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Shields House Opens Doors for Clients and CSS

Oct. 23, 2020

An amazing confluence of vision and hard work and something that seems like destiny has given four Safe Spot graduates a home of their own in a bright yellow house in West Eugene. A pilot project in CSS’s effort to provide a new level of shelter, the Shields House offers Donna, Chris, Wes, and Mark the next step in their transition out of homelessness.


“This has been a rock star team in that camp for a long time,” says Erik de Buhr, CSS executive director, “so to be able to provide that next step up when there was not another option for them, it feels like we’re really taking care of our people.”


The Shields House tenants pay rent to cover the mortgage and establish a rental history, the absence of which is a formidable roadblock for people trying to break into the rental housing market. 


All were residents of the Roosevelt Safe Spot, all part of the volunteer management team, and all have taken full advantage of the helping hand that CSS has extended to them. 

They look forward to rooms of their own, heat, indoor plumbing, and a full kitchen.


“It’s just going to be so nice,” Donna said, shortly before moving in. “I feel like I’ve died and went to heaven.” She will continue to volunteer at the CSS office. Chris has become a CSS employee, as facilitator of the Mission and Skinner City Farm Microsites.


The Shields House is right around the corner from the CSS Grant Street office. Erik had been eying it for years as he fantasized about CSS providing housing for people who were ready to move on from the Safe Spots. Then, a couple of years ago, he attended a funeral for Ray Shields, a friend who had lived at the Roosevelt Safe Spot for a while and had brought solar lights and battery chargers to the camp using his genius-level tinkering–and he learned that Ray had built that house for his family when he was a young man. When the house came up for sale earlier this year, Erik was determined to buy it to launch CSS’s cohousing program.

“Ray was always proud that his family is fourth-generation Oregonian,” Erik says, “and that they came out with the Skinner family. Ray definitely had a pioneering spirit. And I feel that’s the spirit behind pioneering this new dimension for CSS to further our purpose in helping people find homes.”

Wes speaks to his experience with CSS and finding a supportive community.


CSS thanks the donors who made it possible to purchase the Shields House and to The Mission for providing the furniture. We will provide more coverage about this house and the cohousing program in a future newsletter issue. 

Community Court Program

04 May, 2024
Community Supported Shelters’ Roosevelt Safe Spot Community has been transformed into a shelter community aligned with the City of Eugene Community Court program. Beginning in January, people charged with minor misdemeanor offenses who have opted into the Community Court system (rather than Municipal Court) can opt into the CSS shelter program and move into one of 16 available Huts at Roosevelt.

Volunteers Boost Energy Systems at CSS Communities

03 May, 2024
During the ice storm that brought Eugene to a standstill in January, all the batteries that stored the energy from the solar panels at CSS’s Lot 9 Community went dead, meaning no lights and no way to charge cell phones. Dave Reuter knew that because of a monitoring system he had set up to keep track of the status of the solar energy systems at eight CSS communities. Dave, a volunteer who has led an effort to upgrade and standardize the CSS power systems, and his wife Janel Erickson, who has worked with him on this project, are intrepid outdoors people. While most of us struggled to get out of our front doors, Dave and Janel loaded a couple of fresh batteries on their Flexible Flyer sled and attached Yaktrak spikes to their shoes and a rope to the sled. With Dave in front and Janel in the rear, they guided the sled the five miles from their Friendly neighborhood home to Lot 9, near Autzen Stadium.

UO Interior Design Creative Storage Collaboration

02 May, 2024
A sixty square foot area. Six feet by 10 feet of space covered by an unconventional Conestoga shaped canvas. This is the simple description of the Hut basic to all CSS communities. How can a safe, comfortable, and efficient habitat be created within this framework using common and inexpensive materials? This was the question posed by Assistant Professor Solmaz Mohammadzadeh Kive to her Architecture 484 class this winter term at the University of Oregon.

Volunteer Spotlight: Sandy and Percy

30 Apr, 2024
For the past several months, a couple of long-time donors to Community Supported Shelters have joined us for two hours a week at our main office to do whatever needs doing. While this may sound like a modest amount of time, Sandy and Percy’s consistent, constructive, and upbeat engagement demonstrates a truth that is often overlooked: big issues can be meaningfully addressed in small increments of time.

Eugene Parking Ban Opposition Testimony

12 Mar, 2024
It's not too late to share your thoughts on this proposed update. Send your written testimony to mayorcouncilandcitymanager@eugene-or.gov .

Incarceration and Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle

15 Jan, 2024
Formerly incarcerated people are almost ten times more likely to be homeless than the general population, according to a study from the Prison Policy Initiative. Jack spent 27 years in prison, from the age of 33 to 60. “It is a long time. It's an entire lifetime,” he says. At first, he thought he might never get out and continued what he calls “bad behavior.” But he saw others who participated in educational programs and were successful in getting their sentences reduced. He realized if he started “acting right,” he might get out. He especially credits a program called “Nonviolent Communication” with helping him. He started using what he learned and realized that “the person we communicate worst with is ourselves.”

From Waste to Wonder - UO's Grey Water Conservation Project

14 Jan, 2024
Lima, Peru, and Eugene, Oregon, are worlds apart in many ways. But spend some time with Kory Russel, an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon, and you will learn there are communities in both places with challenges of access to sustainable and efficient water use. Kory has a photo in his office depicting a highly condensed neighborhood in Lima, a city where he and some of his students work on sustainable water projects.

New CSS Director of Community Impact: Black Burrell

13 Jan, 2024
Did you know CSS has a shared leadership model, with three directors? This November, Blake Burrell joined CSS as our new Director of Community Impact. His role supports all of our direct service staff, managing internal relationship-building, culture creation, program operation, mentoring, and conflict resolution. Read on for his introduction:

Volunteer Spotlight: Veronica Paredes

12 Jan, 2024
Veronica Paredes has been helping sew the weatherproof porch coverings ("scrims") for the Huts, recently working 26 hours to complete 34 scrims for us before the holidays.

Bike and Build Volunteers Assist in Refurbishing Huts

13 Oct, 2023
Bike and Build organization was established as a nonprofit in 2003. Its website summarizes its mission: “Bike and Build engages young adults in service-oriented cycling trips to raise awareness for the affordable housing cause. We advocate for the need for affordable housing in thousands of communities across the country.” As teams bike from town to town, they volunteer for service projects and give presentations about issues surrounding the lack of affordable housing. Since 2003 Bike and Build estimates that over 3,800 participants have biked over 11 million miles and donated over 255,000 volunteer community service hours to local organizations throughout the country.
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