #1 concern
8 Concrete pillars in the plan
$1M+ Potential annual revenue unlocked

The 8-Pillar Plan

A Real Plan. Not Just More Talking.

This isn't Left vs. Right. It's Salem vs. a crisis that's been growing while our city council has failed to treat it like the emergency it actually is. Here's the foundation. More details are coming — and your input shapes what comes next.

📋
Pillar 1
Homelessness as Priority #1A

Every council meeting starts with progress updates on homelessness and public safety — before any other business. The city's own polling demands it.

Accountability
🏠
Pillar 2
More Shelter Space — Now

We don't have enough. Build new. Repurpose existing. This is the city's #1 infrastructure priority until the gap is closed.

Infrastructure
🏷️
Pillar 3
2027 Salem Yard Sale

Liquidate unused city-owned properties and land. Immediate general fund boost. Funds flow to shelter, recovery services, and law enforcement.

Smart Finance
⛺
Pillar 4
Managed Camping Sites

One per ward. 75–100 people each. Replaces the chaos of unmanaged camping with supervised sites that bring people out of the shadows.

Short-Term Solution
🤝
Pillar 5
Business Partnerships

Creative revenue partnerships — like digital billboards on city property generating $1M/year — fund outreach teams and police patrols. Business minds on council matter.

Revenue Innovation
🚫
Pillar 6
Enforce the Camping Ban

Once alternatives exist, there's no moral reason to allow unmanaged camping. Storage, flexible curfews, managed sites for anyone willing to cooperate.

Rule of Law
⚖️
Pillar 7
Accountability for the Unwilling

Every effort made first to connect people to services. But no one gets a free pass to break the law — regardless of circumstance.

Public Safety
💬
Pillar 8
Honest Community Conversation

This plan is the foundation. Root causes, affordable housing, transitional housing — all coming. Republican, Democrat, Independent — your voice matters here.

Community-Built

Pillar 1 — Accountability

Start Every Single Meeting With the Emergency

If 43% of Salem residents say homelessness is their top concern, why isn't it the first item on every council agenda? That changes Day 1.

  • Homelessness declared Priority #1A at every council meeting
  • Public safety declared Priority #1B
  • Council starts with progress updates — not buried in committee reports
  • The community holds council accountable for measurable outcomes
  • No more "we'll get to it" — it IS the agenda

The city's own data: 43% cite homelessness as #1 concern. 19% cite public safety. Together, that's 62% of Salem demanding these be treated as emergencies. So let's treat them that way.

Homelessness — #1 Concern 43%
Public Safety — #2 Concern 19%
All Other Issues Combined 38%

"If Salem were a business, we'd have an all-hands emergency meeting every single day until this was solved."

— Manny Martinez

Pillar 2 — Infrastructure

We Need More Shelter Space. Full Stop.

There is no enforcement strategy, no outreach strategy, and no recovery strategy that works without a place to send people. We are short on beds. That's the core problem.

  • Build new shelter facilities — the city must lead this effort
  • Identify and repurpose underused city-owned buildings
  • Partner with faith communities, nonprofits, and businesses for space
  • Prioritize dignified shelter — not warehousing people
  • Separate facilities for families, women, veterans, and recovery

The images above aren't wishful thinking — they're real. Oregon cities like Bend have pioneered safe parking programs and structured shelter villages. Salem can do this too. We build things here. That's what we do.

Tiny home shelter village exterior Managed shelter community Supportive housing community Shelter facility building

Managed shelter communities work. Cities across Oregon have proven it.

Pillar 3 — Smart Finance

The 2027 Salem Yard Sale

The City of Salem is sitting on millions of dollars in unused real estate with no immediate plans. It's time for a business decision: sell it, fund solutions, or repurpose it directly.

  • Full audit of city-owned property — what's being used, what isn't
  • Liquidate parcels with no near-term plan for use
  • 100% of proceeds designated for: shelter construction, addiction/recovery services, housing assistance, and law enforcement
  • Some properties repurposed directly into managed camping or safe parking
  • Creates new tax-generating private development where city land sits dormant

This is a business decision. Any business owner in Salem would tell you: idle assets that aren't generating value should be converted into working capital. The city should operate with the same discipline.

💰 Millions

in estimated city-owned real estate assets — sitting unused while the crisis grows

Proceeds go to →
🏠 New shelter construction
💊 Addiction & recovery services
🏘️ Housing navigation services
👮 More law enforcement officers

Land kept for →
⛺ Managed camping sites
🚗 Safe parking programs
🚌 RV & trailer parks

Pillar 4 — Short-Term Solution

Managed Camping: One Per Ward

The unmanaged camping disaster is already happening in Salem's neighborhoods — in parks, under bridges, along sidewalks. Managed sites don't create a problem. They replace the problem with something that actually works.

