Poverty and Homelessness

Ashland selects construction company to renovate shelter building

Jefferson Public Radio | By Jane Vaughan

Published July 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM PDT

There's a brown office building with cars parked outside, trees growing nearby, and a dirt parking lot. — The building at 2200 Ashland St. was acquired by the City of Ashland in 2023 for an emergency shelter.

The city previously used the building as a temporary homeless shelter but closed it in April because it didn't meet fire code.

The commercial building at 2200 Ashland St. wasn't designed for overnight sleeping, so the city could only use it as a shelter for 90 days before closing it earlier this year.

The 3,000-square-foot office building needs additional exits, smoke detectors and a sprinkler system, among other upgrades.

Now, Outlier Construction from Medford will renovate the building, so it can be used again — this time, as a severe weather shelter in case of snow or heat, something Ashland doesn’t currently have.

City manager Sabrina Cotta said there might also be homeless services.

A light brown hotel building under a blue sky. In front, there's grass, a parking lot, and a sign reading 'The OHRA Center.' — The OHRA Center in Ashland on September 26, 2024.

"There's also an effort to include showers, as well as restroom facilities and laundry and storage within the building, to allow for some flexibility in terms of allowing for other services within the building," she said.

Ashland has a night lawn where homeless people can camp overnight. The OHRA Center, operated by the non-profit Opportunities for Housing, Resources and Assistance, operates a 24/7, year-round shelter in the city. All 72 of its beds are consistently full, with an ongoing waitlist.

The design process for the building renovation is ongoing, and construction is expected to be completed by the end of October.

But Cotta said it's especially difficult to retrofit a building for a use it wasn’t designed for.

A large, grassy area, about 100 feet across. There are small trees around the border of the grassy area. A low-lying building with a shallow-angle roof is in the background, to the right is a barbed wire fence. — The small field behind the police station and city council chambers in Ashland has been designated as an overnight sleeping site for homeless campers.

"It's always kind of tricky to do that and takes longer and probably more money than you would hope, as things change over time," she said. "It's nice to be able to kind of have the light at the end of the tunnel, to be able to put the building into use and not have the same fire code restrictions we've had."

The building originally opened as a homeless shelter in fall 2023 when the state was under an emergency order. But last year, the Ashland City Council declined $2.6 million in state funding to keep it open. Since then, the city has been searching for more shelter options for homeless residents.

Cotta said the city has budgeted $800,000 for this renovation project, using Community Development Block Grant funds and the state opioid response grant.

Ashland is also creating a 2200 Ashland Street Facility Plan Ad Hoc Committee to implement the master plan that was created by a previous ad hoc committee.