CSS News and Updates

A New Room To Help Build Community

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 04:10:35 GMT

A New Room To Help Build Community

April 19, 2026

“This is our home,” says Whitney, looking around the new 560-square foot Community Room at the CSS Roosevelt Safe Spot Community, where she lives in a Hut, “I think it really pepped up all of our moods.”

“Everybody seems really cozy when they come in here,” says Jason, another community member. “I think it definitely helps people come together, get to know each other, and tighten things up a little bit.”

There is something particularly fitting about the Roosevelt Community being the site for the first upgraded Community Room. It was on this site in late 2013 that the first CSS Safe Spot—then called, simply, “The Eugene Safe Spot” because it was the first and only of its kind—was established. In the beginning, it was a fenced lot with a couple of Conestoga Huts and a dozen or so wooden platforms for tents where the first community members could feel that they and their belongings were safe and they didn’t have to sleep “directly on the ground and wake up in huge puddles.”

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Want to support the new Roosevelt Common Room experience? All donations to the Community Supported Shelters Nourish Fund are directed toward nourishing the lives of unhoused individuals through open art studio classes, music lessons, peer-led support groups, employment prep, and more.

Partner Spotlight: Finding a Light at the End of the Tunnel with NAMI

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 03:43:07 GMT

Finding a Light at the End of the Tunnel

CSS-NAMI Partnership Provides Valuable Peer Support

By Guy Maynard • April 18, 2026

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Want to support our NAMI peer-led support groups? All donations to the Community Supported Shelters Nourish Fund will be directed toward nourishing the lives of unhoused individuals through employment prep, support groups, arts entrepreneurship, and more.

A New Chapter for Community Supported Shelters

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 03:10:03 GMT

A New Chapter for Community Supported Shelters

By Heather Quaas-Annsa and Blake Burrell • April 17, 2026

Saying hello to our new building at 10th Place:

Saying goodbye to two Mission Communities and our Grant Street office:

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

All donations to the Community Supported Shelters Nourish Fund will be directed toward nourishing the lives of unhoused individuals through employment prep, peer-led support groups, arts entrepreneurship, and more.

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Spring 2026

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:44:24 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Spring 2026

By Amanda Lang • April 16, 2026

Eugene shelter residents trained as bike mechanics in new workforce program

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 05:04:39 GMT

Eugene shelter residents trained as bike mechanics in new workforce program

By Macy Moore • April 5, 2026

This article was originally published in KLCC.

Musicians in Shantytown have experience with homelessness. Their songs speak of compassion.

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 04:56:58 GMT

Musicians in Shantytown have experience with homelessness. Their songs speak of compassion.

By Annie Aguiar • March 16, 2026

This article was originally published in Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Jason Krueger has been in plenty of bands over the years: college bands in Eugene when he attended the University of Oregon, here-and-there jam sessions and Craigslist advertisement tryouts in Portland.

His latest band, Shantytown, might be his most important yet.

Shantytown is the latest project from Community Supported Shelters, the Eugene nonprofit organization that provides Conestoga huts and supportive services for the unhoused.

The band is made up of clients and staff members from the nonprofit, and grew out of a regular weekend back porch jam session at their offices in west Eugene. Krueger, who plays the bass guitar and ukulele in Shantytown, said he and other Shantytown members started to call those sessions “music therapy,” but never “band practice.”

“We didn’t ever set out to play a show,” said Krueger, a client-turned-support worker for Community Supported Shelters, who lives in a Conestoga hut. “If we had tried to play a show, it probably would have blown apart because there’s too much pressure.”

Getting Back on Stage

There was a time Krueger, now 54, thought he would never play in a band again.

He first picked up a bass guitar while growing up in Billings, Montana, and later joined a few bands after moving to Eugene to attend the University of Oregon. He studied business and worked for the technology company VersaLogic, which specializes in embedded computer systems. He quit playing music.

Things changed after a move to Portland. He found that even after doing everything he had been told he should do — graduating college, getting married, having children, working at a company, moving to a big city — he was still unhappy. He got a divorce, quit his job, and started answering ads for auditions. He was in four bands in Portland when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and he moved back to Eugene.

When COVID-19 hit, he decided to do van life — the trendy, intentional lifestyle choice to live as a nomad to prioritize freedom and travel — out of his truck. Soon, the appeal faded.

“About six months into van life, my money started running out,” he said. “I realized, ‘Ah, this isn’t van life. I am an unhoused person sleeping in my truck on the streets of Eugene.’”

From there, he researched local organizations that could give him a hand and found Community Supported Shelters. He got into a Conestoga hut, and nine months in asked if they had any work for him.

Building Shantytown

Mellinda Poor, service navigation manager for Community Supported Shelters and the lead singer and songwriter for Shantytown, had been working on developing her songwriting skills when she joined the sessions.

She came up with the band name, a nod to homelessness services and an observation on how the weekly sessions formed. “One weekend somebody might come, and one weekend another person might come,” she said. “We’ve sort of just been this amalgamation.”

Her songs for Shantytown generally center on the importance of compassion. She said “Rebels of Love,” the final song of the night, most closely embodied the spirit of the organization.

“That song is about how it’s a rebellious act to love people unconditionally,” she said. “Especially people that other people have decided are not worthy of love. We’re going to keep doing it, no matter what people call it.”

It may seem serendipitous that enough people in one nonprofit had the organic performing chops to gather, build a rhythm as a band, rehearse for three months and debut in a live concert.

But Krueger said service work is like a filter, weeding out people he wouldn’t want to be around — and tending to collect people who know their way around a tune.

“It attracts people who are kind and empathetic and care,” Krueger said. “Those people tend to be incredibly creative.”

Getting Back on Their Feet — Together

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 04:32:00 GMT

Getting Back on Their Feet — Together

By Guy Maynard • January 24, 2026

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Partner Spotlight: MECCA

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 03:56:41 GMT

Partner Spotlight: MECCA

By Amanda Lang • January 23, 2026

The "starving artist" stereotype is well-known. Housed folks often struggle to make an income through art. That difficulty is magnified for unhoused artists, for whom many basic resources are out of reach, including good-quality supplies, studio space, and art classes. For that reason, when CSS launched our new Arts Entrepreneurship Program this past summer, we knew we couldn't do it alone.

That's where the Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts, MECCA for short, came in. Many locals know of MECCA as a store in Eugene that sells secondhand art supplies. But they do so much more than that.

Mitra Gruwell, MECCA's Community Engagement Coordinator, shares, "MECCA strives to create programming and remove barriers to art making for emerging artists and underrepresented populations. CSS serves a similar population for which art can be both healing and contribute to income. We have a crossover in our patrons, and have similar goals, which offers a good fit for collaboration between us."

Low-Cost Tools and Materials

MECCA's retail store operates entirely on donations. The ability for CSS clients to thrift for low-cost art supplies breaks down financial barriers to arts and creativity.

Space for Art Making in their Studio

Arts Entrepreneurship Program participants had free studio time every Friday at Radiant Community Arts—( read more about that awesome art partnership here )—but they didn't have to feel rushed or constrained by that schedule. MECCA provided additional studio time at their 555 High Street art center.

Education and Art Selling Opportunities

Before the CSS and MECCA partnership was born, Mitra was already running a professional development course called "How to Make Money from your Art and Crafts." She re-tooled the eight-week course to suit people who are unhoused, and it culminated in CSS clients selling their art during the Last Friday Art Walk in September.

Though the pilot program has ended, Mitra still maintains relationships with the CSS clients who took her class: "I see them shopping at MECCA, participating in our arts challenges, and performing at our openings." The partnership has not only offered entrepreneurial skills, but also a welcoming community to be a part of.

For our six pilot program graduates—Linda, Liam, Nate, Olivia, Alex, and Mary—our MECCA partner has taken them seriously as creatives and transformed their lives for the better.

CSS plans to run the Arts Entrepreneurship Program again in 2026, as well as co-produce future events with MECCA. Mitra shares, "We here at MECCA are delighted at the depth that has emerged from our relationship with CSS and the artists they serve. We are very excited for future collaborations and grateful for our newly forged partnership."

Stay tuned as we continue to work together with MECCA to make the art world more accessible to Eugene's unhoused!

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Want to support the Arts Entrepreneurship program? All donations to the Community Supported Shelters Nourish Fund are directed toward nourishing the lives of unhoused individuals through open art studio classes, music lessons, peer-led support groups, employment prep, and more.

Strength In Community

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 04:17:02 GMT

Strength In Community

By Blake Burrell • January 22, 2026

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Winter 2026

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:39:32 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Winter 2026

By Amanda Lang • Jan 21, 2026

Community Supported Shelters moving into former west Eugene DMV

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 03:38:40 GMT

Community Supported Shelters moving into former west Eugene DMV

By Alan Torres • December 30, 2025

(This story was originally published in The Register-Guard.)

Community Supported Shelters' new main office used to be Eugene's DMV.

The building at 2870 W. 10th Place was where Eugene residents got their licenses, registered their vehicles and replaced their license plates from 1985 to 2021. Eugene's DMV is now located at 499 Valley River Center. It moved in 2022.

Heather Quaas-Annsa, co-executive director of CSS, said when CSS started in 2013 it was "very small" with just two full-time staff, but the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a "rapid expansion" in shelter for people experiencing homelessness and in that time CSS added nine sites, 100 shelter beds and a proportional increase in staff.

But the expansion was not coupled with an increase in office space. CSS' current office on Grant Street has six desks and three parking spaces for a staff of 38.

CSS' new location will house desks, meeting space, which will double as classroom space, and firewood storage. Quaas-Annsa said CSS is exploring offering telehealth and pantry work out of the location.

"We're just excited for the opportunity to not only keep doing what we do, but also invite additional community partners into this space to really wrap-around the people that need it the most in this community," Quaas-Annsa said.

Quaas-Annsa said "at least once a week" she gets people coming in looking for the DMV.

CSS' first step will be putting up walls in what was an open space to create two large offices: one for shelter support staff and one for shelter navigators serving CSS residents.

Many nonprofits laid off such navigators in response to state budget cuts to homeless shelters this year. Quaas-Annsa said CSS is pursuing a grant it aims to use to expand that service to fill some of the gap.

CSS is moving its warehouse and storage spaces into the office. Everything at CSS' Grant Street location will migrate to the new location, except for the front office and navigators serving non-CSS clients, which will move to the access center at 1845 W. 11th Ave.

Planned work after that includes expanding food storage space, office space for directors and HR, and a telehealth room.

"We have this shell of a building that we can create into something that is going to serve this organization and this community for decades into the future," Quaas-Annsa said.

CSS is running a capital campaign seeking donors to support its plans to transform both the former DMV office and its access center.

Quaas-Annsa said CSS employees will get to move into their new space in February or March, and they'll be out of their Grant Street location by May.

Quaas-Annsa said the building's prior use as a DMV has given many in Eugene negative associations with the building and she is "beyond stoked" to take it from its current clinical look and "transform it into something welcoming."

"This is going to be a place where so many lives are going to change. It's almost overwhelming, the possibilities that are here," she said.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Bridges on Broadway Opens its Doors to Residents

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:25:31 GMT

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Bridges on Broadway Opens its Doors to Residents

By Mellinda Poor • December 18, 2025
(This story was originally posted on ActNowLane.org. )

“I’m excited! I can’t wait! I mean, I can plug in stuff. I can go to sleep. I can lock my door!” – Joshua

Most of us take these simple things almost entirely for granted. Having access to electricity. Having a place to sleep where you feel safe and secure. But, for Joshua, and the 56 other Lane County households who are moving into Bridges on Broadway this holiday season, these necessities provide a breath of fresh air, a foothold for reclaiming their lives, and a lifeline for reigniting their hope.

Bridges on Broadway is a new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) complex, providing a rental assistance program that provides housing alongside supportive services with the goal of stabilizing the most vulnerable. In Lane County, Homes for Good Housing Agency partners with the Lane County Coordinated Entry system to identify households that qualify for PSH and to provide housing for those in our community who need it most.

Aundrea Brauniff, Outreach and Coordinated Entry Supervisor with Lane County Human Services, describes Permanent Supportive Housing as a long term housing solution that combines affordable housing and supportive services to help individuals with chronic illness or disability. She states, “We move people into the housing and then we start to work together on stabilizing. When we refer someone to Permanent Supportive Housing, what we’re looking at is not the need for rental assistance, but it is the need for those supportive services in order to stay housed.”

Permanent Supportive Housing is one of the many types of housing and wrap-around support available in Lane County to low-income households who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness, and it plays a vital role in solving the homelessness crisis. These individuals have been struggling with complex disabilities that can make finding and keeping housing nearly impossible – they have goals to build stability but need their community to circle around them in support of those goals. In instances like these, PSH is an essential, life-saving housing and services intervention.

Bridges on Broadway, or The BOB, joins two other existing PSH developments in Lane County, The Nel and The Commons at MLK, to provide this vital assistance to the community. Bridges on Broadway initially began with Lane County’s purchase of the Red Lion Inn utilizing grant funding provided by the Oregon Community Foundation, which became Project Turnkey, an emergency shelter project providing temporary housing for people who lost their homes during the Holiday Farm wildfire. In 2023 the project was awarded PSH funding by Oregon Housing and Community Services and Lane County partnered with Homes for Good Housing Agency to convert the former hotel rooms into Single Room Occupancy PSH units. Every step of the way, the Bridges on Broadway project has been a collaborative community effort, with multiple government agencies, shelters, providers, and non-profits playing a role in its successful launch.

Nonprofit that aids homeless is raising money for building remodel

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 18:20:25 GMT

Nonprofit that aids homeless is raising money for building remodel

By Ben Botkin • December 9, 2025

This article was originally published in Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Could Oregon Trail wagons provide an unlikely solution to the housing crisis?: Season of Sharing 2025

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 07:50:38 GMT

Could Oregon Trail wagons provide an unlikely solution to the housing crisis?: Season of Sharing 2025

By Zane Sparling • Nov 19, 2025

This story was originally published in OregonLive here.

If funded, the plans call for new interior walls, a full kitchen, pantry, storeroom and expanded restrooms, as well as a less institutional paint scheme. The office could host employment classes as well as administrators and a few dozen volunteers dubbed “hut crews.”

There are more than 3,500 people living in tents and derelict vehicles in Lane County, according to federal data. Community Supported Shelters’ mission is to make sure each of them has a safe place to rest, recover and rebuild their life.

“We put our focus on delivering services and finding robust models for housing people,” said Blake Burrell, one of two co-executive directors at the nonprofit.

Community Supported Shelters takes on 20 more Conestoga Huts, will expand food efforts

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 08:01:47 GMT

Community Supported Shelters takes on 20 more Conestoga Huts, will expand food efforts

November 16, 2025

This story was originally published in Whole Community News here.

Hope in a Difficult Time

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 03:37:57 GMT

Hope in a Difficult Time

By Heather Quaas-Annsa and Blake Burrell • October 31, 2025

Dear Friends of Community Supported Shelters,

As we move deeper into fall and prepare for the cold months ahead, we want to share an update on our work and a reflection on what this season means for our community.

Recent policy changes and funding reductions across Oregon are already having consequences for people experiencing homelessness. New SNAP rules are expected to make it harder for many Oregonians to keep food assistance. At the same time, local service providers in Lane County are warning that shrinking budgets will reduce shelter capacity and make it more challenging to help people move into stable housing. In plain terms, need is increasing just as resources tighten.

At CSS, we are preparing for that reality. We continue to operate our West Eugene Access Center, providing showers, laundry, hygiene supplies, clothing, first-aid materials, and Front Door Assessments. Every week, we meet more people who are navigating new or unexpected hardship.

A few updates we’re excited to share:

How You Can Be Part of This Work

Turning Art Into Income

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 04:00:22 GMT

Turning Art Into Income

By Anna Alkin • October 30, 2025

Our Arts Entrepreneurship Program was featured in Lookout Eugene-Springfield on October 27, 2025! Read their story here.

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Warming Hearts with Welcome Totes

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 07:11:44 GMT

Warming Hearts with Welcome Totes

By Amanda Lang and Jennifer Yeh • October 29, 2025

What comes in a welcome tote?

Class aims to help unhoused people learn to make and sell their own art

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:39:35 GMT

Class aims to help unhoused people learn to make and sell their own art

By Annie Aguiar • October 27, 2025

This story was originally posted in Lookout Eugene-Springfield .

Linda Southwood’s handmade jewelry, she said, is a part of her.

Making her beaded bracelets and necklaces from reclaimed wood has been a relaxing constant for Southwood, 52, especially after her home burned down three years ago and she struggled to find housing.

She’s a graduate of a new arts entrepreneurship program teaches people who are unhoused how to build a business from their creative work. The program is run by Community Supported Shelters, a nonprofit that serves Eugene’s unhoused population and which is also known for its Conestoga hut microshelters.

A pop-up market a few weeks ago, for the first group of six students, was a proof of concept. It was the first time Southwood and others had actually been able to sell their work.

“I’m really shy as it is, and for me to sell,” Southwood said. “Before, I wouldn’t be able to sell anything. I would just run away.”

Adapting an art class for unhoused people

What the class has meant to students

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Fall 2025

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 19:55:56 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Fall 2025

By Amanda Lang • October 26, 2025

The Future: A New Building For CSS!

Sat, 26 Jul 2025 07:34:28 GMT

The Future: A New Building For CSS!

Summer 2025: Letter from the CSS Directors

Dear Friends,

Because of your support, we’re growing into something bigger—two new spaces designed to better serve our unhoused neighbors.

Community Supported Shelters is in the middle of an exciting transformation. After over a decade at our Grant Street location, we’ve purchased a new building that will allow us to bring our internal teams together under one roof. This space will house our administrative, operations, facilities, and outreach staff, provide private meeting rooms for client services, and include essential features like firewood storage, an expanded pantry, and a full kitchen to support our food program. It’s a significant step forward in our mission to provide low-barrier, trauma-informed services to people experiencing homelessness.

At the same time, we’re expanding and enhancing our Access Center at 1845 W 11th Avenue—the heart of our direct service work. Thanks to a generous grant from Lowe’s Hometowns, we’re making significant improvements to the site, including a covered outdoor seating area for year-round comfort, space for partner organizations, and added resources like a community garden, food pantry, and clothing closet. As part of our service consolidation, our front desk and client check-in will move to the Access Center, making it easier for unsheltered individuals to connect with support, hygiene services, assessments, and supplies.

These two locations will work hand-in-hand to streamline care, strengthen operations, and improve outcomes for the people we serve.

Now, we need your help.

We’re launching a capital campaign to fund the renovations, construction, and infrastructure needed to bring these visions to life. Your support will directly fund:

A welcoming, accessible office and meeting space for staff and clients
Firewood storage and processing areas to support cold-weather survival
A community kitchen and food pantry to meet essential nutritional needs
Infrastructure improvements that will sustain and grow our services

Your gift to the capital campaign is an investment in dignity, safety, and community. Together, we can build something that lasts—something that changes lives.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Heather Quaas-Annsa and Blake Burrell, Co-Executive Directors
Community Supported Shelters

What will the new building space look like?

We're in the process of getting layout renderings from architects. In the meantime, Blake, Director of Community Impact, offered sketches of his vision. (Cell phone users, swipe over the tabs to see all six.)

The Present: CSS to Make a Big Move

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 07:34:29 GMT

The Present: CSS to Make a Big Move

By Guy Maynard • July 25, 2025

“Everyone will have desks,” declares Blake Burrell, CSS Director of Community Impact, anticipating the move of most of the CSS staff and programs from 1160 Grant Street to 2870 West 10th Place, a former Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles facility. The move will take place between now and the end of 2025.

Examples abound of how current space limitations have increased the challenges of the important and already difficult work that CSS does in providing shelter and services for the unhoused.

Development Manager Pujita, the longest-serving CSS staff member with more than 10 years in the organization, hasn’t had an office or a desk since the COVID pandemic. Director of Philanthropy Heather Quaas-Annsa hasn’t had a desk in three years, and sometimes her personal passenger van has been used to store materials for development events.

The five-person Service Navigation team has five desks in the small office at 1160 Grant, which also includes a “flex” desk sometimes used by the Human Resources or Facilities teams. In that space, which also serves as a corridor within the building, navigators try to meet clients, talk on the phone to service providers or clients, and attend online meetings, among other tasks. This, while also contending with noise from the outer office, just a thin wall away. “We have simply outgrown our once suitable spaces,” says Blake.

“We only can accommodate two client chairs in the office, and we share them so whenever somebody has a client they just move a chair over by their desk,” says Service Navigation Manager Mellinda. “Our program growth and increased engagement means we have outgrown the current capacity of our navigation office.”

“We knew for years that we were outgrowing that building,” says co-founder Erik de Buhr, who retired from CSS at the end 2022.

Acquisition of property at 1845 West 11th in 2019 helped with offices for the service and development teams and an adjacent lot that accommodates several Huts and has grown into the Access Center with showers, laundry, and free clothing services. For a time, CSS also rented space at Eugene Builders Exchange, where Erik, Mona, Heather, and Caiti among others, had offices.

CSS staff and programs have continued to grow and the space squeeze continued to tighten. “This is a good problem to have,” Blake says.

“We’ve been looking for a new building for at least two years,” Heather says.

As CSS took possession of the 10th Place property in June, plans began to develop to turn the once cold and bureaucratic DMV building into a warm, welcoming, efficient—and colorful—new home for CSS. All staff members were invited to offer suggestions for use of the space. At the first all-staff meeting in the new building, sheets of paper were taped to the walls in various locations for people to write down suggestions for best uses of the spaces. Input ranged from the extremely practical – “private room to meet with clients,” “cubbies for supplies”—to the highly creative—“artsy, fartsy décor,” “creative chaos area.”

CSS is working with architects to redesign the space to meet the organization’s needs. Early plans called to add walls to create three big rooms in the middle of the space (where DMV clients used to stand in line): a room for the navigators with a private office for client meetings; a room for support workers, facilitators, and community managers; and a common room for meetings and programs—like music, art, seminars, medical services or, even, movie nights). Existing offices will house the development team and the co-directors Heather and Blake. A well-equipped kitchen could serve as a break room where spontaneous cross-team communication can happen or host cooking classes. A 1,000-square-foot garage-like area could become the new shop or a valuable storage area.

The property also includes a 1.64 acre paved lot next to the building that could accommodate Huts, firewood processing and storage, building supplies, or new outbuildings. There is also—as one would expect at a former DMV site—lots of parking for staff, clients, and visitors, a welcome change for those who have tried to park at the Grant Street or 11th Avenue locations or to navigate the walk between them during their already busy work days.

“The new building provides an opportunity for our teams to be under one roof, to improve our ability to sustain operations, and to explore new options for social services and housing supports,” Blake says. “A lot of heart has been poured out to run our operation from 1160 Grant Street. I love that building. It’s charming, but it’s not sustainable, not large enough for us to do our jobs in the way we need to.”

“We’re really trying to make the new place feel like home and bring elements of 1160 to it, so it has that charm and homey appeal that we all adore.”

Blake led a University of Oregon interior design studio project with 30 students last fall that looked at the Grant Street building and the 1845 W. 11th property to determine their viability to meet CSS’s ongoing needs. The findings confirmed what CSS leadership had already concluded: the Grant Street facility could not meet CSS needs without an “unimaginable” investment of resources. But, Blake says, the project “also showed us ways that we could explore the utilization of our 1845 West 11th property to emphasize our street outreach operations and the access center, and how those two assets can be complementary towards all our work with the unsheltered community in West Eugene. We want to still have a presence in the neighborhood. Our neighbors are really kind and accommodating, and we have a good relationship with everyone.”

