By James Hehn, Pendletonian Times
PENDLETON, Ore. – Video was provided to Pendletonian Times by a person who claimed to have shot it at the Promise Inn during their stay in 2023. Promise Inn is an emergency homeless shelter operated by Community Action Program of East Central Oregon at 205 Southeast Dorion Avenue in Pendleton, Oregon, that was started by a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation in 2021.
The person claimed that the video depicted black mold in a shower at the Promise Inn and additionally claimed that they had found a tick on the wall. They claimed that Promise Inn staff would routinely eject guests who were one minute past curfew.
In March 2021, the Oregon Community Foundation granted $1.3 million to CAPECO so that the Pendleton nonprofit could purchase the former Whiskey Inn so that it could offer temporary housing to homeless people during the COVID pandemic of 2019-23. According to East Oregonian, CAPECO held a soft-opening for the Promise Inn in April, 2021.
According to another guest, maintenance is deferred at Promise Inn. “[Promise Inn] doesn’t like to do repairs when guests are there [so maintenance is put off until the guests leave after 90 days].” They confirmed the authenticity of the video Pendletonian Times was provided and additionally gave a description of the location of the rooms at the Promise Inn before abruptly ending the interview.
On February 4, 2025, Pendleton Police Chief Charles Byram was invited by City Manager Robb Corbett to address the City Council regarding the City’s response to its homeless problem at their regular meeting. Byram looked at his watch and stated that it would be better to postpone his statement due to the hour, then stepped to the podium at the City Manager’s urging and gave a general statement regarding the issue, expressing frustration that the mental hospitals operated by the State of Oregon had been closed, leaving those who suffer from mental disorders on the streets to fend for themselves.
In May 2023, Chief Executive Officer Paula Hall claimed that CAPECO served 80,000 people in Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam, Wheeler, Sherman, Wasco and Hood River counties in a request for $22 million from the Oregon State Legislature, intended for “one-time infrastructure investments into our regional food banks across the state.” According to Hall, “CAPECO would use its portion of these funds to help build a multi-purpose, multi-generational Food Center to service the region of Eastern Oregon.” She says that the center would “expand the agency’s regional food bank services and offer additional space to include a commercial kitchen, congregate space for meal sharing and social-connecting services including educational, nutritional, and healthy-living activities.”
To date, no such food center is listed on the CAPECO website but they support three food pantries in Pendleton: Outreach Food Pantry at 440 Southwest Emigrant Avenue, the Salvation Army Congregate Meal Site at 150 Southeast Emigrant Avenue and Blue Mountain Community College at 2411 Northwest Carden Avenue.
According to the Form 990 that was filed by CAPECO in 2022, Hall was paid $151,209 for her role as CAPECO CEO, which is nearly 4.7 times Pendleton’s median income. According to a Facebook post from CAPECO, Hall was named CEO of CAPECO in August 2016 and has been with the nonprofit for 35 years.
The City Manager is believed to make $105,112 per year, 3.3 times Pendleton’s median income and just under $50,000 less than Hall. Corbett has been employed by the City of Pendleton since 2011 and has 25 years experience as a City Manager.