On Monday, Governor Tina Kotek joined city and county officials, advocates, and faith and community leaders to celebrate the Grand Opening of the Dallas Family Shelter. The shelter is owned and operated by Church at the Park and provides space for two households and up to 12 beds. In spring of 2025, the shelter will expand to include an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), providing space for two more households and eight additional beds.

“The Dallas Family Shelter will protect four families who will soon have safe, warm shelter,” Governor Kotek said. “The families who will live here will get the chance to start on a journey towards stability, towards opportunity, towards security. Imagine the impact a shelter like this can have on a child’s future, nourishing that child and protecting them from the trauma of homelessness.”

Church at the Park purchased the original property, and major renovations started in June 2024. The project came to completion through the support of PATHS, City of Dallas, Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance and funding from the Governor’s homelessness emergency response.

On the Governor’s first day in office, she issued Executive Order 23-02, declaring a homelessness state of emergency and calling on the legislature to take immediate action to fund her emergency order. The Governor’s emergency declaration enables partnership with support and funding by local leaders and advocates to make shelters like the Dallas Family Shelter possible. In January, the Governor extended the emergency response to continue to address the crisis of unsheltered homelessness in Oregon.

By this July, the actions related to the homelessness state of emergency initiated two years ago are projected to rehouse 3,300 households and prevent another 24,000 households from experiencing homelessness in the first place. Oregon’s state shelter program now supports over 4,800 shelter beds to help people stay off the streets and have access to transitional stability.

Find additional photos of the event on Flickr.

Find downloadable, b-roll video footage of the event here.