When Harriet Hughes gets a call at 2 a.m., she doesn’t bother changing out of her pajamas anymore. She just throws on a coat and heads out the door.
At 88 years old, Hughes has been providing affordable housing to Philomath’s most vulnerable residents for 23 years through Harriet’s Housing. She keeps her phone on at her bedside every night, visits her properties seven days a week and manages 82 rooms across multiple houses that currently shelter 96 people.
“I asked God for 15 years, like the king did in the Old Testament,” Hughes said when asked how much longer she plans to continue. “I used up one of those already.”
The operation houses a diverse population — one-third elderly, one-third low-wage earners and one-third physically or mentally challenged individuals. Rents range from $450 to $650 per month — rates Hughes says are necessary because “affordable housing wouldn’t be affordable to our people.”
The early years weren’t easy. Hughes recalls being called a slumlord and watching neighbors react with visible dismay when she toured properties for sale.
“To begin, it was very, very bad,” Hughes said. “When I would go around town and look at a house that was for sale, the neighbors when they saw me were like, ‘oh no.'”
The difference then was density and structure. Hughes initially placed five strangers together in single homes, leading to conflicts and neighborhood complaints. Now, she’s refined her approach. When vacancies occur, she carefully integrates new residents into established groups who help enforce house rules.
“I have a core group of four or five people and when a new person comes in, they explain the rules, and they’ll tattle on him because they want peace in the house,” Hughes said.
Philomath Police Chief Dave Gurski has witnessed the evolution firsthand.
“At one of her first places, we had a pretty significant problem with people that had substance abuse issues,” Gurski said. “And then it seemed, after about a few months, she seemed to take care of that either through the eviction process or those folks seemed to move out of the area.”
Gurski said calls for service at Harriet’s Housing properties have decreased significantly over the past decade, partly because Hughes handles many landlord-tenant issues herself before they escalate to police involvement.
“There are times when our graveyard (shift) guys will go out and respond to a call for service and she’s there at 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock,” Gurski said. “I appreciate the fact that she is reachable.”
Expanding within constraints
Recent changes in state law have allowed Hughes to add accessory dwelling units to existing properties. She’s currently building double studios — units where two residents share a bathroom but each has their own kitchenette and locking door.
One double studio on 16th and Pioneer should be finished by the end of December.
Despite having no vacancies, Hughes fields calls daily from people seeking housing. She maintains a waiting list and asks interested individuals to call back weekly to confirm they’re still looking.
“When I interview people on the phone, I get a pretty good idea if this is going to work or not. I tell my husband every time, ‘I got somebody really good’ and he says, ‘Yeah, you tell me that every time,’” she laughed.
Her screening process is informal — no background checks, just conversations about where applicants have been living, why they’re moving, and whether they have guns or pets. She’ll accept small dogs or cats, and she’ll accept individuals released from prison.
“We feel that if people have paid their debt to society, they deserve to be housed,” Hughes said.
The hardest cases
Not every situation has a clean solution.
“If someone is mentally challenged and you know they’re not going to be able to survive out there, but then they create chaos in the house or adjoining apartments, it’s hard to know what to do,” Hughes said.
Those with mental illness present the greatest challenge, she said, because there’s no immediate cure. Some elderly residents struggle with self-care. Keeping certain houses clean remains an ongoing battle, with Hughes sometimes doing the cleaning herself rather than creating more conflict.
She maintains strict rules about alcohol and drugs. Residents can keep alcohol in their rooms but not in common areas. When she found a resident’s alcohol on a back porch, she gave warnings, then dumped it out. “He got the message,” she said.
No easy answers
Hughes recalled attending a packed meeting at the Corvallis library in 2014 focused on solving homelessness.
“We still haven’t solved homelessness. It’s worse than it ever was,” she said. “More people are living in their cars … and some are couch surfing.”
Her frustration extends to common misconceptions about her residents’ capabilities.
“Even in my own family, they’ll say, ‘why don’t they get a job?'” Hughes said. “They don’t realize most of my people aren’t capable of competing in today’s workforce.”
The operation is self-sustaining, she said, with rents covering expenses and wages for four part-time helpers. She takes no salary herself.
Three years ago, Harriet’s Housing formed a nonprofit with a board to ensure continuity. Hughes is searching for someone to eventually take over management.
“I know it’ll be different because we started it and it’s our baby,” she said. “Different people have different ideas on how we do this and that’s OK, I’m ready now knowing that I won’t live forever here.”
Looking forward
For now, Hughes continues her daily rounds, her phone always within reach. Every year, she appears in the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo’s Grand Parade with a vehicle bearing the slogan: “Harriet’s Housing: A Place to Call Home.”
Each house displays a sign with that name and Hughes’ phone number, an open invitation for neighbors to call if problems arise.
“I feel comfortable being in the community,” Hughes said. “I don’t try to hide what we do.”
Gurski acknowledged that depending on the dynamics at each home, some can be disruptive to neighborhoods, and he shared that some residents remain displeased. But overall, he said, things have improved.
“Here with Harriet’s Housing, her heart’s certainly in the right place,” Gurski said. “She’s done a better job of managing those relationships over the last couple of years.”
Correction, December 1, 2025 10:36 am: This story was updated at 10:35 a.m. Dec. 1 to correct the number of part-time employees from two to four.