W1
Ward 1 Site
75–100 people
W2
Ward 2 Site
75–100 people
W3
Ward 3 Site
75–100 people
W4
Ward 4 Site
75–100 people
W5
Ward 5 Site
75–100 people

Why Managed Sites Work

  • Brings people out of the shadows of places like Wallace Marine Park
  • Sex trafficking and crime are far harder to hide in supervised settings
  • Clean Salem Team works one site effectively — not scattered citywide
  • Homeless Services Team can build real relationships at fixed locations
  • Pathway to services: help the willing, accountability for the unwilling
  • Temporary — sunset when permanent shelter supply meets demand

What Every Site Includes

  • On-site staff and security — 24/7
  • Sanitation facilities and regular cleanup
  • Storage lockers for personal belongings
  • Direct connection to outreach and services
  • Code of conduct: violence and drug use grounds for removal
  • Transportation access to jobs, appointments, services

Pillar 5 — Revenue Innovation

Business-Minded Solutions

You need business people on city council. People who look at the city's assets and ask: "What is this actually generating for Salem?" Here's one example of what that thinking unlocks.

Digital Billboard Example: 4 digital billboards on city property. Billboard company pays all installation and operating costs. The city collects revenue. That's it.

  • Up to $1,000,000/year flowing to the general fund
  • Zero cost to the city — company covers everything
  • Funds dedicated bicycle police patrols downtown
  • Or funds a 4–6 person assertive outreach team
  • This is ONE idea — business minds generate many more
$1M/yr

potential annual revenue from 4 digital billboards — company pays all costs

What $1M funds:

  • 8 bicycle police officers downtown
  • — or — a 6-person assertive outreach team
  • — or — $1M toward new shelter construction
  • — or — a combination of all three

More to come: Hotel partnerships, recovery sponsor programs, workforce housing co-investment with employers, faith community land partnerships. Business thinking opens doors government alone never will.

Pillar 6 — Rule of Law

Enforce the Camping Ban — After We Build the Alternatives

You can't enforce your way out of homelessness. But once real alternatives exist, there's no moral argument for allowing unmanaged camping to continue. None. Zero. We build first — then we enforce.

🎒
Belongings Storage
City-funded locker systems so nobody loses everything when a camp is cleared.
🌙
Flexible Curfews
Night-shift workers and those with irregular schedules get accommodated — period.
🐕
Pet-Friendly Shelter
People shouldn't have to choose between shelter and their animals. Sites accommodate pets.
♿
ADA Accessible
Every shelter option must be accessible to people with physical disabilities. Non-negotiable.
👨‍👩‍👧
Families Together
No policy that separates families. Family units stay together in managed facilities.
🤲
Help Anyone Willing
The test isn't whether you're ready for housing. The test is: are you willing to cooperate?

"We help anyone and everyone who is willing to cooperate with the system. That's the promise we make. And once we've made it real, the public camping ban is not cruelty — it's the natural consequence of having done the hard work."

— Manny Martinez

Pillar 7 — Public Safety

Enforcement as Last Resort. But It's Still on the Table.

We exhaust every option first. Every single one. But "we tried and you refused" is still a legitimate end of the road.

  • Maximum effort to connect every person to services first
  • Offer temporary relocation to managed camping — always
  • Option to voluntarily relocate outside Salem provided
  • For those who refuse all help and break the law — enforcement follows
  • No different standard based on housing status — law applies equally
  • Officers treated as outreach partners, not just enforcement tools

"No one, regardless of their circumstances, gets a free pass to break the law. That's not cruelty. That's the baseline of a functioning society."

— Manny Martinez

What "last resort" actually means:
It's not a phrase to make enforcement sound nicer. It's a literal process — every individual goes through outreach, offers, managed camping offers, and relocation offers before enforcement action is taken. Documented, trackable, accountable.

Pillar 8 — Community-Built

This Plan Belongs to Salem. Not to Me.

Everything above is the foundation. What gets built on top of it — that's a conversation Salem has together. And I mean everyone.

What's still coming:

  • 📍 Root causes of homelessness in Salem specifically
  • 🏘️ Affordable housing supply solutions
  • 🔄 Transitional housing pathways
  • 💊 Addiction and mental health treatment access
  • 💼 Employment and workforce pathways
  • 👧 Youth homelessness prevention

"Republican, Democrat, Independent, Progressive — it doesn't matter. If you live in Salem and you want this solved, you're part of this coalition."

— Manny Martinez

We CAN solve this.

Not perfectly. Not overnight. But systematically, honestly, and together — yes, we absolutely can. Every city that has made real progress started with exactly this kind of honest conversation and real commitment to action. It's Salem's turn.

Your Voice Matters

What's Your Idea for Salem?

This plan is a foundation. Your ideas, your lived experience, your neighborhood perspective — that's what builds the rest of it. Share your thoughts and I will read every single one.

💡 Have a specific solution? Share it. Have a concern about a pillar? Share it. Have a story about how this crisis affects your neighborhood or your business? We want to hear it.

Connect directly:

manny@mannyforsalem.com

www.mannyforsalem.com ↗

Join the Movement

This isn't Manny's campaign. It's Salem's campaign. Help us prove that a community coming together around real solutions actually works.

Donate at MannyForSalem.com ↗ Share the Plan Volunteer

Please. Share This Plan.

The most powerful thing you can do right now is get this plan in front of every Salem neighbor, business owner, and voter you know. This movement grows by sharing.

Paid for by Manny Martinez for Salem City Council · mannyforsalem.com