CSS is buying the West 10th Place building. For information about the capital campaign to support that, click here:

There will be other ways for community members to contribute to the new building. “We're going to try to find really positive ways to engage volunteers and student groups,” Blake says. Donated firewood, processing equipment, furniture, and supplies will have to be moved, and there will be lots of thoughtful work “deconstructing” the Grant Street facility. “We've been in 1160 for a long time and there are a lot of treasures. We want to leave the property in really good condition. There's a lot of manual labor that comes with moving and so I've been really generous with our timeline. We're looking at a six-month timeline starting in July, and we will be finalizing this moving timeline when the plan for our interior renovations at the property are finalized. We will need all the help we can get to make this move,” says Blake.

Heather suggests that community members can help add vibrancy to the new building. “We don't want this building to be very sterile. That’s not us as an organization. We're welcoming. We have color. There’s feeling behind it. We're probably going to paint some sort of mural. We'll probably do some gardening and bring in a Little Free Pantry and a Little Free Library and other things to make the space more welcoming for everyone, not just for clients and staff but for the community at large.”

How can I help?

The Past: A History of Heart at 1160 Grant

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:34:31 GMT

The Past: A History of Heart at 1160 Grant

By Guy Maynard • July 24, 2025

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” Jane Adams — written on the sliding door in the shop at 1160 Grant

Erik de Buhr fell in love with the building at 1160 Grant long before there was a Community Supported Shelters. He was involved with a group that built things out of salvaged materials (Resurrected Refuse Action Team), including huts that would turn out to be precursors to the CSS Conestoga Huts. “I’d been eyeballing this building, thinking ‘that’s such a cool building, I wonder what’s going on - on the inside. The backyard is full of all this material, maybe they’ll let me come back and salvage material.’ And then I saw a big for-sale sign and I thought, let’s buy it,” Erik said in a 2013 interview.

When Erik and co-founder Fay de Buhr, who were then married, considered the practicalities of purchasing the building, they realized, “We were just being dreamy and we wrote it off.” But a freelance project brought Erik into contact with a potential investor who knew about the work they were doing and, in 2011, decided to buy the building with Erik and Fay and their young son Abram as tenants, on terms that worked for all of them.

Watch this throwback KMTR story about the origins of CSS:

Community Supported Shelters was born in early 2013. The Eugene City Council added a specific reference to “Conestoga huts” to the list of shelters permitted in the “Overnight Sleeping” ordinance, which meant Huts could be placed in parking lots of “a religious organization, business, or public entity.” CSS hired a carpenter named Christopher—the first employee other than the de Buhrs—to help build Hut components and recruited and trained a volunteer crew to assemble them on sites around Eugene, including at Opportunity Village. The de Buhrs found passionate and knowledgeable people to serve on the board of directors to guide them through early fundraising and organizational challenges.

A swell of enthusiasm made the Grant Street building a focal point of a fresh, organic, excited, hopeful, hands-on, community supported approach to addressing the vexing challenges of the unhoused.

“At first, I wasn't sure if the Huts would work,” Erik says. “I thought maybe we would build 10 and then we would move on to some other project. But then that wave just started to build and build and the opportunities just seemed to be endless. There was just so much community support that was coming out of the woodworks. The idea had landed on such fertile ground.”

That Grant Street building saw CSS expand from a focus on Hut-building and placement to take on organizing and managing a few Hut-centered communities. That success led to its position now as a provider of wide-ranging services to 13 communities and pioneers in low-barrier client-first services for the unhoused.

Erik has precious memories of the early days and “all the heart” that went into building CSS. While not actively immersed in the day-to-day operations of CSS, he says that the organization still has “that sense of heart.”

And he thinks it’s a good time to move on from the Grant Street building. “I think the spirit of the place has served its purpose.”

He thinks the best use for that space would be to remove the old Tine Hive and build affordable housing stock for unhoused and low-income people—a fitting continuation of CSS’s overriding mission to make shelter available to everyone in our community.

CSS is Now Operating the Nightingale Safe Spot

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:29:23 GMT

CSS is Now Operating the Nightingale Safe Spot

By Amanda Lang • July 23, 2025

In partnership with the Nightingale Board of Directors and the City of Eugene, CSS is ensuring the Nightingale Safe Spot continues to operate in South Eugene. In the month of July, CSS officially began to operate the Nightingale Safe Spot Community in South Eugene. As the organization moves its home to our new building and closes its staff shelter sites, we are ensuring CSS’s legacy of investing in our workforce and sheltering staff is continued at the beloved Nightingale Safe Spot. We are dedicated to sustaining shelter beds and maintaining a positive presence for our unhoused neighbors in South Eugene.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time to be part of this organization,” says Blake, CSS Director of Community Impact, "and we are honored to have been selected by Nightingale’s Board of Directors to carry on the organization’s investment into our community.”

In January, Nightingale Hosted Shelters opened an application seeking a local organization to take over their shelter operations. Multiple organizations applied to operate the rest stop. In April, Nightingale publicly announced their selection: Community Supported Shelters. Norma Grier, chair of Nightingale’s Futures Committee, said, “They are committed to continuing Nightingale's history of being a good neighbor. I believe supporting them is essential to our community's well-being.”

She added, “Our organization operated one site with 20 Huts. We were small. While we had many successes, we struggled to provide the array of expected services that help people transition from living on the streets to stable housing, like case management, housing navigation, and employment coaching.” She believes CSS, which is larger and has more experience, offers the ability to sustainably meet the needs of people who are unhoused. CSS is dedicated to maintaining the sense of community and belonging at the core of both of the organizations’ missions.

Nightingale Hosted Shelters and CSS, the only city-supported rest stop managers in Eugene, have been partners for a long time. Blake shared that “our founders supported construction of their Conestoga Huts at CSS’s main office. CSS delivered their water before they had running water. CSS helped their board with shelter data quality. The organizations have had a long-standing relationship to support one another.”

He says that as CSS staff visit the Nightingale Safe Spot and get to know Nightingale clients who still live there, it feels like a very natural transition. “When Nightingale had to close down due to construction earlier this year, we wanted to ensure no one was left out and everyone had shelter available. Their community members got full access to our housing navigation services and had the option to retain shelter with CSS while their shelter was under construction. We helped one person move to housing on the East Coast, we helped another person identify a housing opportunity in town, and one person already got involved in our Workforce Development program. Everyone was so kind, and we welcomed them to our community.” During that time of transition, multiple organizations and staff at the City of Eugene offered support to ensure the rest spot stayed safe and ensured everyone had options. It was a community effort to make sure it stayed open.

Located on Hilyard Street and 34th Avenue, Nightingale Hosted Shelter has been providing shelter in South Eugene since 2017, when the Southeast Neighbors Association voted to support a city-sanctioned rest stop. A year later, they expanded the number of Huts from 12 to 20. People living in the neighborhood provide a sense of belongingness and a source of support by donating bottles and cans for the BottleDrop program. This program was run by a small but mighty force of volunteers, and the site has endured as a demonstration of what strong community spirit is capable of. “I love that Nightingale is so much a part of my neighborhood,” says Norma. “During what are chaotic times nationally, it is rewarding to focus on a local effort that truly makes a difference in the lives of people in my community. We are working to make Eugene a better place to live.”

Early in the year, Nightingale completed a collaborative project with EWEB and the City of Eugene, bringing running water, electricity, and sewer connections to the site. Before, clients had relied on weekly water deliveries, solar power, and portable toilets, so this project created significant quality-of-life improvements. After the massive infrastructure project, though, Nightingale’s tiny team of volunteers was exhausted. “The required effort was challenging to sustain,” says Norma. “The services we hoped to deliver have gotten more complex than we could provide, but no matter what, the board didn't want the shelter beds to go away.”

That’s where Community Supported Shelters stepped up.

“When you see a group of people trying to do a good thing for our community, but they’re at wits' end, you don’t want to see that spirit go,” said Blake. “Our job is making sure that hundreds of people have a home in our community, and Nightingale’s Futures Committee gave us an opportunity to continue to do that. We get to make sure that Nightingale’s years of effort continue on.” Since assuming operations this month, the revamped Safe Spot Community is coming together, with 8 community members already moved in and calling Nightingale their new home. We can already see the positive impact on everyone living there, and we are excited to keep investing in the neighborhood, in the site, and in our newest community members living there.

Community members spent a Sunday afternoon organizing the community inventory and shop area to prepare for inspections and the BottleDrop program to resume. Here's the before and after:

We plan to make Nightingale a community for some CSS employees who shelter with our organization, and with support from Nightingale’s Futures Committee, we hope to foster relationships with local educational institutions that intend to support unhoused college students' shelter during their education. As we explore contracts with colleges, we're excited to increase the site's occupancy.

Over the next couple of months, our community will be collaborating on projects to:

Beautify the property and set up the community garden.
Set up the new common room.
Put finishing touches on the kitchen.
Organize the inventory and shop area.
Set up the donation station and processing station for BottleDrop donations.
Meet our wonderful neighbors and volunteers in South Eugene!

Nightingale is an incredible labor of community and kindness. We’re honored to carry on this important work in the South Eugene neighborhood. If you are interested in getting involved or making donations, please reach out to community@cssoregon.org .

Here from Nightingale Hosted Shelters? Here's how you can get engaged with CSS!

Donor Spotlight: Eugene REALTORS® YPN

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 01:03:22 GMT

Donor Spotlight: Eugene REALTORS® YPN

By Pujita Mayeda • July 22, 2025

The Eugene REALTORS® Young Professionals Network had their yearly ‘Sip of Summer’ event to raise money for Community Supported Shelters. A good time was had by all with games, a raffle, BBQ, and great networking at Alton Baker Park. This was their 5th fundraiser for CSS, and they raised $3,300 this year for their 4th Adopt-a-Hut.

We're incredibly grateful for their many years of continued support for unhoused neighbors!

The video they created to promote the 'Sip of Summer' fundraiser cracked us up. (If the video won't load, you can watch it on Facebook here .)

Volunteer Spotlight: UO Duck Corps

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 01:26:53 GMT

Volunteer Spotlight: UO Duck Corps

July 21, 2025

This summer, we've been collaborating with UO Duck Corps, who have been giving Hut exteriors some good scrubbing. Dustin (the staff member taking the selfie ��), says, "It's so encouraging to see a younger generation work against stereotypes about the unhoused and have such an interest in helping their community."

One of the UO Duck Corps volunteers, Charlie, shared what the experience was like:

Getting to volunteer with Community Supported Shelters through Duck Corps was one of the absolute highlights of my spring term at UO. Beyond washing the huts and beautifying Safe Spot sites, our team was able to gain insight into CSS’ history, mission, and future plans. The staff and every resident we met treated our team with so much kindness and curiosity, hearing everyone’s story was my favorite part of coming each week. The more time I spent volunteering here, the more I learned and the more connected I felt to the unique mission and approach CSS takes. I will definitely be volunteering again!

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Summer 2025

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 20:05:49 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Summer 2025

By Amanda Lang • July 20, 2025

Lowe’s Hometowns grant will fund vital upgrades to CSS’s Access Center

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:41:51 GMT

Lowe’s Hometowns grant will fund vital upgrades to CSS’s Access Center

By Heather Quaas-Annsa

These photos are from Lowe’s Red Vest Day, as part of our Lowe’s Hometowns Grant project. These volunteers are building a large gazebo.

Eugene, OR – Community Supported Shelters (CSS) has been proudly selected as a 2025 Lowe’s Hometowns project, one of only 100 community-nominated, large-scale renovations nationwide. This recognition is part of Lowe’s five-year, $100 million commitment to revitalizing the spaces that serve as the heartbeat of hometowns across America.

The Lowe’s Hometowns grant will fund vital upgrades to CSS’s Access Center in West Eugene. This hub offers showers, laundry facilities, clothing, haircuts, and access to supportive services for unhoused individuals. The improvements include the construction of a freestanding lean-to cover to shield guests and volunteers from the elements, the installation of a storage shed for laundry operations, propane heaters to provide warmth during colder months, and the addition of amenities such as a community information/resource table and a dog kennel. These enhancements will increase the center’s capacity, efficiency, and comfort for the hundreds of people it serves annually.

“This project allows us to continue meeting the rising demand for dignified, accessible services for people experiencing homelessness,” said Heather Quaas-Annsa, Director of Philanthropy at CSS. “With Lowe’s support, we can better welcome our guests and create a space that fosters healing, stability, and hope.”

With help from Lowe’s red vest associates across the country, Lowe’s Hometowns projects in 2025 will help expand kitchen and serving capacity for food pantries, restore transitional housing facilities, revitalize public parks and community gardens, and build restorative spaces for first responders to rest between calls.

Earlier this year, Lowe’s pledged to deliver 10 million square feet of impact through its Hometowns initiative. The program celebrates the immeasurable difference made when local heroes and national partners come together to improve lives and spaces. For more information about the 2025 Lowe’s Hometowns projects, visit Lowes.com/hometowns and follow #HowLowesHelps on social media.

As Eugene's unhoused numbers rise, Blake Burrell helps struggling people dream

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 21:38:47 GMT

As Eugene's unhoused numbers rise, Blake Burrell helps struggling people dream

By Hannarose McGuinness • June 15, 2025

This story is originally posted in The Register-Guard: https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/local/2025/06/15/eugene-oregon-pit-count-finds-14-increased-in-unhoused-population/84122738007/

The first-ever Team CSS runs at the Eugene Marathon

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:01:20 GMT

The first-ever Team CSS runs at the Eugene Marathon

By Anna Alkin - April 30, 2025

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

All donations to the new Community Supported Shelters Nourish Fund will be directed toward nourishing the lives of unhoused individuals through open art studio classes, music lessons, peer-led support groups, employment prep, and more.

Workforce Development: Creating Paths to Employment

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 22:21:49 GMT

Workforce Development: Creating Paths to Employment

By Guy Maynard

In a September 2023 interview, Sabrina, who had been in a CSS Hut for about two years, said, “It's been well over 10 years since I've had a job, because my drug habit has caused me to be homeless.”

It was at that time that Sabrina felt comfortable enough with herself and her community that she started volunteering for CSS. Her initial volunteer role was helping as a supervisor in the newly introduced orientation community. That was followed by stints cleaning showers, working at the CSS office front desk, and helping on the water route, which involves picking up drinkable water and delivering it to the CSS communities.

A little over a year ago, the nature of her volunteering changed. She became the first participant in CSS’s Workforce Development Program, an effort to turn clients’ volunteer work into more structured preparation for getting paid employment.

And, earlier this year, Sabrina, now clean from addiction, was the first to graduate from that program after accumulating 162 volunteer hours. Soon after, she completed a three-month paid internship at Food for Lane County (FFLC) and was hired to a half-time paid position on the CSS Maintenance Crew the following week.

“It was pretty cool,” Sabrina says, “being the first one, and the first one to graduate, that I actually got something done.”

The Workforce Development Program came about when CSS leadership realized that, though client’s volunteering to support communities was a positive thing, “We were missing an opportunity to turn this into job experience,” says Anna, CSS Programs Coordinator, who was coordinator of the Workforce Development Program when it started. By creating a more formal program with goal setting, regular “milestone’’ meetings, and having “someone who is your person to keep checking in with,” CSS could make clients’ work serving the community also lead more directly to a paying job, either outside CSS or, if there is an opening, within.

Clients must be in the CSS community for 90 days before they can apply to be part of the program. Camp facilitators help to identify clients who are ready for it. Will, who took over as coordinator for the workforce program from Anna in January, says the most likely candidates to succeed are “people who are on the cusp of wanting to make a change.” That certainly was the case with Sabrina, who had been volunteering for a year and a half when she started with the Workforce Development Program, and Gina, who says from the first day she moved into the Bertelsen Community in early spring of 2024, “My number one thing is to stay focused and get myself out of this situation that I got myself into.” After volunteering for the water route (where she “worked my ass off”), CSS food crew, and doing the paid internship with FFLC, she started a full-time job in March with Hope Community Corporation, a St. Vincent de Paul enterprise that builds modular mobile homes for emergency and low-income housing.

All participants have an initial intake meeting with the workforce program coordinator, where they are oriented to the program, informed of expectations, set goals, and discuss which of the working areas where CSS has needs fits them best: maintenance, which involves activities such as the water route, Hut cleanup and repair, or firewood; hospitality (showers, laundry, free clothes distribution); or working at the office front desk.

Anna says that the initial goal discussion is most often not about big picture life goals but more about addressing immediate steps to put the client in a better position to get a job, such as working on a resume or getting a bus pass or having a working phone.

For Sam, who has been a member of the Lot 9 Community since August 2023, his goals included getting a driver’s license, applying for the FFLC internship, and exploring CSS work possibilities beyond the work he has done with firewood since he first moved in. Will referred him to CSS service navigators who are helping him get his learner’s permit, the first step toward a driver’s license. He didn’t get the FFLC internship but is already on the list for the next round of interviews. And he plans to pursue the possibility of working at the office front desk to provide a different sort of work experience than he has had in his work with firewood.

All participants also meet monthly with the workforce coordinator.

“It’s a check-in meeting.” Sabrina says, “just to reach out to us and make sure we’re doing OK.” It was at a monthly meeting that Anna encouraged Sabrina to apply for the FFLC internship. During her year in the Workforce Development Program, in addition to her work experience, Sabrina got a new pair of glasses and was cured of Hepatitis C, which she’d had for about 15 years.

“I feel a lot better,” she says. “I've got energy now, natural energy, which is cool.”

Gina had applied for the job at Hope Community after her initial intake meeting. She didn’t get it then but almost a year later, they called her to offer her a job. She had been prepared to take a paid position with the CSS Maintenance Crew when she got that call.

She was strongly motivated to pursue employment, and she says her monthly meetings were important morale boosts. “It was just a lot of encouragement from Anna, from everybody, really, here. They all were pretty much on my side. They just kept me encouraged, kept me going.”

Will says that to-date, 19 clients have completed intake interviews for the Workforce Development Program. Of those, twelve have been active participants in the program, contributing a combined 628 hours of labor to CSS in 2024. Of the twelve active workforce participants, three have already secured permanent employment.

Many CSS clients face a multitude of barriers to taking these first steps toward employment: logistical things, such as having a working phone; emotional and health problems; or part-time work or other activities in pursuit of rebuilding their lives.

“I just want to show up and be there for them no matter where they are,” Will says. “I'm focusing on trying to be kind of an emotional support person for everybody until they reach that point where they feel like they have enough support to where they can take that next step.” The program can also help folks with getting a phone or other essentials in pursuing employment.

The program’s process is also part of its training, instilling the habits of showing up for appointments, responding to phone calls and messages, and communicating in positive ways.

Anna says there is often a big change from the intake meeting to the first check-in meeting after the client has worked at least one month at their workforce shifts. “They have suddenly started to reawaken to their aspirations like career goals. They’ve just been locked out for so long. To get in that groove again and have that rhythm and the exchange with people. You're not just hanging at your Hut but you're talking to all the people at CSS and being helpful to others. It’s like you just start to remember who you are.”

“This to me, of all of the programs that I've helped start at CSS, is in many ways the most transformative,” Anna says. “It’s amazing to see a person who literally couldn't think big picture for themselves at all, totally moving forward and gaining confidence in their self-value.”

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Spring 2025: Letter from the Director of Philanthropy

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 22:28:13 GMT

Spring 2025: Letter from the Director of Philanthropy

Heather Quaas-Annsa
Director of Philanthropy, Community Supported Shelters

Staff Spotlight: “To Give Back Is Super Big for Me" —Harley

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 22:41:12 GMT

Staff Spotlight: “To Give Back Is Super Big for Me” —Harley

By Keith Dickey

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Volunteer Spotlight: Crystal, Supporting Access

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 22:45:16 GMT

Volunteer Spotlight: Crystal, Supporting Access

By Jennifer Yeh

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Donor Spotlight: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 23:35:04 GMT

Donor Spotlight: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church

By Amanda Lang

"Every little bit helps to provide housing to those in need."

Little by little, for ten months, St. Mary's Episcopal Church Congregation collected cans and bottles. And now, those small BottleDrop deposits have provided a big return: shelter for the unhoused. Recently, St. Mary's donated $3,000 to CSS and adopted their FOURTH Conestoga Hut!

After coming on a tour, Louise Fortuna, Communication and Program Coordinator at St. Mary's, said, "I have always found our visits to CSS sites to be inspiring. They have moved me from 'this is a good cause' to 'oh my goodness, this is amazing, how I can help more'!"

St. Mary’s has been a long-time supporter of CSS. They hosted our first ever Annual Celebration back in 2014. We’re beyond grateful for their decade of support!

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Spring 2025

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 20:24:43 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Spring 2025

By Amanda Lang • April 10, 2025

A Driver’s License Can Alter Lives

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 01:56:52 GMT

A Driver’s License Can Alter Lives
By Guy Maynard - Jan 22, 2025

Soon after Mark moved into the Skinner Safe Spot Community in 2022 he got a CSS staff job on the maintenance crew. He worked 10–12 hours a week, and his primary responsibility was cleaning up Huts when clients moved out, preparing them for the next occupants.

He didn’t have a driver’s license. He had one “many years ago” in California before he became homeless, but then he didn’t have a vehicle and he let his license lapse. He had never had a license in Oregon, where he moved in 2014.

So for the maintenance job, he says, “I would commute by way of my bicycle. I carried all the cleaning products and brooms and mops and whatever I needed on my bicycle.”

Things went well, and when the maintenance crew was reorganized about six months later, he was offered a new position, at 30 hours a week, in which he would be the primary maintenance person for three communities. It required he drive a CSS vehicle, so the offer was contingent on him having a driver’s license.

“My supervisor at the time told me that CSS would be willing to help me and pay the DMV fees and the driving school fees that were required for me to get my license.”

Breaking The Cycle: Fostering Financial Literacy

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 02:26:41 GMT

A CSS Yurt on a rainy cold December afternoon in West Eugene may not be a place you would expect to find two Eugene area bank branch managers enrolling new depositors. Even more remarkable is the effort and journey that brought them there. The story begins earlier this year when Downtown Eugene KeyBank Branch Manager Michelle Khanthanhot reached out to Blake Burrell, CSS Director of Community Impact. What ensued is a focused grassroots effort by Michelle and another KeyBank Eugene Branch Manager Jose Contreras to educate the CSS community about financial health and planning. “For KeyBank it is important that we are involved in our community,” says Michelle. “Blake and I connected and it has just kind of evolved in the last 6 months.”

Grants That Create Pathways to Stability, Creativity, and Community

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 04:02:24 GMT

Grants That Create Pathways to Stability, Creativity, and Community

By Heather Quaas-Annsa - Jan 20, 2024

Community Supported Shelters is thrilled to share news of the incredible support we received from our community partners in 2024. These grants have allowed us to expand our programs, enhance our services, and make a meaningful difference for the individuals we serve. Here are the highlights:

Lane Arts Council : Thanks to their generous grant, CSS partnered with Oregon Supported Living Program (OSLP) to host a Client Art Gallery. The summer-time gallery showcased the creativity and talent of our clients while fostering community engagement and artistic expression.

Guitarists for Good : Their gift of 10 new guitars made our new music enrichment program a reality, bringing the joy and therapeutic benefits of music to our clients.

Oregon Community Foundation : With funding dedicated to capacity building, outreach, and advocacy, we can amplify our voice in the community.

Autzen Foundation : This grant allows us to continue and expand our vital collaborations with the National Alliance on Mental Illness and OSLP, creating a support network for mental health and creative empowerment.

Lane Community Health Council : Their investment in workforce development will help us provide new opportunities for skill-building and employment readiness, empowering individuals to achieve stability and independence.

PacificSource SHARE Fund : With their assistance, CSS can focus on capacity building and address critical capital needs, ensuring we can continue to grow and meet the demands of our community.

