Homeless Shelter Consulting - Community Supported Shelters

Ways to Give

1160 Grant Street Eugene, OR 97402

Public Office Hours:

Mon-Fri, 1-4 p.m.

541-683-0836

community@cssoregon.org

Consulting Services

Shelter solutions to fit your community's needs

Now more than ever, community leaders want to solve homelessness. Our experienced team works with organizations and governments to advance customized strategies for compassionate, effective intentional communities.

We'll help you develop an affordable, pragmatic, and successful approach to sheltering your unhoused neighbors.

You: a municipal or state government, nonprofit, or faith group that wants to solve homelessness in your community.

Us: an innovative nonprofit that, for ten years, has been helping people get off the streets and transition to a better life.

We're not a for-profit organization. Your support of our consulting is:

• an investment in our mission, helping the unhoused rebuild their lives.

• a contribution to the development of shelter programs across the country.

Safe Spot Communities are:

Affordable

Annually, a single person experiencing chronic homelessness costs taxpayers an average of $30,000-50,000. That is the cost of inaction. In comparison, our program costs $7,000 annually for each unhoused person we shelter and support (plus $3,500 upfront to build each Conestoga Hut). Solving homelessness saves taxpayers' money!

$7,000

the average annual cost of providing shelter in a Hut
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$3,500

the average cost to build a Conestoga Hut
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Successful

Our program has the highest success rate in Lane County, OR, for moving individuals from homelessness to positive housing. We're eager to share our recipe for our success with you, and provide guidance so you can foster your own shelter environment that emphasizes teamwork, peer support, and shared responsibility.

#1

highest success rate in Lane County, OR, for helping move people into HUD-approved housing
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85%

of community members see a decrease in interaction with police
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Pragmatic

Providing shelter for the unhoused is a complex undertaking that requires careful planning, coordination, and financial resources. We can assist you in navigating these barriers with creative and innovative solutions. Space constraints? Safe Spot Communities require very little square footage and can function off-the-grid. Time constraints? A Conestoga Hut unit can be built in a day, not months.

46

U.S. states, 1 U.S. territory, and 6 countries reached with Conestoga Huts
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2 hours

is all it takes for a crew of 12 people to construct 2 Huts
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See one of our Safe Spot Communities firsthand!

Join us in Eugene, Oregon, for a free tour, where you can ask our staff questions, talk to community members, and step inside a Conestoga Hut.

Once you become a client, we will:

1. Send you a Readiness Assessment

The readiness assessment is a comprehensive questionnaire that contains all of the success factors. What do you need to be ready to set up your shelter community? Take this self-assessment to identify preparedness gaps and inform your plan. We'll follow up with further consulting recommendations tailored to your needs.

View a preview of the Readiness Assessment

2. Provide you with extensive Documentation

This includes an operating handbook, policies, an organizational chart, eligibility criteria, forms, and sample reports. We will also send an instruction manual and cardboard templates for our building our Conestoga huts. Why spend time painstakingly creating all of these documents from scratch when we can provide templates for you to get started?

3. Provide you with a Hut Manual + Templates

This manual presents step-by-step instructions on how to build a Conestoga Hut. With photos and illustrations, it guides you through the tools and materials you’ll need, how to build and assemble components, and how volunteers can be engaged in the building process. You may also opt to receive cardboard templates for Hut walls, which make constructing the arched walls much easier.

4. Offer six hours of customized consultation

Depending on your needs, we will make available to you experienced managers and staff who can advise you on site selection and development, client support, raising funds, safe site operations, or any other issues that the Readiness Assessment and you have identified as being on your critical path to success. Those six hours can be used any time you need them and can be online or onsite. (We charge for travel-related expenses.)

Extra: Training

Should you need further assistance beyond the scope of our engagement, we can provide additional consulting (in hourly increments) and training. (Note: training is not included in the base consulting package.)

Readiness Assessment Sample

How ready are you to design and implement a supportive community for the unhoused? What haven’t you thought of?

Below is a small sample of the Readiness Assessment. The full version is an invaluable resource that will help you prepare for issues, conditions, and prerequisites you need to consider as you move forward with your shelter solution.

Readiness Assessment Preview

Full Name

Organization Name

Shelter (check all that apply):

We have identified a potential site for our shelter community.

Local officials have been consulted to ensure a full understanding of compliance requirements.

There are considerations for ongoing maintenance and replacement costs.

Community (check all that apply):

We have a process for screening and vetting applicants, including a set of clear criteria for who is/is not a suitable candidate.

There are simple and unambiguous rules for acceptable behavior in the community, e.g., no overnight guests, no drugs.

There is a written process for rule violations.

Support (check all that apply):

We have planned out what services will be provided by staff and which will be procured from local partnerships.

We have developed an organizational chart with a clear assignment of rules and responsibilities for staff.

We have information systems for managing data related to donors, contracts, and grants.

What are your main obstacles to moving forward?

Pricing

No two communities are faced with the same homelessness challenges. For that reason, our consulting engagements are designed so that our advice is tailored to your specific needs.

For municipal and state governments:

$5,000