These grants are more than just funding—they represent partnerships built on a shared commitment to supporting those in need. CSS extends our heartfelt gratitude to these organizations for believing in our mission. Together, we’re creating pathways to stability, creativity, and community.

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Winter 2025

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 20:38:05 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Winter 2025

By Amanda Lang • January 19, 2025

Family Reunites and Forges a New Beginning

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 21:45:40 GMT

Robert hadn’t seen his brother Dan in 17 years. “I’ve been looking for him. I hadn’t had any luck and, honestly, I didn’t think he was still around.” But when Robert moved from one CSS community to the Micro-Mission Community in mid-September, he saw a face he knew. “Oh my God, it’s my long lost brother,” he said. And they gave each other a big bear hug. Dan, 56, has been in CSS Safe Spots for two years and Robert, 59, about a year. Eugene natives, they have both dealt with many difficult challenges. But, thanks to CSS, they have been reunited in a safe place and will help each other build more stable lives. “It was meant to be,” Dan says.

CSS Leadership Team Advocates for Alternative Shelter Models at National Conference in Washington, D.C.

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:26:27 GMT

CSS Leadership Team Advocates for Alternative Shelter Models at National Conference in Washington, D.C.

By Heather Quaas-Annsa - Nov. 1, 2024

This past summer, the leadership team at Community Supported Shelters took a powerful step forward in advocating for alternative shelter solutions by attending the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) conference in Washington, D.C. The team joined thousands of advocates, policymakers, and service providers nationwide to share best practices, exchange ideas, and drive critical discussions on addressing homelessness with innovative, community-centered approaches.

A highlight of the conference was Capitol Hill Day, where our team visited the offices of key legislators Val Hoyle, Jeff Merkley, and Ron Wyden to advocate directly for non-congregate shelter models. As pioneers in creating and operating alternative shelters that respect individuals’ dignity and promote autonomy, CSS leadership shared our successes, challenges, and vision with congressional representatives, bringing attention to the need for inclusive shelter options that integrate sustainable practices and foster genuine community.

The Capitol Hill Day meetings were an exciting opportunity to voice support for policies recognizing alternative shelters, like our Conestoga Huts and Safe Spot Communities, essential to the national response to homelessness. These discussions allowed our team to emphasize how CSS’s approach aligns with HUD requirements for emergency shelters while offering off-grid options that blend seamlessly with the urban environment. This approach has proven effective in Eugene and is ready to inspire similar communities nationwide.

Thanks to your support, CSS was able to represent Eugene on the national stage, advocating for solutions that honor both the environment and the humanity of those experiencing homelessness. We’re excited to bring the insights and inspiration gained back to our community and look forward to working together to expand these life-changing programs.

Access Center Expands Services

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 19:11:33 GMT

Access Center Expands Services

By Guy Maynard - Oct. 31, 2024

The last time Shaggy (given name Steve) got a haircut was right before he moved into a Safe Spot Community about two years ago. His hair was long and he’d been sleeping outside, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t bring any lice or other parasites into the community. He shaved it all off.

In early October, at the CSS Access Center, after taking a shower in one of three available shower stalls, he received a different sort of haircut from Sarah Gullino. She showed him pictures so he could indicate how he’d like her to cut his once-again shoulder length hair. Then she gave him an almost hour-long, thoroughly professional haircut. “She really took her time,” Shaggy says.

When Sarah held a mirror for him to see his new, much shorter and stylish look, he smiled and said “Wow, that’s excellent.” Sarah, who is a licensed barber at Krismatic Salon and Spa in downtown Eugene, cuts hair at the CSS Access Center the first Thursday of every month. She says helping people who don’t have regular access to this type of grooming is something she’s wanted to do for a long time. “I wouldn’t do this if I could only do the basics,” she says. “Haircuts can make a difference in how people feel about themselves. They shouldn’t be a luxury.”

Shaggy says he really appreciated the shower and the cut, so, he says, ‘I wasn’t smelling and looking like I just came out of a dumpster.”

“I've gotten a lot of reactions to my haircut,” Shaggy says. “A lot of people are surprised I cut my hair. All my friends like it and I like it.”

Since his haircut, a problem with his ankle cleared up and he has begun actively looking for a job. “I'm actually back out looking for work again now. I’ve got some applications in and I'm hoping something will turn up.”

He says it’s “really important” that CSS offers these kinds of services at the Access Center. “They are essential services to live like a human being.”

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Your support makes a huge difference. Thanks to you, we can continue nurturing communities that foster growth, dignity, and hope.

All donations to the brand new CSS Nourish Fund will be directed toward nourishing the lives of unhoused individuals through open art studio classes, music lessons, peer-led support groups, employment prep, and more.

HIV Alliance Brings Testing and Education to CSS Communities

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:58:13 GMT

HIV Alliance Brings Testing and Education to CSS Communities

By Keith Dickey - Oct 30, 2024

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Your support makes a huge difference. Thanks to you, we can continue nurturing communities that foster growth, dignity, and hope.

Empowering Voices: Homeless Not Voteless

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 17:40:39 GMT

Empowering Voices: Homeless Not Voteless

By Jennifer Yeh - Oct 29, 2024

In partnership with The League of Women Voters of Lane County (LWVLC), CSS is making significant strides in expanding voter registration outreach to unhoused individuals in our community. Historically, unhoused individuals have faced numerous barriers to voter registration and participation, including lack of a permanent address, identification issues, lack of information on candidates and issues, and limited access to information about the voting process.

This year LWVLC volunteers started by providing a training session with CSS staff about the voter registration process and voting in Oregon. Staff members took voter registration cards into our Safe Spot Communities and answered questions at community weekly meetings about voting and completing a voter registration card. In addition, LWVLC volunteers hosted a voter registration booth at the Access Center as part of National Voter Registration Day to engage with both clients and individuals on our waitlist. Safe Spot Communities also received Voter Pamphlets and the Oregon League of Women Voters Voting Guide.

When unhoused individuals are included in the democratic process, their unique needs and challenges are more likely to be addressed in policy making. Voting empowers people to advocate for their rights to support both important change or the continuation of things they care about. This outreach helps to create a more inclusive democracy where all people in our community, those housed and unhoused, have a stake in the decisions that impact their lives.

CSS plans to continue this outreach and work with the LWVLC to expand both voter registration and voter education opportunities within the unhoused community.

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Your support makes a huge difference. Thanks to you, we can continue nurturing communities that foster growth, dignity, and hope.

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Fall 2024

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 20:45:36 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Fall 2024

By Amanda Lang • October 28, 2024

Art Partnership Celebrates Community

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 17:11:07 GMT

Art Partnership Celebrates Community

By Anna Alkin

On Friday, August 2, 2024, art created by CSS community members and staff will be featured on Eugene’s First Friday Art Walk in an exhibition titled “Community is Key” at the Oregon Supported Living Program's Arts and Culture Center (110 East 11th Avenue, Eugene). The exhibition, which opened on the First Friday Art Walk on July 5, is the culmination of a partnership between CSS and OSLP that began almost magically on a rainy day last Fall.

In November of 2023, I was approached by a CSS Veterans Safe Spot Community member who wanted access to an arts program. It was the first week in my new role as Volunteer Coordinator with CSS, a position that hadn’t been filled since the pandemic. True to the CSS spirit of serving client needs, I was happy to try to make that happen, even though doing so meant coloring outside the lines of my job description just a little bit.

I made a list of places to inquire about finding a room to make art, hoping for something like a church basement. I planned to ask the folks at New Zone Gallery for leads. I parked on East 11th Street near Oak in downtown Eugene and wrestled with the parking meter for five minutes in the rain before giving up and wondering who was watching me make a fool of myself through the plate glass window. That’s when I noticed the Oregon Supported Living Program’s Art and Culture Center sign.

When I entered, I almost began to cry: it was everything I dreamed of providing our clients. Dripping wet, fresh off the street, and lacking business cards, I asked: “Any chance y’all might want to work with the unhoused?” Living up to its mission of being an inclusive art space, OSLP welcomed me and this partnership with open arms. During a staff meeting the prior day, OSLP folks had discussed wanting to work with the unhoused and CSS in particular.

And a fabulous partnership was born.

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Check out some other places our art program has been featured:

Director's Letter: Shared Leadership

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:27:09 GMT

Director's Letter: Shared Leadership

By Heather Quaas-Annsa

At CSS, shared leadership helps to create an environment that inspires a culture where everyone has a voice. We encourage our clients to participate in community meetings, where their insights and experiences inform our policies and programs. Our dedicated staff members collaborate closely across departments, sharing responsibilities and supporting one another to ensure that our services are effective, compassionate, and responsive to the needs of those we serve.

We believe that by empowering each community member to participate, we can unlock the full potential of our collective efforts. This approach not only improves the day-to-day operations of our shelters but also helps individuals develop valuable skills and a sense of agency, which are critical for their journey toward stability and independence.

Thank you for your continued support and for joining our community. Together, we are making a meaningful impact and paving the way for a brighter future.

With gratitude,

Heather Quaas-Annsa, Director of Philanthropy

Blake Burrell, Director of Community Impact

Tabitha Eck, Director of Operations

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

Your support makes a huge difference. Thanks to you, we can continue nurturing communities that foster growth, dignity, and hope.

Staff Spotlight: Mellinda Poor, Navigating Toward Sustainable Lives

Sun, 21 Jul 2024 17:30:29 GMT

Staff Spotlight: Mellinda Poor, Navigating Toward Sustainable Lives

By Keith Dickey

Some of the CSS clients Mellinda has helped get into housing:

We believe in the power of transforming lives—we see it every day!

Your support of CSS allows us to navigate unhoused individuals toward housing:

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Summer 2024

Sat, 20 Jul 2024 21:04:04 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Summer 2024

By Amanda Lang • July 20, 2024

Community Court Program

Sat, 04 May 2024 06:02:59 GMT

Community Court Program

By Guy Maynard and Blake Burrell

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.

The Community Court program funded by a four-year, $600,000 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance aims to support individuals experiencing homelessness by providing a stable shelter alternative. The project connects shelter and targeted support to unhoused people charged with misdemeanors like trespassing, park rule violations, prohibited camping violations, and other non-violent offenses.

Participants are identified through assessments that consider prior conviction and other life factors and needs by court staff and the local service providers they work with. The stability and support the program provides help them maintain compliance with the requirements of their court case plans. CSS staff partner with direct service professionals and court case management staff who offer services to potential clients at the Community Court and provider room following court proceedings. Laurel Hill, which offers mental health services, and Emergence, which provides addiction and behavior therapies, are currently CSS’s primary partners

“The Community Court team has been welcoming to our team, and we are honored to provide shelter to their program participants,” says Blake Burrell, CSS Director of Community Impact. “Shelter is an essential piece of the puzzle. If someone engaged in a court case plan does not have shelter, the barriers to appearing at court compound and the individual may receive more citations and fines associated with experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

“This program is an opportunity for Community Court to partner with a sheltering organization to achieve shared goals to provide basic needs, provide mental health and healthcare referrals, housing support, legal support services, and employment support.

“The idea is that they would leave that high-risk category, stabilize, and stop receiving those minor misdemeanor offenses,” Blake says.

Though CSS’s primary role is as a shelter provider, community members who come through the Community Court program still have access “to all of our social service and housing navigation services,” Blake says. Other attributes of typical CSS communities, like weekly meetings and a common set of rules, still apply to this community.

But there are differences. “The community court model is you enroll in a case plan, you get a court case manager, you put in volunteer hours. and then engage with various mental healthcare providers,” Blake says. The minimum stay is six months, at which point the community members may be transferred to one of the other CSS communities.

Working with Community Court requires more reporting and engagement with other service providers, Blake says. But CSS Community Facilitator Rachael Ridel, who serves the Roosevelt Community, says, “We’ve got a big old team” learning to make it work. Codie, CSS Service Navigation Manager, is a dedicated case manager for Roosevelt, one of only two CSS sites to have a person in that role.

The Community Court approach to volunteerism is something CSS would like to extend throughout CSS. Called community enrichment, it’s a requirement for participants, who must complete 8 or 16 volunteer hours over the course of their case plan. “What's really cool about this is we are now responsible for their community. So their volunteerism is actually a reflection of things that we usually do on-site. So we have volunteer opportunities for folks to help out around camp, support our nonprofit, support the function and beauty of this site, but then also things that are really practical like participating in our work party and doing things like getting wood inventory to support our community."

The collaboration among the Community Court staff, service providers, and CSS has been beneficial for all, Blake says. “We get to shed light on some of the more positive aspects of being a shelter provider. We bring a humanistic lens into the process. It’s been really exciting.”

Volunteers Boost Energy Systems at CSS Communities

Fri, 03 May 2024 06:16:04 GMT

Volunteers Boost Energy Systems at CSS Communities

By Guy Maynard

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.

And there was light—and charging. And it was good.

Dave got involved in this effort in early spring of 2023 when he got a call from Barr Washburn, CSS Special Projects Coordinator, telling him that CSS solar power systems had a bunch of dead batteries and asking him if he could figure out why. Barr had heard about Dave through a mutual friend who knew of him and Janel through the Friendly Area Neighborhood Toolbox Project (where Janel is a volunteer Garden Guardian). Dave had worked for AM Solar for almost 18 years before he retired in 2021. Janel is a retired nurse.

Barr describes the various CSS solar installations at that time as “chaotic.” They had been developed piecemeal over time with different equipment at different communities. “We were often running around doing emergency repairs. We were never on top of it,” he says.

Dave first visited the Westmoreland Community Safe Spot. He found batteries that were not well maintained or charged and a “rat’s nest” of wiring—as well as evidence of a “little highway for rodents” because the batteries were partially covered but still accessible. He pulled those batteries and replaced them temporarily with some fresh batteries of his own while he cleaned and recharged them.

He asked to see the installation at other sites, where he found similar problems.

Barr says the first project with Dave and Janel was to build a box to house the batteries that was insulated, mouse-proof, and tamper-proof. Barr built a prototype, and Dave took the prototype to his long-time friend Doug Handshaw, a woodworker and cabinet maker and, with materials provided by CSS, Doug built eight “gorgeous plywood boxes,” according to Barr. Janel painted them all green.

Another weak point in the old system was the USB ports, where community members charge their cell phones, a vital communications tool as they try to rebuild their lives. Charging phones is one of the most important functions of the power systems.

Janel spent hours researching USB ports and found there was no single perfect port for the CSS installation, but through their own testing they found one that had a rigid tab inside, to withstand heavy use, and was reliable.That type of port also has an indicator light to show that it is working, a feature community members like. Dave replaced most of the USB ports. Communities have an average of eight dual port outlets in trays above the battery boxes. In most cases, Dave was able to use existing trays but some were repaired and, in one case, replaced. Dave’s long-time friend John Manotti helped with that.

In the months of November and December last year, Dave put in more than 200 hours getting all the boxes set up with revamped or new batteries. He also cleaned up all the wiring, replacing undersized wire that was inefficient and potentially dangerous and improving wire connections and fusing. Now each USB port is individually fused, so if “somebody shorts one out, it’s not going to take out the whole bank,” Dave says. “And we’ve got breakers for various devices . . . for the main fuse panel, for the solar regulator, for the incoming power from the solar panels.”

“Everything is solid, jacketed, and weathertight," Barr says.

And the slickest part of all is the system Dave set up to monitor the power systems in the eight communities they have worked on. It updates about every 15 minutes and through a cell phone app tells the status of charge for each of the batteries, the voltage of the batteries, the solar power being generated, and the current usage. That app is what alerted him to the battery failures during the ice storm. Dave even monitored the status of the CSS power systems while he and Janel were on vacation in Arizona and California in February. He is training CSS staff members to also use the monitoring app, which will allow them to address problems before they become emergencies.

“It's made a difference because we're not getting emergency calls that lights are out, or they can't charge their phones,” Barr says. “There's a lot of appreciation at CSS for Dave's work. It’s amazing. He can basically tell if somebody's left the lights on. He can't turn the lights off, but he can do everything else. The boxes are so tidy, they're just little works of art in there.”

Dave, with help from friend Mike Ashmore, who has about 30 year’s experience in the solar industry, put in a new solar array at the Roosevelt Community and added panels (donated by Dave) to the system at the Bertelsen Park Community. They are also designing improvements to the solar array at the Skinner Village site and possibly Westmoreland.

Dave and Janel say that they have had lots of positive interactions with CSS community members as they have worked on these installations. Getting feedback about their use of the power systems and issues that have come up was interesting and valuable, Dave says. Janel gives an example: “At Empire, which was one of our first sites where we really started testing things, [community member] Barb was really engaging and helped us ferret out some information about the lighting situation and what was working and what wasn’t.”

Inspecting and rewiring some of the community solar arrays and standardizing lighting among the communities is next on the agenda for the project. Dave also is providing feedback to CSS staff who are investigating ways to meet other power needs of the community members.

CSS supplies the materials for these projects, but Dave and Janel’s ties in the community have contributed not only other volunteers willing to help but also discounted or recycled materials from AM Solar and the Toolbox Project.

Dave and Janel sum up why they have been willing to contribute so much time and heart to CSS with this statement: “They say you should retire to something, not from something. We wanted to give back to our community, and the CSS project to upgrade the off-grid power systems was and is perfect for us—people-oriented, collaborative, rewarding, hands-on, technical, and practical. We've been able to combine our skills to find post-retirement purpose.”

UO Interior Design Creative Storage Collaboration

Thu, 02 May 2024 06:25:25 GMT

UO Interior Design Creative Storage collaboration

By Keith Dickey

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.

Professor Kive, who prefers to be addressed as Solmaz, teaches a course titled Design Studio each term to Interior Design students. Classes are presented with a project, sometimes real, sometimes hypothetical, and tasked to present creative design concepts and solutions for various scenarios. Projects vary. For instance, her fall term class focused on design ideas for a Japanese Tea Center. “I usually try to have a theme that engages students with a cultural/social issue,” Solmaz shared. Some past endeavors have included design work on an LGBTQ Museum and affordable housing. So when Solmaz was made aware of the CSS program through one of her colleagues, she recognized a great opportunity for her students to learn and give back to the community.

ARC484 is a small class: Twelve students, mostly juniors and seniors on track for a degree in Interior Design. As they met early in January, four teams of three were formed. Over the next ten weeks, they were assigned to develop practical solutions for CSS Hut interior space design. Each team was also assigned to review one of four Community Space areas at the Lot 9, Mission, Roosevelt, and Westmoreland communities and make interior design recommendations for those as well. During the next ten weeks student teams learned about the CSS program by visiting sites and meeting CSS clients.

When four Huts were destroyed by a fire at the Westmoreland site in January, the student group volunteered to assist in construction of the replacement Huts, learning first hand about the structures and materials utilized. Each of the four design teams also was introduced to a CSS community member whom they interviewed to understand what additions would create a better living experience inside the Huts.

“It’s been a great experience to have a close working relationship with the residents," Solmaz said. “They participated in the design not just as users but design partners, offering their ideas and criticisms.” The student group also participated in a tour of CSS communities led by CSS Director of Operations Tabitha Eck where they observed the various shared community spaces and kitchens.

Community members offered many suggestions and ideas on improvements for the Hut spaces. Most focused on the addition of storage/organization space and space efficiency ideas such as folding bed frames. Currently, CSS provides a bed frame and mattress as furniture for new residents. Each Hut has a lockable storage bin on the outside. Residents now must create their own storage solutions on the interior.

Curvature of the ceiling, minimal framing, and a small area make space utilization in CSS Huts a challenge. All four student teams made creation of flexible storage space a key element of their proposals, which were completed and presented to the CSS team on March 12. Potential solutions included storage systems featuring milk crates and a shelving proposal using chains suspended from a ceiling support frame. Designs for multi-purpose transformable furniture were also submitted: for example a bed frame that can be folded into a chair frame during the day. Each of the team’s proposals includes specifics and dimensions of the materials required. The CSS Hut Crew is excited to evaluate and test out ideas for potential implementation.

The analysis of the various community spaces by the student teams posed a different challenge. Since these facilities are different for each site they needed to be addressed individually. Still there were some common themes. Ideas for creation of spaces that foster community included expandable tables for shared meals. Use of a sailcloth cover to shade outdoor spaces during the summer was another idea that was well received.

All of these ideas will be considered for improvements across the CSS program. “Projects like this are a continuation of the work we’ve done from day one when the Conestoga Huts were first modeled as a solution for the unhoused in our community,” Tabitha says. “We are constantly looking at where we can improve design and functionality as well as enhancing the quality of life for our clients and resiliency of the Hut itself. Work like this will also translate to our consulting arm which supports communities outside of Lane County with setting up intentional communities for the unhoused.”

Ultimately the most important outcome of this project may be the opportunity for the students of ARC484 and residents of CSS to share ideas and work together. Solmaz—Professor Kive—sums this up. “This interaction [between students and CSS clients] is the most important understanding I wanted for my students to develop."

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Spring 2024

Wed, 01 May 2024 21:13:31 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Spring 2024

By Amanda Lang • May 1, 2024

Volunteer Spotlight: Sandy and Percy

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 07:37:11 GMT

Volunteer Spotlight: Sandy and Percy

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.

Percy and Sandy are the Swiss Army knife of CSS volunteers, meeting whatever need we might have, and helping us address projects that our staff just can’t get to during the regular course of the week. So far, these two have helped us to create and organize files, address envelopes, or drive to local businesses asking for silent auction donations.

These two perform folk music as the Cypress Home Duo, and shared their formidable musical skills by accompaning the CSS Songbirds at our 2024 CSS Annual Celebration.

Sandy holds a Master’s Degree in Music from University of Oregon and has spent her career working as a freelance musician, playing for the Eugene Opera, Eugene Symphony, and the Bach Festival among others. Percy is a visual artist, sold candles as a vendor in the first seven seasons of the Saturday Market and Oregon Country Fair, and spent 16 years at the University of Oregon as the graphic artist for the Computer Sciences Department magazine, The Computing Teacher.

“Driving around town and seeing what’s going on, you want to do something tangible,” Sandy said, explaining her desire to volunteer with CSS. “It’s easy to say ‘too big’ or ‘too small’ so you do nothing. But action is the antidote to despair. We’re grateful to have an organization doing things for the unhoused.”

Sandy has been active in volunteering through the years but wanted to find an opportunity to volunteer with Percy. The couple attended the annual dinner celebrating CSS’s 10-year anniversary last year, and that experience inspired them to step up their involvement with the organization.

Percy and Sandy describe volunteering together as “enriching” and say that combining their efforts has brought a level of efficiency that they would lack as individuals. Percy “enjoyed the office stuff” working together to audit client files saying that it was “easy and fun.” With a commitment of two hours a week as volunteers who are game to help wherever we need it most, what they do for CSS changes from week to week. Next up is organizing the storage space behind our navigation office.

They say that seeing the operations from the inside of CSS was illuminating to them as donors. “Oh yeah!” they both agreed. “There are a lot of balls in the air, a lot going on” in the controlled chaos of our main office where every space is leveraged to help us provide shelter and services to our unhoused clients.

Behind the scenes, Sandy and Percy have looked inside our “welcome totes” to see the sheets, solar lights, water bottle, and sleeping bag that greets each new community member when they move into a Hut. These totes are stacked next to a row of new Hut walls waiting for installation, just on the other side of the shelf where food boxes are assembled to go out to our communities during the week.

In the controlled chaos of the reception area, kitchen, navigation office, shop, and supply area, “everyone was nice and we felt welcome and appreciated,” said Sandy. Percy agreed, saying that volunteering with CSS has proven to be a great way to educate themselves about the subject of homelessness.

Eugene Parking Ban Opposition Testimony

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 04:15:04 GMT

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

Eugene Parking Ban Opposition Testimony

March 11, 2024

To the Members of the City Council, City Manager, and Mayor Lucy Vinis,

We are deeply concerned about the proposed parking ban amendment to the City Code. While we understand the need to address concerns about vehicle residency and its impact on our community, we urge the City Council to take more time to hear from key stakeholders and the community before moving forward with any action on this policy.

A recent study conducted by the University of Washington School of Public Health in 2019 sheds light on the complexities of the issue. The study reveals that people experiencing homelessness, particularly those with legal fine debt, face significant challenges in accessing stable housing. Overall, participants in the study experienced an average of three and a half years of homelessness. However, those with legal fine debt experienced nearly four and a half years of unstable housing on average . This difference was statistically significant, potentially indicating that court-imposed fines are more detrimental to housing stability than other debts.

Moreover, the study emphasizes that policies criminalizing the individual experiencing poverty and imposing legal financial obligations create an inequitable burden on those unable to pay. The researchers state, "Given policies that criminalize the individual experiencing poverty and considering known barriers to rehabilitation following incarceration, legal financial obligations pose an inequitable burden on those without the ability to pay. Revising legal financial obligations policies and practice may be a way to interrupt the revolving doors of homelessness and incarceration."

These findings underscore the importance of adopting compassionate, evidence-based approaches to address the root causes of vehicle residency rather than punitive measures that exacerbate homelessness. EC 5.225(3)(e) targets people for who they are, not for what they do. Individuals seeking shelter within vehicles include survivors of natural disasters fleeing wildfire, women and children fleeing domestic violence, and elderly populations. Various social and economic factors contribute to their need to seek shelter with a vehicle, and the City of Eugene simply does not have enough bed unit inventory to support individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness. These amendments will cause more individuals to seek respite in tents and other places not meant for human habitation, placing undue pressure on the homeless service providers and may cause harm to individuals who would otherwise have safer alternatives in a vehicle.

The current proposed amendment to the City Code would only serve to criminalize Eugene residents living in vehicles, exacerbating an already dire situation amid a crisis of housing and homelessness. For people experiencing vehicular homelessness, the loss of a vehicle due to towing can cause tremendous strain. Unpaid fines and fees can quickly snowball, leading to escalated fines, driver’s license suspensions, or even jail time – making it nearly impossible for a resident to maintain employment and attain housing. This may impact their criminal background, credit score, and financial circumstances, creating new and unnecessary barriers to the rental housing market that organizations like ours are actively trying to overcome with case management and housing navigation services. Every time an individual experiencing homelessness receives a new citation, fine, fee, or debt from the City of Eugene, this becomes another barrier to employment, housing, and financial security. Low-income drivers are more likely to be assessed late fees and more citations related to their inability to pay. These challenges often have a disproportionate impact on residents of color.

The City of Eugene must also consider that the excessive fines proposed under this amendment are unconstitutional. Existing case law supports the belief that the central tenet of the excessive fines clause is “to protect individuals against fines so oppressive as to deprive them of their livelihood.” Perhaps the City should review the recent Washington Supreme Court case- City of Seattle vs. Long ?

When a car is towed and someone loses their shelter, the City of Eugene will pay for emergency services, shelter space, and support services for an individual or a family now experiencing homelessness on the streets. This parallels the significant cost a resident may incur, such as job loss, loss of shelter, and financial hardship due to the loss of their vehicle. As a result, this impact is heightened for individuals and families who are experiencing vehicular homelessness because even if someone can pay to retrieve their vehicle from the impound lot, they could be choosing between purchasing food, saving for a safe, quality affordable apartment or a house to live, and/or both.

Data from Eugene Municipal Court reveal that fines imposed on individuals experiencing homelessness often go unpaid, indicating that increasing fines will not effectively address the issue .

Impounding vehicles of those experiencing homelessness further compound the issue by forcing individuals into more dangerous situations, such as sleeping in tents and being exposed to crime. As of March 4, 2024, the existing safe parking sites are at full capacity, underscoring the urgent need for alternative solutions that prioritize the well-being of our community members. Instead of further criminalizing individuals, the City must prioritize providing resources and support to address the root causes of homelessness.

In conclusion, we urge the City Council to reconsider the proposed parking ban amendment and to instead focus on collaborative, compassionate solutions that address the underlying issues of homelessness in our community.

Sincerely,

Community Supported Shelters

Heather Quaas-Annsa, Director of Philanthropy

Blake Burrell, Director of Community Impact

Incarceration and Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 16:41:25 GMT

Incarceration and Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle
Jan. 15, 2023 - By Guy Maynard

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.”

When he was released in 2015, he went to Sponsors, a Eugene program that helps people coming out of incarceration to rebuild their lives. After less than six months, he moved into a nearby rental house, with the landlord agreeing that he could pay his rent by working on the house. Things were relatively stable for him for several years, but some people who had been displaced from housing in his neighborhood started staying in his backyard, and some tapped into his electric lines. His electricity bill soared beyond what he could pay with his monthly Social Security check. At the same time, he was trying to help a younger sister who was dying of cancer and he rolled a pick-up truck. He lost the house. “You’d have thought I was trying to write a country and western song,” he says. “I sort of gave up.” He was unhoused for four years before getting a Hut in the CSS Skinner Village Community about a year ago.

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The Prison Policy Institute study cited earlier also found that people who have been to prison more than once are 13 times more likely to be homeless, “and even [formerly incarcerated] people who have spent several years in the community were four times more likely to be homeless than the general population.”

A 2022 Oregon Department of Corrections Inmate Profile showed that 70 percent of inmates have issues with substance addiction or abuse. In addition, studies show that most incarcerated people are poor, and the poorest are women and people of color. All those challenges can be overwhelming for people also dealing with the emotional toll of being locked away from society.

“The biggest barrier is the obvious one,” says Annie Herz, Executive Director of Sponsors (and formerly a volunteer and staff member at CSS). “Just having a conviction history, particularly without any of the type of supports that we offer, can be a barrier that stops the process.”

“I think probably the other really big thing is cost and housing availability,” says Paul Solomon, former Executive Director and currently Senior Advisor at Sponsors. “Last I looked, the vacancy rate in Lane County was like 1.8 percent. It's not uncommon for our folks to come out of prison, get a job that pays 15 to 20 bucks an hour, and have maybe half of that in disposable income after fines, fees, and debt. So then, if you've got $7.50 an hour in disposable income, it doesn't go very far towards housing.”

Piled on the roadblocks of history, possible substance abuse, and current economic and financial conditions is the stigma of being an “ex-con,” says MJ, who has been homeless and in prison and has served in a variety of staff positions for CSS. “I will include myself in this because of my past: people aren’t treated like humans; they’re treated like a number.”

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Over the last 35 years, 65-75 percent of the people who enter the Sponsors program complete it successfully, according to Solomon, which means they have a source of stable income, have stable housing, are compliant with the conditions of their release from prison, are clean and sober, and have successfully engaged in Sponsors programming. Jack and MJ (who spent about two months in Sponsors after her release) completed the program. Sponsors statistics don’t generally cover how former participants are doing “two or three years down the road,” Solomon says.

It’s not unusual for people to encounter serious setbacks after leaving Sponsors, Solomon says, “When they come through our programs, and they do really well, and they go out and they're successful for a period of time, and then everything falls apart, sometimes they don't come back to us because they feel bad and ashamed. That's really unfortunate because the fact of the matter is that sometimes it takes a while to get it right. It's not uncommon for us to have people who've been through this program half a dozen times going in and out of custody. And you never know when that right moment is, where the stars align.” The services of the Sponsors’ Reentry Resource Center are available to anybody in Lane County with a conviction record.

Since 2018, Sponsors has been engaged in a project to place clients into its Permanent Supportive Housing program. The initial goal was 125 people over five years, but by late 2023, they had placed more than 200. According to preliminary data for the first 195, 87 percent were still in stable housing, and there was a 75 percent reduction in recidivism, defined as returning to prison with a new felony conviction. “It speaks to the value of Permanent Supportive Housing,” Solomon says.

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Jack has started feeling hopeful after a year in the CSS community. “They re-birthed hope because there was a long time when I didn't think I was ever going to be able to make anything work out. [CSS gets] you in here, and they get you to volunteer, and they give you an opportunity to go to work and get paid. It's made me realize that you can go out, you can work.” While living in his car, he says, “I could get lost in there. I like to get up, get moving, and get something going for my day.

“ It's not just a little Hut, you know, a place to be, but it’s also a place to work. You end up being around more people. I had isolated myself for a long time, so I started to come back out and look around.” Jack is now on the CSS staff, spending 12-14 hours a week running the shower program and doing laundry for all the CSS communities.

Jack says because of his age (69) and experience, others in the Skinner Village Community look to him for guidance. “Some of them have been to prison before. I seem to attract broken people because I make them feel comfortable. When you've lived a life of brokenness, you don't always feel comfortable around other people.”

He recognizes the discrimination that people with prison records face, but sees an inner challenge for them, too. “We believe that people have got such a f***ed up opinion of us, having been to prison, that we build that up in our head. We're our own worst enemy when it comes to some of this stuff. They’re overwhelmed just trying to talk to a grocery clerk. They just don't think people want to talk to them. They feel so ostracized from having gone through prison and probably whatever got them to prison. These are broken people. They've been beaten. They've been molested. They've been treated horribly in their life. And where do you find relief from that?

“I feel like I found some help to maybe get me a place to live,” Jack says. “I gotta carry my own little demons with me every day and try to make sure they don't cause me any problems while I'm traveling through the day. It's a full time job sometimes to do that.”

He tells others “to get on the list, go through the process and it works. I've watched guys that were in this camp actually follow through, go talk to the counselors, go talk to the people that can help you. And when you do that, people help. There are people in positions that can help you, but you have to find them and you have to be able to talk to them.”

MJ says CSS has helped community members to build self-esteem and trust by encouraging them to volunteer to serve the communities and by hiring more members for CSS staff jobs. “I really believe that you can’t do anything if you don’t have stable ground to stand on.” She tells of a client named Rudy. “He’s got a big path of struggles behind him, so it’s really hard for him to get a job.” But since he got a CSS staff position, “He loves it. It's built his self-esteem, you can see it. He's become more communicative. He's made all these new friends.”

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In addition to supporting organizations like Community Supported Shelters and Sponsors, which serve people who face the dual challenges of past incarceration and homelessness, what can people in the broader community do to help?

“Start making them feel human, for Christ’s sake,” says MJ.

“It's not a matter of being good or bad humans,” says Annie Herz of Sponsors. “It's recognizing the complexity in the human experience and not casting aside this whole population of people who have made mistakes.”

“These people, by and large, are folks that have been born and raised in this community,” says Solomon. “They are our neighbors. They are our brothers, our sisters, our friends. They weren't born bad. They had rough lives and done, in some cases, some really bad things, but that doesn't make them evil.”

Solomon also suggests advocacy on public policy issues including criminal justice reform. The decriminalization of drugs in Oregon hasn’t worked as well as some people might have hoped, he says, but it’s important to address those problems in a “progressive” way, rather than “revert to the failed drug policies of the past.” Sponsors is also supporting efforts in the state legislature to make the expungement (removing criminal history from people’s records) process easier, so people are not shackled by past convictions long after they have served their time and changed their lives.

The success of the Sponsors project placing people in Permanent Supportive Housing shows what can be done when enough resources are invested in helping people overcome the barriers of criminal history and homelessness, and the trauma, addiction, and poverty that often go along with that history.

“People need to band together” to advocate for creative ways to provide necessary services and more truly affordable housing in Lane County, says MJ, especially in light of the new surge of homelessness following the end of pandemic-era housing subsidies and moratoriums on evictions.

Most immediately, perhaps, we can try to be the kind people that Jack talked about—whether we are landlords or employers or co-workers or neighbors—people willing to give people another chance.

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

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 16:51:15 GMT

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

Jan. 15, 2023 - By Keith Dickey

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.

“It is the second driest capitol city in the world, and all the water is trucked up to homes,” he says. “They are paying a premium for water, so if they can reuse it, it is a major economic benefit to them.” The key is the development of low-tech systems to capture and filter grey water, which is water drained from kitchen sinks, baths, laundry, and other non-human waste sources. When properly treated, it does not need to be stored and removed and is safe to introduce back into the environment as irrigation for plants or gardens.

Like these communities in Lima, local CSS sites in Eugene do not have access to city water or sewage connections. Each community relies on a regular delivery of clean drinking water that is stored on-site. In addition, the waste grey water is collected and requires removal for recycling. As supply and removal is costly, there is very little, if any, water on site to use for irrigation during the dry summer months.

This problem for CSS provided an opportunity for Kory and his students at the UO. Patching together money from several grants and using this challenge as a real-world teaching tool, his team—consisting of several graduate-level and more than 20 undergrad students—designed and built a low-tech grey water filtration system for the CSS Village site. While clean drinking water is still required to be trucked into the community, the need for collecting and removing the grey water no longer exists. The ability to reclaim this water now creates the potential for irrigating plants and gardens during the summer dry season.

New CSS Director of Community Impact: Black Burrell

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 17:12:42 GMT

New CSS Director of Community Impact: Blake Burrell

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:

You can read more about CSS directors, as well as board members, here .

Volunteer Spotlight: Veronica Paredes

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 16:56:53 GMT

Volunteer Spotlight: Veronica Paredes

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.

Scrims add a layer of insulation from rain and cold for the Huts and help make the front porch into a sunroom in the winter. For our clients who live in Huts with 60 square feet, every bit of extra space helps.

When asked why she volunteers her sewing skills for CSS, Veronica replied that she wants to give back to the community that has been her home for the past ten years. “When I moved here from Guatemala, there were kind people who helped me. Now it is my turn.”

You can learn more about CSS Volunteer opportunities here .

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Winter 2024

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 21:24:13 GMT

Shoutouts & Gratitude: Winter 2024

By Amanda Lang • January 11, 2024

Bike and Build Volunteers Assist in Refurbishing Huts

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 03:35:27 GMT

Bike and Build Volunteers Assist in Refurbishing Huts

Oct. 12, 2023 - By Keith Dickey

Volunteers from Bike and Build in Eugene on August 12, 2023

There are volunteers who drive across town and show up weekly. There are volunteers who travel an hour or two to assist from time to time. And then there are volunteers who bicycle over 4,000 miles, across 10 states and 4 time zones to lend a helping hand. And on August 12 that’s exactly the crew that arrived to assist Facilities Manager Dustin Foskett and his team dismantle, clean, and refurbish six CSS Huts.

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.

On May 29, a team of about 25 riders dipped the back tires of their bikes in the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and embarked on their journey that would end in Florence, Oregon, on August 14. Riding an average of 60–80 miles per day and stopping along the way to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity builds and other projects, the group eventually arrived in Eugene on August 12.

Frank was impressed with the enthusiasm of the group. “They were amazing!” he recalls. “They tore out six Huts.” According to Frank, the team agreed that, of all the volunteer projects they worked on across the country, their day with CSS was “the best!” “Everybody had something to do and they really helped us.” Frank learned that the group was mostly college-aged participants from across the U.S. but also included riders from as far away as the United Kingdom and Brazil. “It was really a good experience for them,” says Frank.

The follow ing day the riders finished their cross-country journey at the Pacific Ocean in Florence. Frank, an avid cyclist who has biked across the U.S. twice himself, was on hand with the group for the final leg. Family members of the Bike and Build riders traveled to Oregon—including the mother of the U.K. rider—to join in the celebration. “It was really neat to see them once they finished the trip, ” Frank says.

Sadly, this volunteer experience with CSS may have been the last one for the Bike and Build project. According to its website (bikeandbuild.org), the organization is sunsetting and will no longer offer this opportunity for young adults. As bittersweet as that is, the CSS team is appreciative of the opportunity to work with this group of amazing young adults and will remember their assistance for years to come.

October 2023: Letter from the Director of Philanthropy

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 09:48:11 GMT

October 2023: Letter from the Director of Philanthropy

This leads me to our next announcement—the creation of CSS’s shared mid-level management team. Please join me in celebrating the promotion of Pujita Mayeda to the role of Development Manager and Danyell Rejcek to the role of Community Manager. Pujita has been with CSS since nearly the beginning and Dani since our rapid expansion in 2020; their historical knowledge and fervent commitment to the organization have been immensely helpful as leadership has transitioned over the last year. These two amazing individuals will join Caiti Morrell (Personnel Manager), Dustin Foskett (Facilities Manager), and Mellinda Poor (Navigation Manager) to provide the on-the-ground, day-to-day direction of CSS.

In some ways, CSS is going back to its roots, including the re-engagement of clients as volunteers and the focus on hiring individuals from our Safe Spot Communities. In other ways, we’re continuing to branch out—engaging with the broader community in new and unique ways, partnering with outside organizations, and looking for chances to expand our reach outside of Lane County. We encourage you to follow us on social media as we frequently highlight our activities and outreach efforts there.

Seasons change, and some seasons come back around, but we’re never quite the same as we were the last time through. Saying goodbye to what we know brings new beginnings, uncertainty, joy, and excitement. Thank you for your continued support throughout all of our seasons.

With immense gratitude,

Heather Quaas-Annsa
Director of Philanthropy

Not Quite All-in Funding

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 09:44:54 GMT

Not Quite All-in Funding

Oct. 12, 2023 - By Guy Maynard

Seventeen Lane County organizations running 28 programs addressing homelessness recently received a total of $18.4 million from Governor Tina Kotek’s emergency homelessness program through an effort called “All-In Funding.” Community Supported Shelters was not one of them.

CSS is a participating member of the City of Eugene Shelter Consortium, which is coordinated by City staff members and also includes Everyone Village, St. Vincent de Paul, Carry It Forward, Square One Villages, and Nightingale Hosted Shelters. All the groups but CSS and Nightingale received All-In Funding.

After attending all the meetings that Lane County—the lead organization for this area—held about the All-In program and studying its requirements, CSS leadership decided not to apply. Ongoing CSS programs did not meet the criteria to be eligible for funding and the leadership decided it did not make sense to launch a new program with only six months of guaranteed funding.

“We’re still doing a lot of stuff with the folks that did receive the All-In Funding,” says Heather Quaas-Annsa, CSS Director of Philanthropy. “We are collaborating with the other members of the consortium to figure out how to best serve the constituents that we are working with in Eugene.”

Still, Heather says, it’s disappointing that with the acknowledged success its programs have had, CSS was left out of receiving any direct All-In Funding because of its emphasis on new programs and other restrictions.

The statewide All-In Funding program has the immediate goals of preventing homelessness for 8750 households, expanding shelter capacity by 700 beds, and securing housing (“rehousing”) through rent vouchers and other support for 1650 people experiencing homelessness. Those goals are due to be achieved by January 10, 2024. Six regions designated as emergency areas will receive about $130 million and “the balance of the state” will receive about $27 million.

Goals for Lane County, one of the emergency areas, are 741 households prevented from becoming homeless, 230 new shelter beds, and 247 households moving from being unsheltered to permanent housing.

“One of the biggest things that prohibited us from applying was the inability for us to ‘blend’ funds,” Heather says. “Because the majority of our sites are on City of Eugene property, and because we had already received a contract from the City of Eugene to support our sites, none of our sites were eligible for the All-In Funding.”

“Had we had the opportunity to play in this field, we could have potentially expanded our beds at any of our shelter sites,” Heather says. “We have a couple of microsites where we could have added up to 12 beds. We already have the infrastructure there. We already have the staffing. It’s not that hard for us to add 12 more Conestoga Huts at a site. And so we would’ve loved the opportunity to be able to do something like that rather than have to build an entire new site with all new infrastructure.” She adds that a new site would only have been eligible if it were on property not owned by the City.

“It just didn’t make fiscal sense to try to start a new site,” Heather says, “hire for a new site, train staff, and then not know where funding was coming from after mid-January.”

The one exception to the requirement that all programs receiving funding have to be new is that funds can be used to upgrade shelters designated as “alternative shelters” or “encampments,” such as CSS’s Conestoga Huts, to “emergency shelters.” To qualify as emergency shelters, according to the All-In Funding requirements, Huts would have to have electricity, plumbing, and showers available on-site.

But the stipulation against “blending funds” also precluded CSS from receiving those funds. CSS is working with the City of Eugene to bring in electricity and plumbing to some sites, Heather says. “Again, we’re on City property, we have to wait for City approval, and the City is funding the movement of the sites from encampments to emergency shelters. So there was just no way for us to get any of those dollars.”

Even if blended funds were not an issue, CSS communities do not meet the All-In Funding’s low-barrier shelter standards because of the number of pets allowed and the requirement that residents attend meetings. Eliminating meetings “would just not work for us,” Heather says. “One of the reasons our program works is because we build a sense of community.”

So, CSS reluctantly decided not to apply, though four members of the consortium combined in a single application prepared by City staff members.

“The consortium extensively discussed strategies for seeking and using All-In Funding,” according to Kelly McIver, City of Eugene’s Communications Manager for Homeless Response. “Group participants were aware of and supportive of the approach used: sites that could convert to emergency shelter without a significant change to program model and outcomes would be part of the City’s application for emergency shelter funds.

“A key aspect was also that to qualify for that funding, CSS would have had to adhere to low-barrier standards that would change the nature of its program,” according to McIver. “CSS believes in the value and efficacy of its shelter approach. The City shares that value, and CSS is an important part of a diverse network of shelter offerings to better serve a complex constituency.”

The consortium received $2.4 million to upgrade 166 beds to meet emergency shelter requirements and create 62 new emergency shelter beds. City staff also oversee how the funding is spent and handle administrative responsibilities associated with it. “That was really fantastic of the City to go that route,” Heather says. Two of the consortium members—Carry It Forward and St. Vincent de Paul—also received funding on their own in different program areas or for programs outside of the city.

CSS continues its involvement with the consortium members who did receive funding, looking for ways that CSS can help develop more cohesion and collaboration. “We’re all doing everything individually,” Heather says. “So, we know that we’re spending an exorbitant amount of money. If we were working together on getting supplies, we could definitely save some money. We’re exploring different ways that CSS and our current staff could support the other organizations in furthering their missions and being more conscientious of how dollars are being spent.”

“The consortium has discussed how programs could complement one another and how the City could help with efficiencies, and those efforts were underway before All-In,” according to McIver. “The City and the participants work to transfer clients between programs as practicable, work is underway on a common application form, and the City is prepared to use its purchasing power to decrease supply and materials costs for the different agencies. All-In administrative funding has been passed through to the organizations and not held by the City, so may or may not contribute in some way to what have been ongoing conversations about working better together.”

The consortium has already started to improve the process of transferring clients from one program to another, Heather says. “So if an individual enters into a shelter and they don’t work out there for whatever reason, perhaps there’s a shelter bed at our site or at one of the other Eugene consortium sites that would be a better fit for them. Instead of having that individual go back out on the street, go back on a waitlist—and God only knows what happens in between—we’re hoping just to move them from one shelter to another.”

Recently five people from the Dwayne Woods Carry It Forward site transferred to several different CSS sites. “They immediately went from their site over to one of our sites,” Heather says. “Because they were already sheltered with a partner agency, they weren’t on a four-to-six month waitlist before entering one of our sites.”

The consortium members are also discussing collaborating on training and coordinating volunteers.

“All of us do better when we’re working together as a group to provide solutions for the unhoused in our community,” Heather says

CSS also plans to “beef-up” its consulting services for organizations, including those receiving All-In Funding, outside of Lane County—to go beyond a PowerPoint presentation and a tour, Heather says. CSS offers a variety of services depending on the needs of the organization. “If they have questions about what our model looks like,” Heather says, “or if they’re interested in building Conestoga Huts instead of spending $10,000 to $15,000 on sleeping pods, we are interested and willing and happy to work with them. We can show them, ‘here are our applications, here’s our forms, here’s guidelines, and here’s frequently asked questions and things that we’ve seen go wrong and best practices we have developed.’ We want to share our knowledge to help them succeed in this. We’ve been doing this work for a decade and we have proven results.”

“I am really pleased that we’re moving the needle across all three of the program areas,” says Lane County’s Kate Budd about the All-In funded programs in the county. “I think it took a bit longer for the programs to get off the ground and start, but I’m pleased to see that each focus area is starting and that our contracts are all now executed, which allows the agencies to move forward.”

As of September 25 , Lane County programs receiving All-In Funding had reached 23 percent (167 of 741 households) of the goal of stabilizing households at risk of homelessness, 15 percent (37 of 247 households) of moving households from being unsheltered into permanent housing, and 90 percent (207 of 230 beds) of creating new emergency shelter beds or improving alternative shelter or encampment beds to qualify as emergency shelters.

After the initial All-In Funding money runs out on January 10, 2024, a new “bucket” of money will be made available through June 30, 2025, but as of September 25, how much money and what programs it will go to is not known.

OHCS states it “will allocate additional local funds based on households rehoused and shelter beds created during the state of emergency. The intent is to ensure stability for the individuals served during the emergency response. OHCS does not anticipate changes to eligibility requirements after January.”

“I think there’s always a possibility for change,” Budd says, “I understand that the second bucket of the January 11 dollars and on is meant to be a continuation of dollars in this current bucket. I would predict that the odds of things changing considerably are low, but again, the Governor is very much at the helm of these efforts and could make changes before the next bucket is released.”

Heather would love the Governor and her staff to come to Eugene “to actually see what the shelters in Eugene are doing and to give her an idea of what it looks like when things are working optimally, or as close to optimal as you can in this field, and maybe use that to steer how she’s making decisions moving forward in terms of funding and requirements—figuring out how to support the work that is being done rather than requiring new work. It’s a lot easier for organizations to scale up what they’re already doing rather than to create something new.”

Comments from the public about the All-In Funding program can go OHCS at EO2302questions@hcs.oregon.gov.

Q&Q with Community Supported Shelters

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 19:44:09 GMT

Queries & Quotes with Community Supported Shelters

Oct. 9, 2023 - By Heather Quaas-Annsa

Originally posted on the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce Open for Business website

How long have you been in business and what drives you to serve our community?

Community Supported Shelters (CSS) has operated alternative shelters for the unhoused in Eugene for just over a decade. Creating intentional communities is our focus. When individuals have a network of support, they are more likely to move from just surviving to thriving. CSS is one solution to the homeless crisis and we look forward to working with other shelters, businesses, and our government officials to develop realistic solutions to support those in crisis.

Are there new programs or initiatives you are investing in or providing for our community?

In addition to providing temporary shelter for the unhoused, we are in the midst of creating a workforce development program. This new program will allow us to support our unhoused clients in developing new skills, building confidence, and eventually reentering the workforce. This starts with encouraging clients to volunteer with our staff in various roles, including maintenance, kitchen, laundry, and peer support work. Once have developed the skillset necessary to perform the functions of the job, they’ll be able to apply for a paid, part time position within our organization. Our goal is to support clients by providing training, encouragement, and a living wage so they will be more successful when they exit our program.

What is it about Eugene/Springfield that you enjoy the most or what do you enjoy most about what you do?

I absolutely love taking community members on tours of our Safe Spots. Talking about how our organization helps people provides a limited amount of information; the best way to truly understand what we do is to see it firsthand!

Tell us about some of the partnerships or success stories you may have with area businesses.

We’ve been quite fortunate to partner with many local businesses since our creation a decade ago. The partnerships and success stories are numerous and span across almost every business sector.

How has your collaboration with the Chamber impacted your business or how do you hope to partner?

Our collaboration with the Chamber has enabled us to begin building our own workforce development program for unhoused clients. We’re excited to partner with other businesses to expand options for volunteerism, on-the-job training, skills development, and mentorship opportunities for our clients.

How can the business community support or engage with you?

Sign up for our newsletter, request a tour, follow us on social media, volunteer your time, make a donation (every dollar makes a difference!). Above all, we highly recommend you learn about the causes of homelessness, how local policies impact our unhoused neighbors, and how your business can be a part of solving this crisis.

Chris Teasdale: Being A Neighbor

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 05:43:15 GMT

Chris Teasdale: Being A Neighbor

July 20, 2023 - By Guy Maynard

Of his time living on the streets, he says, “Being on the outside, you’re always in a state of flight. It was very difficult to stay there, but I could do it.” The awning he slept under was on private property but he got along with the owner most of the time. Sometimes things involving other unhoused people in the neighborhood upset the owner, and things got strained between them. But Chris attributes that to, “Sometimes you catch people on a bad day, and I think that’s what that was.”

The police left him alone, he says, except sometimes in the winter when it was raining and he was told he couldn’t sleep under an awning. They told him to move on even though it was difficult to find a dry place to sleep. “It’s like there’s a breaking point,” he says. “It’s too much to take in the rain.” But he was never fined and still finds kind words to say about the police. “They’re pretty nice, the Eugene police, they really are.”

Chris’s last period of sleeping on the streets was further complicated when he lost his ID card that gave him access to his disability benefits. Because his expenses were low (“I don’t drink. I don’t smoke.”) and he got food boxes at Catholic Community Services, he decided to try to make it without that income. And he did, with a lot of help from people who saw him as a neighbor. A friend he made at Fred Meyer, Sharon Purdy, gave him one or two gift cards a month and was someone he could talk to. A barber at Fred Meyer gave him the occasional free haircut. Sometimes, he would pull weeds along the EMX bus-line tracks and people would stop and give him a $20 bill.

Sharon, from Fred Meyer, says she saw Chris often around the store: “I saw him come into the store a couple of times, and I thought he just seems like a good man.” They met when she was eating lunch outside the store one day. “I just wondered what his life was about, and I had some extra lunch, and I offered him some.” She says she found him to be, “very kind; very, very, very genuine; and very humble.” A friendship was born, and a string of kindnesses from Sharon to Chris included buying him a weeding tool with a long handle so he didn’t have to bend over as much, offering him Christmas dinner, and inviting him to attend Mass with her family. “It was out of the ordinary for me,” Sharon says of her reaching out to Chris. “I just think little snippets were given to me to pay attention to. It was just put in me to kind of watch out for him.”

In the Good Samaritan story, a traveler in ancient Israel was set upon by robbers and left along the road half-dead. Two religious men saw him and ignored him. Then the Samaritan, coming from a religious tradition looked down upon by the religion of the wounded man, saw the injured man, stopped, and “had compassion.” He helped treat his wounds, took him to an inn, and paid for his room, telling the innkeeper to take care of him and that he would cover any expenses.

The Bible says that Jesus asked the people he was speaking to, “Who of these three are neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”

“The one who showed mercy,” they replied. “Go and do likewise,” Jesus told them.

“It reminds me so much of [my story],” Chris says. “When they paid for his way at the end, it reminds me so much of CSS because I found my way off the street.” Chris was also aware of his role as a neighbor to others in his community. “When I was out there homeless, I was out there pulling weeds when I could. And just trying to do the best I could.”

The people who take to the other side of the road when they see the unhoused don’t acknowledge them as neighbors. “Sometimes there’s a stigma on the poor or the homeless,” he says, but that perception is wrong because often the circumstances that cause people to become unhoused “just grab you,” like the Biblical robbers grabbed the man who was aided by the Samaritan.

Hearing about the restrictions of Eugene’s new camping ordinance, Chis says, “They seem excessive.” The increase in fines for illegal “camping” from $250 to $500 will mean “they will have to build new jails,” he says. The only real answer to the crisis in Eugene is the availability of more inside beds for the unhoused and especially in low-barrier shelters, he adds.

As for how the housed should relate to the unhoused who they encounter on the street or in the parks, Chris goes back to his Bible: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or, as in the lesson from the Good Samaritan story: Be a neighbor to them.

Staff Spotlight: Dustin Foskett

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:36:41 GMT

Staff Spotlight: Dustin Foskett

July 20, 2023 - By Keith Dickey

The human component. It doesn’t take long into a conversation with Dustin Foskett, the new Facilities Manager at Community Supported Shelters, for him to bring that into focus. His path over the years—from Bolivia where he helped build shelters for children and orphanages to the island of Rota in the Pacific where he helped develop an aquaponics program—is full of examples of promoting shelter and food securities, which he considers core to nonprofit work.

Dustin spent his childhood locally in Florence before moving back East where he has family. In 2011, he came back to Eugene for the International Studies graduate program at the University of Oregon. It was during his course work at the UO that he traveled to Bolivia and then Hawaii and Rota, leading to his graduate thesis “Food Sovereignty in the Pacific Islands Related to Aquaponics.”

After graduating, he accepted a position as manager of a company involved in the expanding legalized marijuana industry in Oregon. But the desire to return to more meaningful work led him to leave that position earlier this year. “I wanted to move back into what I am interested in, the human component, the nonprofit world,” Dustin recalls. When the position of Facilities Manager became open at CSS, Dustin was recruited to fill that role and began his work in April.

The CSS Community sites have limited infrastructure and require a good deal of regular support from the Facilities Team, which includes three permanent workers. Dustin also works with volunteer groups that range from 10 to 15 people, who work on a variety of projects. As sites do not have plumbed access to clean drinking water, Dustin’s team is responsible for delivering it weekly. “We bring water to communities twice a week,” he says. “We have a trailer full of two grey water tanks, and we have a truck with a freshwater tank. We deliver freshwater to all the sites and extract the grey water at the same time.”

Another ongoing focus of the CSS Facilities Team is the collection and processing of firewood. “We are constantly taking donations all year round of firewood. We need about 80 cords per season,” Dustin says. Even during the hot summer months, wood is gathered and processed at the Eugene Mission, which provides CSS with space to split and store the wood. It is later delivered by the Facilities Team to each site for heating during the colder months. For wood processing, Dustin’s team shares the work with CSS community members. “The maintenance team works with clients, and that’s a very positive experience to have, not only for us, but the clients as well, getting out and being productive. It’s very nice.”

Other regular work by the team includes landscaping, mowing and weed-whacking, gate maintenance, repair and improvement of common spaces, Hut repairs and improvements, and upkeep and repairs of equipment. As with any large community, the work seems to never end. There is always some project waiting.

What has it been like for Dustin to get back to nonprofit, human-component work at CSS? “I love working for the organization,” he says. “CSS is filled with people that are inspired and motivated to work for others. I love being part of an organization that is willing to do what it can with the resources that it has. The organization comes together and makes a lot of positive impact in people’s lives.

“I have seen some beautiful things happen with very vulnerable people and situations where having a Hut and someone who can listen to them and care for them—and even where they can volunteer and get a lunch that day. It has completely changed how they think of others and how they think others view them. The people here are very strong, very loving. And even [if] just a little bit gets done each day, you can notice, and you can feel that there actually is an impact and things are getting done. And I’ve seen it in people’s lives. It’s just a beautiful thing, really.”

CSS Operations Update

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 08:06:47 GMT

CSS Operations Update

July 20, 2023

Did you know that in 2021, CSS built 100 Conestoga Huts to meet the growing unhoused needs of the Lane County community post-Covid? As you can imagine, this rapid expansion was quite the growth curve for our little start-up organization! In the years since, we have seen the length of stay in our Huts shift from 10 months to upwards of 2 years with the growing lack of affordable housing and, since the pandemic, our onsite hours shift to 24/7, where previously most of our clients were offsite during a significant portion of the day.

This year is the time to shore up the infrastructure quickly assembled in 2021 and plan for sustainability in this next season. We have a wonderful foundation, willing hands ready to build, and heart-warming public support. Thank you for being a part of the Team that makes shelter possible for hundreds each year at CSS!

Tabitha Eck
Director of Operations
Community Supported Shelters

Eugene’s Revised Camping Ordinance Raises Concerns

Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:22:18 GMT

Eugene’s Revised Camping Ordinance Raises Concerns

July 2023 - By Guy Maynard

At the public hearing about the revised ordinance CSS Director of Philanthropy Heather Quaas-Annsa raised concerns about the lack of guidance to unhoused people as to “exactly where they can camp” and the increase in fines for “willful violations,” which is defined as two citations within 30 days.

“I would like to urge you all to provide clarity to our unhoused community members so they know exactly where they can camp. . . There are simply not enough legal shelter beds to accommodate our current unhoused population. If a designated camping space is not provided, unhoused individuals will be forced into more dangerous and isolated situations.”

Similarly, Heather said, raising fines further exacerbates the challenges the unhoused face. “Fining someone without an income makes zero sense,” she says. Fines that can’t be paid can lead to damaged credit and a criminal record, which “only makes it harder for [unhoused people] to access housing and employment.”

At the City Council meeting when this revised ordinance was passed, there was discussion of creating a map to show unhoused people where it was legal to camp but not enough support to move forward on it. Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis said the increased fines were primarily intended to force people to community court where they could be directed to “alternative solutions.” Supporters of the ordinance stressed that it was intended to further community “safety, accessibility, and public health.”

Councilor Lyndsie Leech, who voted in opposition, said, “This ordinance feels like we are supporting folks who are housed and not so much about the other side of this.” The ordinance will “continue the cycle of criminalizing being unhoused without the second piece of where they are allowed to be . . . People are going to continue to fail for the simple act of being unhoused.”

Dace Whitely, a CSS Service Team member, says the buzz among the unhoused about the new regulations is affecting CSS Safe Spots Communities. One of the sites she works with is very close to two of the largest unhoused encampments in Eugene. She says the talk among those community members is that the uncertainty about the new rules will bring more unhoused visitors to the CSS Safe Spots. “That creates a lot of complexity because, according to our rules and our capacity, we can’t allow people who are not in the CSS program to be using the resources of CSS because that will deplete the resources. And the flip side of that is this really emotionally complex, tragic, traumatizing thing for so many people that we’re essentially putting people in the positions of having to turn their friends away.”

What can housed people do to support the unhoused in the face of the revised camping ordinance?

Although intended to establish “objectively reasonable” regulations for how the unhoused can access public property, it does not change the underlying realities that there are not enough legal camping spaces or shelter beds to accommodate all the unhoused people in Eugene and that criminal penalties can be imposed on unhoused people for camping in the wrong place.

Karen and Daniel say supporters of the unhoused need to raise their voices. “This law is very discriminatory, incredibly harmful,” Karen says. “It is not a civil law and we should not be speaking civilly about uncivil things.”

Dace suggests “a way that people can respond to this constructively is by engaging in direct action around writing letters to the editor, having conversations with people around us, and interacting with unhoused people and being curious about them.” Heather also suggests community members contact their local city councilors and attend City Council meetings to encourage, at the very least, the creation of a map that clearly shows where unhoused people can camp.

Current enforcement is “complaint-based,” according to McIver, the city’s Unhoused Response Communications Director. “There are situations that I know of and that I’ve observed where people are engaged in what is technically public space camping that is in violation of city code,” he says. “And because of the acceptance of the people around that spot and because of how the person in that spot is carrying it out, it’s not generating a complaint. Therefore, it’s not something that we’re responding to because the fact of the matter is that we’re over-taxed in responding to the reports that do come in.”

Put another way, the housed can treat unhoused people like neighbors rather than criminals.

For example, Karen says, people who have “a corner of your land where you don’t mind people sleeping, invite them.” The camping ordinance does not apply to private property.

She also suggests the housed could mark up maps of their neighborhoods showing where it is unsafe for the unhoused to camp, where they might be harassed or arrested. “Take a family stroll with a tape measure and mark areas as unsafe or illegal,” she says. That would serve both to warn the unhoused and to illustrate just how limited the legal spaces are.

Dace says supporting and donating to organizations such as CSS and others serving the unhoused “is really important, and simultaneously we need to put pressure on the broader structure to take care of all people. As long as the broader culture is paying people insufficient wages, not providing universal health care, not providing universal education, not offering free mental health services and addiction services, the problem will continue to deepen.”

What makes it difficult for unhoused people like Karen and her partner Daniel Denton is that there are no resources to direct them to where it is legal to camp under the new revisions.

After a five-year series of health and financial difficulties—and bad luck, Karen and Daniel now live out of their 2006 Jeep Cherokee with their eight-year-old Basset Hound Arya. They are both disabled. Daniel, an army veteran who was in combat in the Iraq war, “has a bunch of injuries that the VA has refused to treat.” Karen has nervous system damage from a childhood illness as well as a history of trauma from abuse.

They have thoroughly investigated the services available to them in Eugene and appreciate the help they have received from organizations such as Whitebird and the HIV Alliance. When they first heard of CSS, Karen says, “It was just one of those things where I was like, ‘Okay, we’re fine living in our car. Other people need these services more,’ but it’s just been exhausting.”

Exhausting because there is no availability in Eugene’s car camping program, though they first signed up in early April. They spend most of their time in parking lots. ‘We’ve been pretty good at finding places where we don’t get harassed. Occasionally, we get some nasty looks,” and it just takes one person to complain to force them to move on.

They spend most weekdays in Eugene, so they can attend to the various appointments to address their health and housing issues. They have memberships at a local gym so they can take showers. On weekends they go to a freeway rest stop not far from Eugene where there are some trees and picnic tables and room for Arya to run.

The new ordinance bans vehicles (or any other “campsites”) on “publicly owned parking lots or on-street parking spaces,” with penalties for “willful violations” including the $500 fine and having their vehicle “immobilized or impounded,” either of which would be devastating for them.

McIver of the City of Eugene, says because it’s difficult to determine whether a vehicle is engaged in “camping” or not, the city “purely responds to violations of city parking code.” That code says that vehicles may not be parked on unregulated city curbs for more than 72 hours at a time. “We’ll go out if there’s a vehicle that’s parked in the location that has been described in a complaint. We will post a notice there that says, ‘You only have 72 hours from the time of this notice to be here legally.’ And then, after that time, people would need to move to some other location.”

He emphasizes that “there is not going to be a substantive change with the language of the new ordinance because our capacity to address reports of unsanctioned camping isn’t going to change. . . There’s still the same general idea that people should be aware that in most locations in the city that this is not something that is allowed by code and that they should be expecting to need to move on.

Karen and Daniel want to be legal and safe. “We don’t want to be harassed, and we don’t want to harass anyone,” Daniel says. And they are not comforted by officials’ reassurances that the letter of the law may not be enforced. “What they’re saying, out in broad daylight, is we will selectively enforce this law,” Karen says. “They have no map, so they can’t tell me if I’m actually in a safe space or not. If I get arrested for it, the onus is on me to prove I’m innocent, which is backwards from what it’s supposed to be. And I have to find a new place every day.”

When they signed up with CSS in mid-June, they were told the wait time for getting into a Safe Spot Community was four to five weeks.

Motorcycle Club on a Mission for CSS

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 11:04:56 GMT

Motorcycle Club on a Mission for CSS

Club members reached out to their wider network of family and friends including the larger Free Souls network and gathered over 400 pounds of clothing and gift cards for donation in only 30 days. The next question was where the donations should go?

Jake happened to have an acquaintance who worked at CSS and shared information about the CSS program, specifically the work that CSS is doing with unhoused Veterans including offering a stand-alone community for Vets. By mid-December of 2021, the VRMC delivered their first large donation to CSS for use by Veterans and other members of the CSS communities.

In 2022, the club continued to support CSS through donations. “Last November we had a little bit more time and people knew what we were doing, and we were able to do a little bit more,” Jake recalled. He emphasized the involvement of family, friends, and the wider community in the success of the club’s donation drive. Jake shared a story about a donation they received from a movie theater in Coos Bay that had done an event for the movie Frozen . At intermission they had a snowball fight using 500 pairs of new rolled up woolen socks. Afterwards, having heard about the club’s drive, theater management contacted Jake and donated the socks that became part of last year’s donation to CSS.

Leadership Team Brings Shared CSS Values to New Challenges and Opportunities

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 08:58:30 GMT

Leadership Team Brings Shared CSS Values to New Challenges and Opportunities

April 14, 2023

With the mid-March hire of Tabitha Eck as Director of Operations, the Community Supported Shelters leadership team is up to full strength. Karissa Moden, Director of Community Impact, and Heather Quaas-Annsa, Director of Philanthropy, have been in their roles for just over a year. Tabitha fills the role formerly held by Erik de Buhr, the CSS co-founder who retired at the end of December.

Karissa joined CSS as Volunteer Coordinator in 2021 in the middle of the expansion during which CSS grew from 5 communities to 14. Heather joined later that year with the same title she has now but with a narrower focus on fund-raising activities.

The current shared leadership approach grew out of many conversations among Erik, Karissa, Heather, and then–Executive Director Tod Schneider, as the growth and ever-broadening mission of CSS seemed to call for more diverse expertise and disbursed responsibility.

“The organization actually started with shared leadership,” says Karissa. Erik and co-founder Kristin Fay de Buhr led the organization through its dynamic and rapidly growing earlier years. When Kristin Fay stepped back from a leadership role, the responsibility fell to Erik. He knew that was not sustainable, so CSS moved to an executive-director model. But the ongoing effects of the ”COVID mayhem” and the expansion—as well as Erik’s desire to transition out of a leadership role—led to the new team management approach.

“I think Erik felt very passionate about bringing the organization back to a shared leadership model in a new way,” Karissa says.

Karissa has a master’s degree in social work and valuable experience working with Sisters of the Road, a Portland nonprofit providing street-level service and doing advocacy work with the unhoused. “Sisters of the Road has such beautiful, deep roots within a philosophy of dignity, nonviolence, and gentle personalism,” Karissa says. “These things really deeply inspired me to be the person I am.”

After Sisters of the Road, Karissa took some time to travel with their partner, Seth, and then moved to Eugene just as COVID was locking things down. Karissa worked a variety of service and educational jobs before they answered the ad for CSS’s Volunteer Coordinator.

Heather was on both sides of Eugene’s social safety net. She set up a donation barrel for Food for Lane County at her son Elijah’s first birthday party (14 years ago) “because the kid didn’t really need anything.” Two years later after a messy divorce from an abusive spouse, she says, “I had to rely on the support of my community, from various nonprofits in the area, to prevent myself from becoming homeless.”

She went on to become a volunteer advocate for some of those same nonprofits, such as United Way of Lane County and the Relief Nursery. After rebuilding her life and obtaining her master’s degree in business, Heather became the paralegal for the PeaceHealth Oregon Foundations. “I sort of jumped on that opportunity because it got my foot in the door because I wanted to start working for a nonprofit.” She eventually became the Executive Director for the PeaceHealth Peace Harbor Medical Center Foundation in Florence.

Tabitha worked at St. Vincent dePaul in Eugene as Director of Community Engagement for the past year and a half. Before that, she served in a variety of roles over seven years at the Eugene Mission, the last one being Director of Operations. A life-long resident of Lane County (“from Veneta to Vida,” she says), in 2006, she bought a restaurant (Our Daily Bread) with her parents that is still going strong. After that, she worked in marketing full-time. During that time, her husband, Marshall, whom she met at the family’s restaurant, took a job as the Kitchen Director at the Eugene Mission. Tabitha started volunteering on holidays. That experience altered her career path.

“I found such meaning in nonprofit work that isn’t as easy to find in the private sector,” she says. “It really engages the heartstrings. You can see your efforts going towards bettering humanity or the planet or your community, not necessarily a business’s bottom line. Even though in my marketing years, I was selling things that I believed in, selling a bottle of juice is not the same as selling a cause to the community.”

In addition to their common commitment to nonprofit service, the three Directors share a devotion to family as a central part of their lives. That’s about to take on a new meaning for Karissa, who is due to have their first child June 6.

At the heart of shared leadership, Karissa says, is “understanding how diverse this organization is, how many parts we have, and how well they need to all work together.” Those parts now include building and maintaining the infrastructure of the communities, providing the necessary services and support for clients that make Safe Spots communities and not warehouses for the unhoused, and the critical outreach to the public and governmental and private organizations for volunteers, funding, and advocacy.

“We talk about creating intentional community,” Heather says, “and that’s what this whole organization is about. We trust one another and we can be vulnerable with one another and it’s different from any work place I’ve ever been in. I can be my true authentic self and make mistakes and share my goofiness and just be who I am.” Shared leadership also provides a space for the directors to contribute knowledge and experience from their varied backgrounds without the pressure on any one of them to always be right.

“I think a lot of it is about creating a sustainable work experience for the leaders,” Karissa says, “to make decisions that are informed by being able to be closer to the work on the ground and to be able to build in more opportunities for more input from our clients themselves.”

Though this will be Tabitha’s first experience in a shared executive leadership position, it is not unfamiliar territory. “Negotiating, collaboration, and compromise when you’re not The One in charge is ultimately about listening and getting buy-in from all of the parties. So I’ve got a lot of experience doing that. This is a unique opportunity for CSS to grow as an organization in a sustainable way that isn’t based on any one human, in any one seat.”

As Director of Community Impact, Karissa oversees the service teams, which include Community Facilitators, Service Navigators, and Support Workers as well as front desk staff at headquarters.They want to ensure that from “the first person an applicant sees we are creating trust, showing how we are different, doing our best to make people feel welcome.” A big part of their role, Karissa says, is “supporting the fluidity” as clients move from applicants to community members, helping them navigate their experience in the community, and providing ongoing support after they move on. Included in that is helping both staff and community members work through conflict resolution.

Karissa’s role also includes making sure data is available to inform decision-making and to help Heather communicate the impacts of CSS services to potential supporters. They also overlap with Heather in a “beautiful way” in supporting community tours and other educational outreach to the public.

The importance of collaboration among the leadership team is further exemplified by Karissa working with Tabitha, as Director of Operations, to develop staff training strategies in a way that is unified and consistent.

Heather’s title didn’t change, but her role grew. She now oversees public relations, contracts with the city and county, external relationships, and connections to the Board of Directors, as well as fundraising from both donors and foundations. “It’s kind of cool to be able to do this. I understand the budget more thoroughly and I know what the plans are for the next however many years.This definitely helps me to know what we need to raise money for.”

One of her focuses now is consulting with other communities hoping to start similar programs. “We have conversations with groups from Cottage Grove, Oakridge, Florence, and Veneta—and outside Lane County. Community Supported Shelters is a model that can work with any state across the U.S.”

Making sure CSS’s funding is sustainable remains an important part of Heather’s job. “We have a phenomenal donor base of very, very loyal supporters,” she says. “I think that’s because it’s very evident that what we’re doing is helping people.” Government funding is more fickle, she says. “It’s guaranteed through 2024, but that’s not very far away.”

Tabitha is just getting to know the organization and its people, but she has a clear understanding of her role as Operations Director. “My area of stewardship is that of function,” she says. “It’s my job to work with our facilities and Hut teams, as well as HR and finance to build an operational structure that’s going to take us into this next season. We’re moving away from a time where you had founding members who had the culture embedded in them. They knew how to do everything and they trained everyone how to do those things. The founders built the foundation. I see my role as shoring up that foundation and then beginning to build on that base, with the 2X4s, the framing, and ultimately build a structure that can support a roof. It is always my intent to build a system that outlasts any particular human and services the organization in the long term.”

“I am excited to have another director in,” Karissa says, “having a trio again and being able to really work out the kinks of shared leadership.”

One of the biggest challenges CSS faces, Heather says, is the pressure to expand. “Anytime I’m out in the community everybody wants us to grow, especially with the governor’s state of emergency. She wants to add 230 shelter beds in Lane County” (from all providers, not just CSS). “We can maybe add a half dozen of them realistically to what we’re doing. If we grow much bigger, we’re not gonna be able to have intentional communities. It’s just gonna be warehouses. We don’t want to do that. The reason we’re successful is because of the model we have and if we grow too big, the model goes away.”

Focusing on improving the experience of community and staff members is a point of emphasis for all three members of the team. “Instead of building more Huts,” Karissa says, “it’s building more opportunities for our clients themselves to really share how we can be better as an organization, and how their experiences can be improved.”

Tabitha says her primary focus is safety and infrastructure, “making sure that our communities are safe, that we have a safe working environment for our staff, and that all of us are modeling that healthy behavior for that emotional and psychological safety needed both by our residents and by our staff.”

“I see advocacy internally,” Karissa says, “creating opportunities for previous and current clients to give us feedback, regular, meaningful, critical, positive, whatever it might be, feedback on how to continue to be better,” Karissa says.

Another part of that, they say, is building pathways “for these same individuals who have a passion for sharing their experience of being in multiple shelters or being evicted to speak to public policy decision makers in a way that’s going to help them here. It brings me so much joy to think about because I think getting out of the mindset that we know what’s best for people is really where I’ve seen the most change happen.”

Toward that end, Heather says, CSS plans to form a client advocacy council in which members from each of the Safe Spot Communities become a subcommittee of the Board of Directors. “It’s important that we ask for input directly from the people receiving our services.”

The new emphasis on advocacy includes supporters of CSS in the broader community.

A lot of people are curious about what’s going on with unhoused people who potentially might have been their neighbors at one point. “Not in a way that’s punitive about the people experiencing street homelessness, which is horrific,” Karissa says. “That curiosity can help us all change our thinking about homelessness, by asking questions like: How have we gotten to this place over the last 50 years? Why is homelessness continuing to increase? What is it that I can do as a neighbor to stop that from happening? How can I change the conversation I have about homelessness with someone at the grocery store wherever they are coming from?”

Heather adds that another form of advocacy that is vital to CSS is supporters communicating to public policy decision makers that “we need to stop looking at funding more new, new, new things and start looking at ways to ensure the programs that are working are sustainable.”

Tabitha had previous involvement with CSS when she was serving at the Eugene Mission where both the Veterans Safe Spot Community and the Mission Microsite were set up. “Just like every resident we had within our shelter during the COVID shut down, the Vets Community were our people during that season. So I had a special feeling of stewardship of that particular site at that time.”

She notes that both of her most recent employers, St. Vincent de Paul and the Eugene Mission are larger, more long-established organizations, each about 70 years old, compared to CSS, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. “My hope is that I can take the knowledge and experience with the amazing teams I worked with over there and bring that to this team. CSS is in a very pivotal moment, shifting to the next stage of development as a nonprofit.”

“There are a lot of opportunities for us now,” Karissa says. “I’m really excited about us coming together around shared values. Something that I’ve known from day one here is that I love the initiative and gusto that so many people have. It’s in every community, too. When someone has a problem like a broken bike tire or needs help moving something, someone will offer to help: Let me fix that’ or ‘Let me go get the truck.’ There’s just such an attitude of ‘let’s do something about it.’”

That’s Karissa’s approach to the challenges CSS is facing now. “It’s part of my personality,” they say. They approach challenges not as obstacles but as opportunities: “What is it we don’t like? What is it we don’t like about it? How do we want to change it? How do we get there? For me, challenges are—maybe it’s a little sadistic—exciting.”

Heather says her greatest reward in her time at CSS is getting to know different community members and “seeing that progression of someone becoming more comfortable with their surroundings and feeling safe and feeling like it’s okay for them to be vulnerable and share their experiences. When they walk in, they’re just looking for a safe place to sleep, and then after 2,3,4 months with us, they begin to have hope for their future and they’re able to verbalize that. It’s so cool to be a part of that and to help them get to their goals.”

She loves the interaction between community members and guests she brings on tours at the various sites, when the members remind the guests about community rules like closing the lid of the porta-potty or invite them to a barbecue later in the day. “I love little things that remind our guests, that oh, yeah, these are just people.”

“To humanize people that are so often stigmatized in our society—that’s a huge thing in itself,“ she says.

Erik is taking a break from CSS, doing consulting work with other nonprofits and recovering from the high stress of his last few years. He ponders if and when he might want to reconnect. He’s glad to see the shared leadership he helped to implement moving forward—“I think it’s a really great situation,” he says—and his former colleagues implementing it: “It’s in the best hands possible that I could have left it with.”

CSS has grown to the point, Karissa says, that “this organization doesn’t depend on just one person—me, Erik, Heather, or any other one person. I hope my work here reminds people how powerful they are as a staff. We need all of us.”

Donna Jackson: “People Really Did Care”

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 11:00:36 GMT

Donna Jackson: “People Really Did Care”

In the winter of 2013/14, Donna Jackson and her 26-year-old daughter Melissa got kicked out of an apartment where they were staying. Their last source of income, donating plasma, had dried up because of health problems and other issues. They couldn’t get into the Mission because they had been smoking pot and couldn’t pass the drug test. They tried Opportunity Village (OVE) but were told the application process to get in took two weeks.

“We had nowhere to go and we were desperate,” Donna says. “I was bawling, sitting on the side of the street. If that camp hadn’t been there . . .”

“That camp” was the Roosevelt Safe Spot, the first CSS transitional community that had been started a few months earlier and was just around the corner from OVE. At that time, people looking for shelter could fill out applications at the camp itself. Donna and her daughter filled out an application and headed toward Springfield, where a friend had said they could crash for one night. But they got a call from CSS before they got there telling them they could move in to Roosevelt the next day.

The Roosevelt camp had just a few Huts then. Most residents slept in tents on platforms to keep them off the ground. Donna and Melissa moved into a shared tent. They had both come out of abusive relationships and were newly clean and sober former hard drug addicts.

Donna appreciated how quickly they got into a place where they had some stability and security. “It was a great place to be rather than being underneath the bridge,” she says. But Donna couldn’t avoid dwelling on some negative feelings: “I’m 60 years old,” she said in an interview in 2014, “and I’m in a tent camp. I was very disappointed with myself, very unhappy with how my life turned out. It took me a month, month and a half, to finally realize that this is OK.”

Nine years later, as CSS celebrates its 10th anniversary, Donna is living independently and paying rent at the CSS-owned Shields House. She became the volunteer coordinator at the Roosevelt Camp, mentored many of the members who came into and successfully left that community, provided office support at the CSS headquarters office, and helped establish the Shields House as a “next step” in the transition from the streets to stable housing—and in the fall of 2022, she was named to the CSS Board of Directors.

After their initial stint at Roosevelt, Donna and Melissa got a trailer and parked it in Alton Baker Park as part of the City of Eugene Parking Program. But after about five months, they couldn’t find anywhere to park it legally, so Donna got permission to move it into the Roosevelt Camp. Melissa went to the Mission.

The camp was going through a restructuring of volunteer leadership, adding a number of volunteer positions for residents, including responsibilities for maintenance, kitchen, and transportation, as well as a “vibes checker.” The man who had served as camp coordinator no longer wanted to do that, so he nominated Donna. She wasn’t sure about taking on that responsibility at first, but “I ended up really liking it,” she says—so much that she did it for almost four years, gradually developing a stable and steadying leadership group, some of whom also moved into the Shields House. At that time, volunteer leaders were allowed to stay in the camp beyond the usual 10-month limit.

During those years, the camp went through a physical transformation. “We went from mostly tent platforms to all Huts with storage containers on the back of each,” Donna says. “We got a new kitchen and a new community room—and we had it going on.”

The camp also had gone through a “vibes” transformation (though the position of “vibes checker” was eventually eliminated).

“We made it a community,” Donna says. “I think it had a lot to do with our [volunteer] staff: Chris [Plourde], Wes [Belisle], Mark [Douglass], Red [Stevens], and me—and all kinds of different people who were on the staff. We all put our hearts in it. We had dinners together at night. We celebrated holidays. We made sure we had Christmas decorations in a tree. That got other people to start doing things for each other. People started donating food stamps for meals together. We collected money for the generator so we could have our charging station. The work parties and camp meetings helped bring people together. A lot of people came away with really warm feelings from Roosevelt. I’m really proud that we were able to do that for so long.”

Being camp coordinator had its challenges: “Dealing with people who were on drugs or intoxicated from alcohol or people who tried to kill themselves or tried to cause chaos in the camp.” Donna says. “The only reason I dealt with them is because we had to. It took a little while to calm me down. Chris was a godsend. He helped me a lot to see things from a different point of view and to reevaluate my way of thinking.” She also credits CSS staff members Mona Bronson and Marie Laura Roehrich for providing support “anytime I needed somebody to talk to. They were at our disposal to make sure that we succeeded.”

And she saw frequent evidence of that success. “The biggest rewards were seeing grumpy people become nice and sociable and seeing so many of our clients find housing. It seemed like month after month we had people moving into their own places. Getting their own homes. And it was amazing to see somebody get their social security card or their ID or even a library card or get some bills paid off. The [CSS] office works so well with getting people’s needs taken care of.

“There’s just so many things CSS has done for so many people to help improve their lives. And I got to see so much of that.”

At both the camp and during her time volunteering at the office, she also saw evidence of the community support that is fundamental to CSS success in the form of donations of everything from batteries to Sunday lunches. “Just the outpouring of kindness from this community was amazing.”

After almost six years in the Roosevelt camp, Donna was also rewarded by being one of the first to move into Shields House.

“I feel like I’ve died and went to heaven,” Donna said shortly before moving in at the end of July 2020.

Donna will have some say over whether CSS pursues more co-housing opportunities and other strategic and operational policies because she was named to the CSS Board of Directors a few months ago, the first former client to sit on the board.

She believes her experience will be valuable to the board. “I think it makes a big difference. I think it’s a lot more valuable than someone who maybe just knew a little bit about CSS until they got on the board but never had experienced homelessness or knew anything about the trials that people go through sometimes every minute when they are homeless.”

She recognizes the challenges arising from the recent transitions CSS is going through with the expansion of the number of Safe Spot Communities and changes in leadership. “I think we’re going through some struggling times. They had to grow really fast and it takes a lot to manage that stuff.”

She hasn’t been around the Safe Spot Communities much in recent years but she wonders if they have “the same family feeling we had at Roosevelt.” She’s learning about the new system of staff support for the camps and is assured that “everybody wants all this to succeed. Maybe this new system is what’s needed with the growth we’ve experienced.” But she hopes as a board member that she can share lessons from her days at Roosevelt to contribute to the success of the new system. “I’m old school and I wish everything would be like Roosevelt, but I know that’s not possible.”

Donna says it’s hard for her to imagine CSS without Erik in a leadership role. “He put his whole being into this program.”

But she believes CSS is strong enough to overcome these transitional challenges. “This is a good enough organization and there’s enough people involved who seem to care about what happens. And it’s a great cause. It’s a great thing for the community. Where would all these people be if they weren’t in our Huts? They have a place to lay their head where they can lock their door, a kitchen where they can get some food, and a toilet where they don’t have to wonder where they’re going to go to the bathroom.

“I’m glad I’m on the board so I can help oversee [this transition] and keep an eye on things and make sure I add my input as far as future changes or ways of doing things. We did have a system that worked.”

In a 2017 interview, Donna said, “I owe Erik and Fay everything. They saved my life. Being here has been so good for me—really good!

She feels those sentiments even more strongly now. “That’s still very true today. As far as saying they saved my life—in the past I knew I was a good person but I kept messing up all the time. I grew into the person I am today because of that camp and the responsibilities I grew to accept. And because of the challenges I faced, the person that I became is somebody I’m very proud of. I grew into somebody that I love and I care about. And I know now that I’m a good person and I have things to contribute. I didn’t believe any of that stuff about myself before.”

“I had to be a good example and it made a lot of difference in a lot of people’s lives to see that it can be done—that people really did care and that we meant what we said and that help was available.

“I don’t know where I’d be if we hadn’t found the sanctuary that we found there and the people there who actually cared about us.”

Mark Story: Mr. Firewood

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 09:02:38 GMT

Mark Story: Mr. Firewood

Jan. 15, 2023

Mark Story is a busy guy. The kind of guy who will tell you that “he likes to get things done.” The kind of guy who believes that everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Just the kind of guy who would eventually become an important CSS volunteer focused on developing a sustainable model for a critical CSS resource: firewood.

About ten years ago, Mark and his wife Judy were living in Oslo, Norway, where he managed a team of international software developers. They decided to move back to the U.S. and, having learned about Eugene from a co-worker, packed up and relocated sight unseen and continued his software career. The early morning phone meetings with international teams soon took its toll and eventually he decided to quit. His college degree from Vermont was in education, and he eventually began substitute teaching in local schools.

Having family members with mental illness makes Mark and Judy acutely aware of the fragility of that population, who constitute a significant portion of the unhoused community. In addition to his teaching, Mark and Judy began to visit various homeless camps in the West Eugene area, where they offered to pick up and haul trash in his pickup. He eventually acquired a dumping trailer and continued visiting camps during the weekends, picking up trash and even preparing and serving weekend brunch from the back of his truck.

When COVID emerged in 2020 everything changed. Schools closed and Mark lost his substitute job. And, due to potential COVID risks, he stopped visiting camps. But doing nothing was not an option. Mark had some experience in the firewood business from work he had done in Vermont, so he decided to start that line of work in Eugene. “When we first began, we were delivering cart loads of wood,” Mark recalls. Over time, his production grew to hundreds of cords of wood.

The Huts that CSS provides to its community residents provide a dry, safe, and secure space. They are not wired for electricity and the heat source for each of the 14 sites is provided in the community areas by a wood burning stove. It is estimated that CSS sites require about 70-90 cords of firewood annually. Sourcing wood is a critical task.

Heather Quaas-Annsa, Director of Philanthropy at CSS, saw Mark’s Facebook ad last October and decided to reach out to him. Mark recalls receiving the call. “I spoke to Heather on a Monday and by Friday we had delivered five cords of wood,” he remembers. Mark wanted to do more. He and Heather began talking about the firewood needs at CSS over the winter months. In addition to providing wood directly from his own wood lot, Mark began assisting CSS in acquiring additional wood from homeowners and arborists that would otherwise have been disposed of, sometimes picking up and delivering wood with his own trailer.

Editor’s Note: CSS is again building capacity to collect firewood from people’s wood lots. We can once again get crews out to wood lots to collect downed wood to supply firewood for the camps.

If you have firewood for pickup (including downed wood for collection), please contact headquarters by calling 541-683-0836 Monday through Friday between 1 pm and 4 pm.

Alexander Holmes and UCare at CSS

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 02:50:25 GMT

Alexander Holmes and UCare at CSS

Nov 4, 2022

Alexander Holmes RN, MSN and Kathy Kernan, FNP at the UCare Clinic.

Nearly 10 years ago PeaceHealth and a handful of committed employees recognizing the need to address mental and behavioral health issues among access-challenged members of our community created the Unified Care Clinic. Unified Care Clinic, also known as UCare, now provides mental and general health-care service to over 800 clients from their office at the Hilyard Street PeaceHealth facility in Eugene. Originally funded by PeaceHealth, the clinic is now mainly supported through grants and numbers over two dozen employees including nurses, physicians, psychiatrists, counselors, and office staff. The clinic still operates as part of PeaceHealth and receives its continued support.

Alexander Holmes RN, MSN, is one of the original Ucare employees who has empowered this growth. Alexander, who grew up in Dexter and is a University of Oregon undergraduate, received his nursing degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In a recent conversation he explained the services Ucare provides and how its team has been working in partnership with the CSS community.

“What we do is inverted integrated primary care,” Alexander explained. “We are a behavioral health clinic primarily so we have psychiatrists and counselors, predominantly, but we [also] have Kathy who does primary care within the behavioral health setting.” Team members Kathy Kernan, FNP-C, and Angela Brady, FNP-C, are nurse practitioners and provide the primary health-care element to qualifying CSS residents. The target demographic Ucare serves are people who have run out of all other health-care options. “We are the last stop gap before someone is either permanently hospitalized or has to go to mandatory treatment. We have a particular focus on people who have barriers to treatment because of being unhoused.”

Over the past year the Ucare team has visited each CSS site introducing themselves and their program, building trust, and signing residents up for services. This included help with navigating the extensive paperwork to access care through PeaceHealth. “It’s a better entry point because oftentimes their entry point has to be the Emergency Department,” Alexander noted.

Since completing the CSS site tour, Ucare now meets with residents weekly on Tuesdays’ Reboot at CSS where they provide regular mental health and primary care to qualifying residents. Any needs that cannot be offered on site can be arranged through the PeaceHealth system, including office visits at the Ucare Hilyard Street location. “We try to cover everything in our clinic. Once someone qualifies, we can offer pretty much everything.” This includes access to psychiatric and primary care but also case management, peer support, and substance abuse programs. In addition to providing a weekly meeting point, CSS further reduces barriers to health care by actions such as transportation coordination to offsite appointments. Alexander estimates that the team currently meets 10 to 15 clients weekly and that 30 to 40 have been enrolled to date through the CSS site visits.

Alexander points out that access to mental health care is challenging. “There is such a need and people who are at the very bottom, who have all these barriers, in our state, it is literally impossible for them to access services.” Alexander and the team at Ucare are making a difference by proactively seeking and involving themselves and their services in these communities. Alexander simply sums up their mission to their clients: “We want to give them hope and dignity.”

Camp Meetings, Building Community

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 02:08:40 GMT

Camp Meetings, Building Community

Nov 4, 2022

All the camps have weekly meetings. Three service teams divide responsibilities for eight Safe Spot Communities (11-18 Huts) and six micro-sites (1 – 6 Huts). The team Facilitator leads the community meetings and is the primary link between the camps and CSS headquarters. Each team also has a Service Navigator, who helps community members with access to services and attends meetings every few weeks, and two Support Workers, who spend time in the camps to build trusting relationships with clients.

Meetings usually begin with check-ins, with each person describing how things are going for them, with the facilitator often asking for some positive or reflective observations like “say something nice about somebody else in this room” or “tell us what you like or don’t like about fall.” Then the Facilitator will run through a list of announcements about services from CSS (“laundry service is temporarily suspended until a new person is hired; anybody interested should apply at the office”); about upcoming events at the camp (“work party next week; be there or let me know why you can’t make it”); about the status of maintenance issues (“front screens for the Huts are in the works and should be here soon”).

If a Service Navigator is present, they will provide updates on service-related programs, such as deadlines for applying for housing, and reminding members about scheduling appointments with them to keep track of their pursuit of services. And there is usually some discussion of recurring challenges, often starting with what Facilitator Laura Diamond describes as “dishues”—the perennial community disputes about who is or is not doing dishes, but also including other issues like pets and keeping gates locked.

Meetings serve a vital role of “bi-directional” communication between camp members and CSS staff, says Barbara Coleman who has been in the Empire Safe Spot Community since the beginning of 2022. It’s an opportunity for “everyone to have a voice in the needs of the community. . . It also gives participants an opportunity to get to know each other a little better.”

Meetings are “absolutely essential,” says Justin Nichols, who has been in the CSS program about a year and is now in the Expressway camp, after previously living in the Westmoreland and Roosevelt camps. “People need to communicate. You can’t completely mind your own business. Everyone’s business is to some degree everyone’s business.”

Meetings can be calm and orderly, or free-wheeling and raucous, supportive or contentious, often filled with lots of laughter and sometimes tense. They vary from camp to camp and week to week. “Different meetings have different vibes,” Laura says.

“Sometimes we will all be out here and everyone’s laughing and carrying on, and then two hours later, bam! I don’t know what it is,” says Connie Roberts, who has been in the Westmoreland camp for about 10 months. “But when you’ve got this many people and we’re all different, we all have our own weird little shit that we’re going through. So you’ve got to kind of take it with a grain of salt in a sense.”

When Facilitator Orion Martin asked people at an Expressway Camp meeting to say something nice about somebody else, one woman who’d been in the camp a year, said “Everybody does a good job living in a community. It’s getting better. It’s getting way better.”

Yet later in the same meeting, a discussion about a frequently missing gate lock led to talk about a specific individual, who was not present, who was suspected of taking the lock and was otherwise creating problems in the camp. All those who spoke up told of uncomfortable encounters and a consensus seemed to develop that people did not want him in the camp any longer. Orion stressed that that man was suffering, going through a mental health crisis, and that he was addressing his situation by trying to relocate him. Community members expressed sympathy for that individual but, as one man put it, “if it wasn’t for the aggressiveness,” he would be willing to find ways to accommodate him.

“The meetings are pretty good for taking the temperature of the community,” says Morgan from the Westmoreland camp, “If things are really out of control, the meetings are probably going to blow up into a giant brawl. But if things are somewhat stable, then the meetings are going to be somewhat stable.”

Meetings are “really important for our community because there’s not a lot of interaction other than in meetings,” says Jesse Descavich, who’s been at the Empire Safe Spot Community for eight months. “It’s a good space where we all get together to figure out if there is anything going on. It takes work to get it out in a pro-social way, so that’s community building for us. As we do that, it gets better every time.”

Laura, the Facilitator at Empire since its opening about a year ago, says conflicts in meetings can be difficult. But she welcomes conflict as an inevitable ingredient of any community. She promotes “sharing power, sharing space” among all members of a Safe Spot Community, to try to help them feel safe to engage in a conflict resolution process. And when breakthroughs do happen, she says, it really does strengthen the bonds of the community.

But it’s not easy.

“This stuff comes up in the meeting, but everybody just sits here” says Connie from Westmoreland, “The Facilitator will ask, ‘Did you see that? Does anybody have a beef with something?’ We don’t say anything in our meetings because one person will get up and walk out and then you’re not solving anything anyway, because they feel like they’re being attacked.”

Barbara from the Empire Safe Spot says, “Meetings can be a starting point for critical conversations.” Simple misunderstandings can be resolved but people are sometimes reluctant to discuss deeper issues in open meetings because they don’t always feel safe with all the other members of the community. “Laura is pretty good about setting boundaries for scenarios where it’s more appropriate to take it offline and discuss it more privately in a calmer setting with fewer distractions.”

Meetings “give people space to actually talk, where if they didn’t have a platform, it would kind of fester,” Justin from Expressway says. “I don’t necessarily see them solve [problems], but it’s not good to just keep your resentments inside. It’s important for people to say what’s going on.”

“As long as you’re talking to each other, that’s good,” says Morgan from Westmoreland.

Orion has recently changed his approach to his facilitation role. He has changed the times of the meetings at the three camps he works with from mornings to noon, each camp on a different day. On meeting days, he tries to spend as much time as possible in the camp.

“One of the reasons I’m in the community more now is that I want to get to know these people better outside of meetings, so I can help serve them better,” he says.

His increased presence has been accompanied by a greater emphasis on enforcing rules in the camp. When he started the new meeting schedule, he placed a white board with the rules listed in the community buildings where the meetings take place and started the meeting by bringing attention to it. He said he would be enforcing these rules with “write-ups.” Three write-ups lead to eviction.

One of the longstanding rules is that attendance at community meetings is mandatory. Absences are excused if people have jobs or appointments for housing or medical issues or other such obligations. But attendance can be spotty.

A week after Orion’s warning about increased enforcement, about half of the members at one of his camps didn’t show up for the weekly meeting, so he went Hut to Hut writing up the people who hadn’t shown up.

“I think about half of the community is a little upset,” he says. “But I’m going to use it as a tool and we’ll bring it back around next week.” He hopes his presence in the camp and more consistent application of rules will encourage members to participate willingly in the meetings.

Orion, like other Facilitators, would prefer to “see more of a positive reinforcement model rather than this negative stuff, but this is what we’ve got right now and I’m sure it will change over time.”

Orion’s shift to spending more time in the camps is part of a general effort of the CSS service team to be more of a presence, but the specifics for each team member are still being developed. Laura supports the general idea and already makes a point of connecting with the individuals in her camps, but, she says, sometimes there can be too much staff presence, intruding on the privacy of the members. Laura’s approach to meeting attendance is to “make sure everybody shows up sometimes.”

Westmoreland community member Morgan sees a lot of these issues about meetings and rules as a result of trying to find a balance between community and freedom.

“We’re given a lot of freedom here. Freedom is important; community is important. We have freedom and we have community.

“We shouldn’t have to have a baby sitter. We shouldn’t have to have video cameras. We shouldn’t have to have all these rules. But we do have to. It’s necessary.

“It’s trying to find a balance between treating people like human beings and at the same time, trying to impress upon them that they’re adults and they’re allowed to make choices. And if they make wrong choices, nothing you can do for them. You can make the wrong choices and sometimes you’re just going to fall flat on your face.”

Several community members mentioned that they had noticed recent changes that had improved the connection between CSS staff and the people in the camps “like implementing rules and infrastructure improvement and accountability,” says Jesse, “paying attention to what the campers’ needs are. We’ve been struggling here for a long time. . . . They’re allowing the staff to spend more hours with us to help us heal.”

Going Home: Dave Lathim moves back to his family’s farm after six years with CSS

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 06:32:38 GMT

Going Home: Dave Lathim moves back to his family’s farm after six years with CSS

July 18, 2022

Dave Lathim, 60, has gone home.

For a man that spent a couple of decades as a drifter, that’s a big move. For years, he spent three to five months of the winter in Alaska working in the seafood processing industry—then, for the rest of the year, “I was basically just drifting, just traveling,” he says. His travels took him all over the West: Wyoming, Idaho, California, Washington, Oregon. “I struggled, so I never had much of a place to stay. I had several stints of homelessness. Lived in my vehicle part of the time. A lot of camping. That went on for quite a few years.”

That all started to change in 2016 when he moved into a Hut at the CSS Vets’ Camp. Since then he has been part of CSS as a client and, since October 2020, as a paid staff member—until this June, when he went back to the 6-acre farm in Eastern Washington where he lived as a teenager. He’s gone home to help his parents stay on the farm they love.

“I could see that they were really struggling,” he says. His mother is 78, and his father is 82. “It’s tough. They don’t want to sell it. They don’t want to move to town like a lot of people do. They love it out there. It’s theirs. It’s peaceful. It’s quiet. There’s a lot of stuff I could do to help them.”

That’s just the kind of person Dave has become.

Dave’s drifting ways were “partially” a chosen life-style, he says. But they were also driven by challenges with steady employment. “I was having a hard time holding different jobs. The only thing consistent was the Alaska thing, but it was seasonal. And I had to do it for three months at a time. But as far as steady employment, I always had trouble with that, and never lasted too long.”

But during his stints in homeless shelters or at day-labor centers throughout the west, he frequently crossed paths with a fellow drifter named John Maddox. In 2016 when his drifting brought him to Eugene, he caught up with John. By then John was among the volunteer leaders at the Vets Camp. It looked like a good situation for Dave and, with John vouching for him, he soon moved into a Hut.

He liked “the atmosphere of the camp,” he says. “I got along with all the people, especially the CSS staff—Erik and Mona and Fay and Pujita. They were here then. It was a really small group. They were really nice to me. And I started helping out right away. I had a driver’s license and a vehicle, which helped out a lot.” Dave became transportation coordinator for the camp.

But his drifting days weren’t over. He still went up to Alaska in the winters and spent some time in Idaho where he could rent a house for short periods of time. Sometimes, he let CSS know that he was coming back, and there would still be a spot for him in the camp. But when he was in Idaho in 2018, he wasn’t sure he was coming back. “But somehow, I just ended up back here.”

“I just got tired of the long shifts in Alaska. It’s really hard work. I got tired of moving around all the time. And it was OK here. The camp. The people were really good to me. I got used to living in a Hut.” For the first time he could remember, he felt like he was part of a community.

“I was happier. And I’m more content. I like to hike and fish a lot. And there’s a lot of that here. That’s part of it. And just the kindness of the staff had a lot to do with it. They were never judgmental and always appreciative of the help that I could give—things I never got in the outside world.”

When CSS started its major expansion—adding five full-size Safe Spot camps, a microsite, and a couple of minisites—in the fall of 2020, Dave was one of the first people asked to become part of the expanded staff to provide services for a dramatically increased number of camps, Huts, and—most importantly—people. He also moved into a Hut behind the CSS shop on Grant Street.

Like the construction and the populating of the Huts during the expansion, his job started slowly, a few hours a week, and gradually increased. He was working 25 hours a week before he left. His initial responsibility was delivering fresh water and removing gray water from all the camps, but it expanded to include picking up building supplies and driving a truck and trailer with all the Hut components to the building sites, which often involved some serious backing-up skills.

A lot of that work took place during the height of the pandemic. “We were all masked up. It was crazy, but I enjoyed it. It was pretty amazing really—what we’ve been able to accomplish in a short period of time. And we got through it pretty much without a hitch. It was slow getting people into those Huts, because the process takes a while.”

Dave feels good about the progress CSS has made in serving so many additional people. “People are getting used to their jobs. The service team is starting to come together. You could see it. It’s just really, really coming together.

“There’s a core group of us that have stayed through all of it. And I think that it started to spread through our new employees. They’re seeing how we are. And they’re starting to be more like that.”

He’s proud of being able to give to others what he got from his time with CSS. “It’s great. It feels like a major accomplishment that I was actually able to help people and improve their lives, just as my life was improving.”

Dave will have his own place on the farm, which is in the Yakima Valley, west of the Tri-Cities. His father is going to fence off a site where he can put a trailer, a septic system, a water line, and a couple of beef cows.

He’s going to miss the proximity to great fishing and hiking in the Eugene area. But mostly he’s going to miss the work he was able to do and the personal relationships he built with CSS staff and clients—though he plans to keep in touch with many of them through texting.

CSS will miss him, too.

“Dave has been a solid client and employee for many years,” says Erik de Buhr, CSS Director of Operations, “quietly being dependable and a huge asset to the operations of CSS.”

“CSS changed me,” Dave says. “Just the fact that CSS treated me the way they did. It was different from how I’ve been treated in the past. They were confident in me, always. They never doubted me. And I really respect that. And it makes you want to do real well. It makes you want to help them too.”

He will take those lessons with him to Eastern Washington, “I may end up, because of my experiences here, doing some outreach work over there. Homelessness is everywhere now. I think I could see myself getting involved with another organization and maybe using some of the things I learned with CSS over there.

“CSS has a very positive impact on people that have issues in their lives. And they have built it to where they have the resources to tell people where to go. If they can’t help you, then they will guide you to somebody who can help you. And they care. That’s the thing. They really care. The people who work here, they care. They’re not just here for a paycheck.

“The same thing I went through, I can see it’s doing the same for other people. It doesn’t work out for everyone, but it works for a lot of people.”

Frank Harper: “Why I Volunteer for CSS”

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 06:19:39 GMT

Frank Harper: “Why I Volunteer for CSS”

July 18, 2022

I casually meet with a Vietnam Veterans group every other Wednesday for a lunch gathering. Jim Schmidt is in the group and I believe it was around October of 2020 we were having lunch with the group and Jim asked me if I would be interested in volunteering to build Conestoga Huts. I previously volunteered helping Jim with packing after-school snacks for kids for Lane County. I knew if Jim was involved it had to be good, so without hesitation I said, “Yes!”

CSS is not the first time I volunteered. I also volunteered to become a member of the United States Seabees on January 4, 1968, a day after I turned 18 years old—at the time when the United States military was drafting high school graduates to participate in the Vietnam War. When anyone volunteers it is generally for a good and worthwhile cause. In the case of volunteering for the military it was the opposite of accomplishing something good and worthwhile.

You have most likely guessed that I made it out of Vietnam. After my service I was temporarily married and then I became a single parent raising two boys. My kids loved theater and so I volunteered for years building sets for school plays and community theater plays in San Jose, California.

The old saying goes “One thing leads to another!” On October 28, 2006, I returned to Vietnam to try to find little kids that I photographed during the war. During my trip I met Ed Reinman, a Vietnam Veteran, who lives in Cottage Grove. Ten years later I moved to Eugene, and I was contacted by Ed and he told me about a Veterans Group that he meets with bi-weekly. Ed invited me to join the gathering where I met about eight Vietnam Veterans. The rest is history. I met (Standing Ovation) Jim Schmidt at the luncheon and I became a part of a wonderful brotherhood.

It was in November 2020 that I showed up with my cordless drill at the Skinner Butte site and I was immediately welcomed with open arms. Jim is such an inspiration who motivates all the volunteers, not only on the build site, but also in the shop. He does a great job keeping us informed via the internet. Jim is taking a few months off to recover from back surgery and Carmen is now our volunteer coordinator and is doing a wonderful job. I feel sorry for Carmen because she has to listen to my terrible puns.

I really enjoy working with everyone that I have met through CSS. They are so friendly and motivated to help out the unfortunate people that may be living under a tent on the streets of Eugene or Springfield. I really look forward to Tuesdays and Fridays. If we don’t have a Hut to build, we have plenty of projects to build or repair in the shop.

There are so many negative things going on in the world, but to actually accomplish something positive is so heartwarming. Every Hut that we build is a positive accomplishment to get a person off the streets. It’s a humbling stepping stone for that person to move into a place they can call home. It’s a step towards getting a job and eventually actually living in a comfortable apartment.

I want to thank Pujita, Carmen, Barr, Jim, and all the CSS staff and volunteers for opening the door for me to be a member of the CSS family. It’s so much fun!

Devin Jenkins Brings a Heritage of Empathy and Compassion to CSS Board

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 06:03:08 GMT

Devin Jenkins Brings a Heritage of Empathy and Compassion to CSS Board

“We’re very grateful for that support from both private and public contributions.”

Devin brings a unique perspective to the CSS board from his work at Laurel Hill Center, where he is director of facilities and housing programs..

Laurel Hill serves people with social, emotional, and cognitive challenges. One of its programs provides low-income housing for eligible people. The wait list to move into a Laurel Hill apartment or living unit is very lengthy. He understands very well the uphill challenges many people face in securing safe housing.

Devin was recruited to the CSS board by board members whom he had previously worked with through other nonprofits.

“Devin graciously accepted the mantle as board president this past year,” says CSS Grants and Contracts Coordinator Tod Schneider. “He has been an invaluable asset to CSS. He’s been very steady at the helm while we navigated some rough spots, including ongoing growing pains from our massive expansion.

“He also helped facilitate some challenging Covid-19 conversations about how best to keep folks safe.”

Becoming a “Legal Human”: Elena Mulroney’s Quest for ID

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 03:17:27 GMT

Becoming a “Legal Human”:

Elena Mulroney’s Quest for ID

March 25, 2022

Elena Mulroney’s identification papers went up in flames in a California wildfire. That has made her life very difficult ever since.

Elena, 35, was born in Australia but her father was American, making her an American citizen. She grew up in Romania before coming to the United States to attend Columbia University. Her travels eventually brought her to Eugene where she was living outside in an open field near some friends’ house. As the end of last summer approached, her friends suggested she find better shelter. She moved into a Hut in the CSS Lot 9 Safe Spot in August—still with no identification.

“I’m stuck here without any identification,” she said last October. “And this is very difficult because of the distance from where I am from. If I can’t find any identification, I can’t, of course, be a legal human in the world and be working again.”

The lack of identification papers and the challenge of acquiring new documentation is a common and daunting problem for people experiencing homelessness.

“It’s a very common problem,” says Elle Love, who met Elena very early in her time as a CSS Service Navigator and would spend months helping her acquire ID. “When you’ve lived on the streets or when you’ve lived in your vehicle, when you’ve had some sort of traumatic event that’s put you in a situation where you need to be in a shelter program, it’s really easy to lose identification. If you’re living in a camp and a camp gets swept, you can lose all your belongings. There’s lots of opportunities for you to have your identification either lost or stolen. It happens to people all the time.

“People who have more privilege and more stability in their lives don’t experience that as much of a loss: ‘Oh no, I lost my ID or my wallet got stolen. Okay, I’ll just take all the documents I do have. I’ll have my birth certificate, or whatever I have, and take it and get a new one. I’ll have to sit at the DMV and that’ll suck but then it’ll be over.’ It’s not like I have nothing to show, which is a totally different reality that I think I didn’t even have a full grasp of until after going through this process with Elena.

“When you don’t have any form of ID, it’s really difficult to get one form of ID.”

The lack of ID creates major barriers to people trying to rebuild their lives: they can’t work, get housing, travel, or access many social services.

“Life cannot move forward until I have some form of identification,” Elena said last fall. “I need to get identification in order to get paid, to live and work as a human in this nation.”

Elena and Elle initially thought trying to get her a new passport was the best place to start and even contemplated a trip to a State Department office in Seattle. But they gave up on that quickly. “They want a lot of proof of identity,” Elle says. So they started working toward getting an Oregon ID, which is issued by the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles and is an alternative form of official ID for those who don’t have a driver’s license.

Elena’s first trip to the DMV by herself was very difficult for her. Not only was she denied an Oregon ID, everyone she talked to “had different opinions or different impressions of what the rules are and what is acceptable.”

Elena did have copies of her Certification of Birth Abroad and a U.S. Consular Report of Birth Abroad, both affirming that she had been born outside the United States and was a citizen because her father was a citizen. But they were badly damaged. She also had a voter notification card from Lane County. And Elle was able to get a notification of benefits letter for her from the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) with her date of birth and social security number on it.

When they went together to the DMV, they were still denied. But, Elena says, they were more prepared. “It’s one of those things, the more prepared you are, the more you can ask the right questions.” Elle says they were lucky to get someone at the counter who was willing to take the time to respond when she asked, “Well, what do we need to do to make this work?”

“They went to their books and looked up what they could accept and gave us the right information,” Elena says. The DMV official told them they needed official identification that showed her full name, birthdate, and social security number.

That led them to pursue transcripts and records from Elena’s time at Columbia University. Elle says the online process to get the documents from Columbia wasn’t that difficult—but it took a long time. Columbia was on strike. “I had to call them a bunch and I had to really push it forward. It took a while to do.”

But, Elle says, “Finally, we got them all. And then we went back to the DMV.

“We were both on pins and needles. Is this going to work? We’ve done this so many times. We were just sitting there. Then she got her picture taken. Then they gave us the receipt. After we walked out of there, we just laughed in the car for a minute. We were in shock, honestly. We were just like, wow, this finally worked. For me it was only four months of pushing for this, but for her it’s been a really long time.”

“It took a lot of patience,” Elena says. “But when I finally received the ID, I was elated. I was very, very happy.”

But she’s not done.

“I felt really good about being able to break through those barriers with her,” Elle says. “But like with a lot of clients, you feel relief when you do something good for them, but you also feel like they never should have been put in this situation to begin with. It’s a bittersweet feeling of ‘cool, you did something,’ but also you shouldn’t have had to do that thing at all.”

Elena appreciates having Elle support her through this process: “She’s a fantastic human, and she has a very great organizational mind. So to put our brains together was good, because we could keep returning to the same problems with new eyes to find solutions. And while I had at times wished the process to move a little faster, I think she was also very wise to see the right avenues to follow when it was possible.”

Elle left CSS for an exciting new job in Washington state not long after Elena’s Oregon ID had been secured. She left behind detailed notes about the tortured process that Elena has had to go through, to help other CSS clients and staffers deal with ID challenges.

Elena is glad her ongoing quest for ID may make things easier for other CSS clients. “Even though for me it was a very dramatic struggle, and still is actually, it is sort of cool to know that in a way we are solving problems that other people have and that it might be really, really useful if we learn how to solve them.”

Heather Quaas-Annsa: New Philanthropy Director Pursues Creative Funding Strategies

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 07:37:08 GMT

Heather Quaas-Annsa:

New Philanthropy Director Pursues Creative Funding Strategies

Jan. 26, 2022

“This organization does so much more than just provide a place for someone to sleep. We help our residents work through the issues that caused them to become homeless in the first place– things like food insecurity, trauma, addiction, medical or dental issues, and joblessness.

“By addressing these underlying issues and creating a safe, welcoming peer-support network within our Safe Spot Communities, residents can finally focus on the future. This can mean improved health, long-term employment, and stable housing opportunities are no longer just dreams, but real possibilities!”

“These opportunities can really make a huge difference in people’s lives that will create real and lasting change.”

Heather will be building on the work of previous development staff members including Kristin Fay de Buhr, Tara Hubbird, Annie Herz, and Pujita Mayeda, who have created a strong financial foundation for CSS. She will be leading the CSS Development Team in seeking out additional funding sources, including grants, and expanding the donor base.

Heather’s professional background outside of the nonprofit world includes work as a paralegal and county court clerk, debt collection manager, and call center supervisor.

A Community Grows in a Parking Lot

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 15:22:18 GMT

A Community Grows in a Parking Lot

January 26, 2022

“You come in here and you’re going to say, ‘Somebody cares.’”

—Herman Reyes, Lot 9 Safe Spot resident since February 2021

Last February, 18 brand new Huts sat quietly empty in a fenced area on a portion of a graveled parking lot between Autzen Stadium and Alton Baker Park, a site called Lot 9. By the end of the year, most of the Huts were filled with people working to create a community to help them rebuild their lives.

The concept of community is fundamental for Community Supported Shelters. The organization sprung from the community. A single prototype Hut sparked visions of a new approach to addressing homelessness among political leaders, activists, and many other folks throughout Eugene and Springfield. Government agencies, donors of all income levels, and eager volunteers spurred CSS from a literal mom-and-pop nonprofit to a central player in the region’s efforts to deal with the continuing crisis of people living without homes.

As the organization grew from placing single Huts by churches or businesses to managing 13 camps with three to eighteen Huts each, community became the central element of its strategy in serving the people living in those Huts.

“[CSS] just wants to make sure people work together for their own goals and to make sure they’re not interrupting other goals for other people,” says Michelle McLeod, who has lived at Lot 9 with her boyfriend Isidro Andres (Andy) Tajona-Perez since March 2021. Michelle,a recovering addict, and Andy had been living on the streets near the Jefferson Skate Park. “I think the way [CSS is] doing it is really important, making sure there’s peer support and counseling and help with getting resources. But just the community itself is really important: the meetings once a week, the work parties. We get to know each other and work together on the same goal. They’re not just throwing people in here together.”

Common definitions of community include such attributes as safety, trust, belonging, communication, caring for others, working toward a shared goal, and a sense of influence over the nature of the group. It is almost the exact opposite of what most people experience in homelessness, particularly on the streets, where life is marked by danger, fear, uncertainty, and a constant struggle for individual survival.

In the early days of Lot 9, some suspicions of drug use created a “toxic environment,” according to John Putzier, who was among the first to move to the camp. CSS rules prohibit drug use or intoxicated behavior in the camp. “I sat down in my very first meeting,” says MJ, also a recovering addict, “and watched three people nod out.”

“We’d found some paraphernalia inside the fencing near our Hut,” Michelle says. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, no.’ And so I did a report, because I realized I have to think about my sobriety first. We tried to deal with it as an entire community,” John says. “We gave that a chance, but that didn’t really work. So then it became an issue where our peer support people tried to deal with it on an individual basis.”

Eventually, MJ says, “Some people were asked to leave. Some people got help. And we moved somebody out of there into another camp. That’s like three different ways of making a change.”

“I think going through those things helped bring us closer together,” John says.

Even so, MJ says, “It always feels like something is brewing at all times over there.”

Trust, constructive communication, and engendering a sense of belonging are ongoing challenges for even mature and long-established communities and especially so for CSS communities, which serve people who have “been through some stuff” and are meant to be temporary.

That’s why CSS fills the camps gradually rather than all at once, which sometimes frustrates critics and supporters who want to see the camps filled up quickly to get people off the streets.

“There’s people on the waiting list that have been trying to get in for a long time,” John says. “Why not just fill this place up immediately? But after seeing it in action, I realized there’s a method to the madness. By staggering the addition of new people, it helps set the tone for the environment that they’re going to enter into. If we were to take this camp and just throw 18 people in just like that—I’m not going to say it would be chaos—but it would leave us open for a lot more problems.”

As it is, a little less than a year after the first residents moved in, “We are learning to be part of a community again, part of life again,” Michelle says. “I think it’s pretty good. We have a few snags, but who doesn’t? In a normal family household, you’re going to have bickering or fighting. It’s just how we manage it afterwards. And we actually deal with it pretty well.”

“The longer that we’ve been here, we’ve developed more and more of a sense of community,” John says, “and it’s been great! It’s the closest thing to family that we’ve got at the moment.”

A Hut to Honor a Son

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 02:36:04 GMT

A Hut to Honor a Son

Sept 6, 2021

Chief Warrant Officer William Wesley Davis was killed in Cambodia on May 2, 1970, during the Vietnam War. Fifty-one years later, his mother Opal “adopted” a Hut in the CSS Vet’s Camp in his memory. “This is all about Wesley, it’s not about me,” Opal, 91, said after a plaque honoring Wesley was attached to a Hut, where a veteran named Cedar Baer had moved in just a week before. “I think he’d be proud. He’s helping a fellow service man.”

Opal wanted to do something to memorialize her oldest son. Her other children (another son and two daughters) gave her grandchildren, but “my oldest son didn’t live long enough,” she says, “he was only 21. He was not able to leave me something I could physically look at it or see or know about. He was so young. So I wanted to do something for him.”

Opal has always been dedicated to supporting organizations that work for positive changes in the world. But recently she has felt overwhelmed by the vast number of donation appeals that fill her mailbox. She asked her daughter Lenore to do some research and pick one organization for her donation in Wes’s name. Her criteria were that it be local, have an immediate impact, and help veterans. Lenore’s research determined that Community Supported Shelters met all those requirements and adopting a Hut for a veteran would be the most fitting tangible way to honor Wes’s memory.

Before moving into the Hut that now bears Wes’s plaque, Cedar, 61, had spent 11 weeks living in a tent in the Cummins Creek Wilderness of the Siuslaw National Forest. He had run out of savings and could no longer pay the rent at the home in the Santa Clara area where he had lived for nine years.

A Eugene native who served almost four years in the Air Force in the late ’80s, he had filled out the paperwork at CSS the day he became homeless and then headed for the woods. Because he had no cell reception at his camp, he had to drive into Florence twice a week to check for messages and try to keep in touch with CSS. He came to Eugene for an interview and then returned to the woods. When he was invited back for a second interview a few weeks later, he had been kicked out of the National Forest for overstaying its 14-day camping limit. Fortunately after that interview, he was offered a Hut in the Vets Camp.

He was glad to meet Opal and Lenore when the plaque honoring Wes was placed on the Hut. “I see it as one of many synchronicities that seem to be happening here,” says Cedar, who studies and practices Eastern spirituality, “that means this is a significant place for me.

“It’s a gift. It’s a teaching,” he says. “These people are excellent.” In the short time he has been in the Vets Camp, things were “just steam rolling along” toward getting him signed up with a housing program for veterans.

Cedar says Opal’s donation goes directly to serving the community. “It’s very tangible,” he says. “I think she chose well if she wants to help people.” And he feels a connection to the young man whose name adorns his Hut. “His plaque is on my Hut, so I want to know something about him.”

That is Opal’s hope: that the Hut will serve as a place for Cedar to help stabilize his life and after he moves on, others will move in and take notice of her son. “As people move in and out it will be helping them,” she says, and they can reach over and touch the plaque and “say ‘Hi, buddy,’ if they want to.”

“You have holes in your heart that never, ever close,” she says. “I just feel like I’m doing something for Wesley. The world is so terrible. I can’t do anything to fix the world.” But with Wes’s Hut, she says, “I’m doing something and there’s a reason why I am doing it. That’s what it all boiled down to, this is what I can say Wesley did.”

A Creative Juggler: Carmen Parkinson, Shop Coordinator

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 01:50:49 GMT

A Creative Juggler: Carmen Parkinson, Shop Coordinator

Sept 6, 2021

The CSS shop is a busy place with parts and pieces for projects in various stages of completion for Safe Spots and other locations. Carmen Parkinson is the new shop manager with the task of keeping track of it all.

“It’s a bit of a juggling act,” Carmen says. “It’s all part of what CSS does really well, which is being creative and flexible to keep things running as smoothly as possible.”

Carmen’s responsibilities include ordering supplies and building materials from Jerry’s and other vendors, keeping the shop well-stocked and organized—a never-ending task—and coordinating with other staff and volunteers on the many infrastructure projects underway.

A recent project is building picnic tables with built-in benches for the Safe Spots. These sturdy tables are being built by the Hut Crew. There’s also talk of building additional picnic tables to sell as an ongoing fundraiser.

There’s never a shortage of opportunities for creative improvisation at the shop. The record-breaking heat wave in early summer required ongoing ice bucket drop-offs to the Safe Spots and finding a solution to venting the extreme heat build-up in the new kitchen shelters. The shop team also designed and built secure boxes for portable propane tanks.

Carmen also helps coordinate Safe Spot maintenance teams. This group of folks makes sure the Huts, community buildings, and kitchen areas are in good working order, making repairs as needed.

“I love working at this very amazing organization,” Carmen says. “The CSS philosophy is there’s a solution to anything that needs fixing—you just have to ask the right person and find a workaround that’s efficient and practical.”

Carmen works with Hut Crew leader Jim Schmidt to order and stock a myriad of tools and supplies for new Huts or decommissioning older ones that have outlived their useful lives.

She had first-hand experience building Huts as a volunteer on the Hut Crew starting in 2019. She was hired as part-time Shop Assistant last year during the Safe Spot expansion, then became Shop Supervisor in early summer following the retirement of Barr Washburn.

Carmen brings a wealth of work and life experiences to the position. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and has worked as a design consultant, horse trainer, beekeeper, home school teacher, and a volunteer with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) advocating for children living in unsafe homes and shelters. She has three children, including a daughter at the U of O.

“Carmen has the ability to coordinate and filter through lots of incoming information via the maintenance request system,” says Erik de Buhr, General Services Director at CSS. “She is good at delegating things and is great at working with people. A true trooper on the CSS team!”

Filling the Camps with Communities: Peer Support Workers help shape and guide CSS communities.

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 06:16:39 GMT

Filling the Camps with Communities:

Peer Support Workers help shape and guide CSS communities.

July 13, 2021

Community Supported Shelters has a total of 147 Huts in its eight Safe Spots, two Microsites, and three Mini-Microsites. As of early July, 75 of those spots were filled. Why so many still not occupied?

“We’re not trying to warehouse people,” says William Chapple. “We’re trying to get them to achieve community values where they actually care about themselves and the space around them and the people that they’re living with.” Communities take time.

“Instead of screening them out, it’s screening them into the correct role,” says Ryker Miller, another Peer Support Worker who lived in the Vets Camp Safe Spot for a little over a year before being asked to become a staff member.

Almost every applicant who goes through the screening process is accepted into the program.

“We’re really trying to get clients in” says Jeff Howard, another Peer Support Worker and former Safe Spot resident. He moved out of the Expressway Camp into housing about four years ago. He’s kept in touch with CSS since then and stopped by the CSS office earlier this year to volunteer. But instead he was offered a staff position. (“They were insisting on it,” he says.) Kristin Fay says she has come to rely heavily on Jeff during the prescreening process.

That process is very thorough and has become more so with the recent addition of the six new camps, where the communities are being built from scratch. In those camp, campers are added gradually so bonds can be formed and a camp-specific culture can be established.

Prospective clients fill out an application and sign on to a “wait list” at the CSS office. They are expected to check in every week. When clients reach the top of the list, the peer workers start “prescreening”—gathering information about them, such as whether or not they check in regularly or if they have previous experience with the CSS program. Service Navigators pull information from the county’s Homeless Management Information System, which has information on the “characteristics and service needs” of people experiencing homelessness and poverty, and pass that on to the peer workers, who compile a profile of every applicant.

That profile informs a screening interview that is the next step of the process.

But sometimes it’s a challenge tracking people down who often don’t have reliable contact information. “Sometimes, you follow bread crumbs,” Jeff says. But he is persistent because, he says, “I know what it was like for me. I didn’t have a phone. I used White Bird as a message service.”

And sometimes applicants just don’t show up for the interviews. The goal is to screen about nine people per week. In a recent period of a month, 40 screenings were scheduled, but seven people didn’t show.

Ryker says the interviews last about an hour and a half. The first half hour or so is spent talking about the applicant. “We’re just going to go over everything—there are no limits. If you’ve got stuff that’s happened in your history, we’re going to need to know that to try to get you moving forward.” The rest of the interview is spent talking about the CSS program and its expectations and rules. “The whole point is to try to get people to connect and to get with the program.”

Helping place residents is only part of the Peer Support Workers relationships with them.

“Our job is to help the clients,” Jeff says, “whatever that takes—guidance, advice, talking about our personal experiences and what happened to us.”

Ryker agrees: “Most of it is just connection, trying to build a relationship with the client, trying to support them in their moving forward.”

“We’re for the most part the people who are on the ground,” William says. “The campers see us most often. We listen to their trials and tribulations. We don’t handhold, but we do care and support so that people can get their full story out because once we know somebody’s whole story we can make better decisions for helping them.”

The Peer Support Workers attend weekly meetings at the camps, usually with the Camp Facilitator from their team. They also come to the camps for non-mandatory “hang out” sessions when they are available to the campers. The peer workers are still working on other approaches to deepen the connection to campers, especially those who are less likely to show up for the informal sessions.

“It’s definitely an ever evolving job,” Ryker says.

It would be hard to imagine better advocates for the CSS approach to building communities than these three, who have experienced how life-changing the program can be.

“This program has given me something just fantastic,” Ryker says. “Just how understanding these people have been in giving me a chance to just be myself and work and exist. And, honestly, all that is worth more than its weight in gold. I know I’m not perfect by any means. I’ve got a lot to work on myself. Life is still rough, and I’m still looking around and trying to figure out where I’m going from here. But it’s given me a peace of mind.”

He was surprised to be asked to be a Peer Support Worker and took a week before deciding to do it. Even though he’s now being paid, he looks at this work as a way of giving back. “Knowing that somebody else out there is in kind of the same situation I was. Work here can be difficult at times, but I want to be here. I know they need me.”

“CSS absolutely helped me in so many ways,” William says. “The absolute stability of having somewhere to be has been a saving grace. I used to, on a regular basis, just look around and say, ‘I could just step in front of this bus and it would be all over.’ And I don’t do that as much now simply because of CSS.”

William has served in a variety of volunteer leadership roles over about four years in various CSS camps. “I am a walking encyclopedia of all things CSS,” he says. “Since I can speak [to campers] from each of the levels I’ve experienced, it gives a little more gravitas to what I’m saying.”

Jeff is looking forward to spending less time in the office doing screening research on a computer and more time with campers. “I like getting out into the field and meeting clients one-on-one and being part of the work parties. Work parties are cool. They give you a chance to meet clients on a different level.”

“We work for the clients,” Jeff says. “We’re employees of CSS but we work for the clients. We try to guide them into a better situation. It’s really all of our goals for these people to be in a better situation when they leave.”

Jim Schmidt’s Letter to the Tuesday Hut Crew

Wed, 19 May 2021 06:49:57 GMT

Jim Schmidt’s Letter to the Tuesday Hut Crew

How does this impact us, I asked? Erik then announced The Impossible Plan. The City would be underwriting a Hut-building surge. We would have five city-owned lots available. Each one would hold 18 Huts. We would be going full speed to build 90 Huts. We would be partnered with Essex Construction. They would build the major components, floors, walls, and decks. They would deliver them to our sites. We would have a large container on each site to act as a remote shop. Everything we needed would be stocked into the container. Extra staff would be hired to facilitate all the hundreds of details that go into building 90 Huts.

Finally we started placing Huts at Skinner Farm. We already had six Huts there, we added nine more, but left it at 15 as we moved to Lot #9, a site near Autzen Stadium. We built 18 Huts in what seems like the blink of an eye. We didn’t know how good we had it. Level surface, gravel, easy to work. The next sites were not so easy. We moved to the Barger/Highway 99 area. Mud. Everywhere. I came home and hosed about five pounds of mud off each boot each time we worked there. My pristine blue truck, known as The Princess, had mud on her tires, wheel wells and floor mats. A deeply disturbing thing for me to see, as you can well imagine.

That site, called the Empire Park site, was the scene of a momentous day. All the stars aligned. The crew was big and enthusiastic. (The Tuesday Crew is AWESOME!!) The weather was cool but clear. We just kept going and going and built FOUR Huts, a record unlikely to be broken in our lifetimes. It was exhausting and trust me, we’ll never do anything like that again.

With Empire finished, we moved on to the Westmoreland site, on W. 18th near Chambers. More of the same, more mud, more incredible crews placing 18 more Huts. Our last major site was on Bertelsen. Because of a change of heart by the city, the fence line was moved, and we only had space for 14 Huts there.

We are now finished with the mini-site at Graham Field, six more Huts bringing us to an astonishing 89. The three crews had completed 89 huts in just six months, about one Hut every other day.

It could not have happened without you. I try to express my gratitude after a build, but words seem so small compared to what you did. Along the way, people had life changes that meant that they could no longer work with us on Tuesdays. They were replaced by others who joined us, sometimes at just the perfect moment. Newbies became old hands. Some brought family members and friends to help. Some drove long distances to join our crews. Most stuck with the program through some discouraging days. We worked on cold, damp mornings. We worked in freezing fog. I came home one day with a huge purple bruise on my left ring finger. I had crushed that finger, but had not felt any pain, my hands were so cold. I never heard a complaint, even when we were ankle-deep in mud. The job site became my favorite place. There was a quiet purposeful feel to it. No raised voices, just a low busy hum. There was an intensity, but also a sense that we were working to complete a worthwhile project. Each person on the job was accorded respect and recognized and appreciated for their skill. It was also a place to learn new skills. There was pride in the camaraderie and in the results.

A Community Builder: Plaedo – CSS Camp Facilitator

Wed, 19 May 2021 03:41:45 GMT

A Community Builder: Plaedo – CSS Camp Facilitator

May 18, 2021

Daily life at CSS Safe Spots offers much needed relief from the challenges of living without a home. Having a roof over one’s head, a place to store belongings, and a community of folks to share common space and a kitchen can make a big difference for residents.

But life at the Safe Spots also comes with its own set of challenges. As with any group of people, conflicts can and do happen. A key component of the CSS culture is finding ways to deal with conflict constructively, before things get out of control.

The CSS service position of camp facilitator helps establish and sustain that culture of positive community dynamics at the Safe Spots. One of the first to fill this newly redefined position is Plaedo, who began his CSS service work with the Expressway Camp in 2019.

“A lot of what I do is help set the tone and atmosphere for community building,” he says. “If any residents are having a conflict, or there’s a problem with camp dynamics, then we find out what the situation is and help to de-escalate things.”

Plaedo now runs monthly conflict resolution meetings at three Safe Spots—Expressway, Westmoreland, and Roosevelt. Residents are required to attend the meetings to air any concerns or disputes that have come up.

“If there’s new rules or rules that need to be explained, or folks need a reminder, that’s one of the things I do,” he says. “A lot of it is setting the right tone at the meetings and the camps for people to solve whatever problems come up.”

Plaedo works with two other CSS service team members at each camp to help residents establish and pursue personal goals for reentry to life after their residency time has elapsed, generally one year. The two other positions are service navigator and peer support worker.

Plaedo first learned of CSS and the Conestoga Hut program when he was an intern at Next Step recycling nine years ago. A few years later he rented a Hut for a short while for his honeymoon.

“I absolutely love this work,” he says. “I never imagined I would be doing this, but here I am and it’s a great opportunity.

“The biggest thing is, how do we all huddle ourselves as individuals so that we can create a community that keeps us all safe and secure and supported? It’s all about relationships,” he says. “We all want to respect and trust each other.”

The positive peer culture at CSS is its greatest asset, Plaedo says.

“There’s such a beautiful operational culture here. Everybody is respected for their unique contributions. There’s a lot of collaboration with all of us, a lot of ability and willingness to pivot and innovate and try things out.

“It’s a very heart-centered organization.”

Three Generations of Support: Getting the Next Thing Done for CSS

Tue, 18 May 2021 10:45:00 GMT

Three Generations of Support: Getting the Next Thing Done for CSS

May 18, 2021

From garden vegetables to firewood to a common building in a Safe Spot to wood stoves to Hut construction to hand-washing stations, three generations of a Eugene and Corvallis family have left a deep and lasting mark on Community Supported Shelters.

It all started with grandparents John & Pem Winquist, spread to their son-in-law Scott Thibert, who got his sons Trevor, 19, and Brayden, 15, involved.

The Winquists met Kristin Fay de Buhr, CSS co-founder, on a tour of the Mission in the spring of 2015 and developed a friendship with her and CSS’s other co-founder Erik de Buhr. The Winquists were drawn to the vision that Erik and Fay had developed for CSS and the work that had already begun with Huts at churches around Eugene and Springfield and the first three Safe Spots in place.

John’s question led eventually to a phone call to somebody in Arkansas, who, after hearing the intended purpose of the shelter, said “yes.” But it took several more trips before the deal was finalized and they got the parts for an even bigger shelter than they originally expected.

Then they borrowed a trailer to haul the parts and hired people to put them together. But it was an open structure, so they went back to the same place a few times and scavenged through the scrap pile for wall pieces. Then they were back to the original challenge of replacing the smoldering fire pit. John placed an ad in the staff newsletter at Lane Community College, where he had worked for many years before retiring: “Wanted stoves for homeless folks.” He got three usable stoves for three camps. And, oh yeah, along the way, he learned to work with metal framing to install windows in the common building.

As Pem says, he just does the next thing that’s needed.

And that seems to run in the family. About the time CSS was getting started on its recent expansion of putting up nearly 100 Huts in five new Safe Spots and one Microsite, their daughter Jennifer Thibert, a school teacher at South Albany High School, and her husband Scott expressed their frustration that there was nothing like CSS in their home city of Corvallis to address the crisis of homelessness. Scott wondered if there was some way he could help CSS. John suggested Scott call Barr Washburn, who had just recently been hired as CSS construction coordinator—and, it just happens, was a long-time family friend.

On a Tuesday soon thereafter, Scott made the 45-mile drive with his oldest son Trevor, 19, to be part of the crew assembling Huts at the Lot 9 Safe Spot near Autzen Stadium. Scott spent twenty-seven years managing heavy civil construction projects like pipelines and tunnels before retiring to spend more time with his family. Trevor is a freshman at Arizona State University, studying construction management, hoping to pursue a career similar to his father’s. He was home for Thanksgiving vacation.

And what did the large-scale construction manager and his son who has grown up learning the profession from him think of the sometimes chaotic-appearing process of a bunch of mostly older volunteers assembling the somewhat idiosyncratic Conestoga Huts?

“I’ve managed some of the biggest construction projects in the state of Oregon,” Scott says. “And I was really impressed. I was blown away at how dialed in the process was. I love the design. It’s simple and aesthetically pleasing. They are simple to put together. You don’t have to be a professional carpenter. Any person, from my son who was probably the youngest person to the 80-year-old people working out there, can do it. And that was what was so cool about it to me because it could be a community-built structure.”

Trevor had a similar reaction. “You have a bunch of volunteers who come from various backgrounds. Some know how to swing a hammer, some don’t. But everybody’s out there willing to help. What impressed me most was the organization beforehand. The way the walls go together and everything fits,” he says, “was like building Legos more than like building a house.”

So, the younger two generations were busy with CSS projects, but Erik and Barr were worried about John, who along with Pem was carefully following the Covid safety procedures and hadn’t had a “next thing” to follow up on for a while.

Erik called and told John he had a job for him: hand-washing stations for the Safe Spots. But, Erik reassured him, “don’t worry, we’ve got a good plan.” John went to the shop to check out a prototype built by CSS’s former shop coordinator Skip Waddell. John’s assessment was that it was a clever design but expensive and not easily reproducible. So . . . it happened to be a Tuesday and Scott and Trevor were building Huts at Lot 9, so John went to see them to enlist them in the hand-washing project.

On their way back to Corvallis that day, Scott and Trevor stopped at a metal fabricating place in Albany to get some material for a project they were working on at home. And what do they see? A cool hand-washing station. And when they asked where it came from, guess where that would be? From a man making them in Corvallis. That man was a retired engineer who had made a bunch of them and put them on the streets of Corvallis, but the city made him remove them because they just drained on the ground. So he donated most of them to an Indian Reservation. But . . . he had made the components for 20 more and wasn’t feeling well enough to finish them, so he gave them to Scott. All they needed were plastic barrels like you might find at a brewery or a carwash. John and Pem found about eight; Scott found 20 more. So far, Scott has put together and delivered 17 completed hand-washing stations.

That’s the way things seem to work for this family when they get behind a good cause with their skills and good intentions and their drive to get the next thing done.

The family connection for doing good work goes a long way back. When they were younger, the Thibert boys joined John and Pem playing music at farmer’s markets and assisted living homes in Eugene and Corvallis to raise money for Linn Benton Food Share and Food for Lane County. They called their band The Generation Gap. Pem and John have also played music for the CSS Annual Dinner.

Trevor says his experience with CSS was eye-opening to see “the sheer number of people” CSS is trying to help and that “it was definitely an honor to be around everybody that was out there.” His family’s commitment to giving back to the community has “definitely put something good in my life” and he hopes to continue to find ways to do that.

Brayden says he and his dad talked about the importance of giving back to help less fortunate people on their drive home after working on the Huts. “So I’m trying to pick up on a few of those things when I have the time and the resources.” He runs a surprisingly professional firewood operation for a 15-year-old, according to John, and he’s thinking maybe he’ll take a load to one of the Safe Spots sometime. Just like his grandfather.

Developing Deeper Connections for Community Support: Development Director Annie Herz

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 05:57:55 GMT

Developing Deeper Connections for Community Support:

Development Director Annie Herz

Annie is part of a strong three-person Development team that includes Pujita Mayeda and Daisy Mills. Daisy keeps the wider community of supporters updated with social media communications, while Pujita works with Annie on development strategies and manages the many details associated with donor communications and database management.

The team also does extensive community outreach and a fair amount of behind the scenes work. This includes creating reports and other informational materials and videos.

Annie first came to CSS in 2019 as a volunteer on the Hut Crew. “I like to build things and wanted to learn more about the great work CSS was doing in the community,” she says. “So the Hut Crew was a perfect fit for me.” She has continued on the Hut Crew even after accepting the development position.

“I love building these Huts and want to stay connected to the crew,” she says.

Annie worked at the University of Oregon for over 20 years, where she served in positions related to conflict resolution, human resources, and leadership development. She left the UO to pursue a new professional path and is thrilled to have landed at CSS.

Annie is also part of the three-person CSS Leadership Team, along with Executive Director Tod Schneider and Operations Director Erik de Buhr. The team meets regularly to ensure coordinated leadership of current projects and to plan for future organizational directions.

“Annie is a perfect fit for CSS,” says Erik. “She has a great background for this work, and she’s very friendly and approachable. She really understands the culture we’ve been creating here the past eight years or so, and that’s really important.”

“I feel right at home with everyone at CSS,” Annie says. “It’s such a delight to be working here. It’s a pretty unique place in that everyone is valued equally, no matter what your job is.

“It’s such an amazing time of growth, and it is exciting to think about all of the ways we can partner with our donors and supporters as we navigate the possibilities for the future.”

Helping Navigate Toward a Better Place: Service Navigator Kai Batalona

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 10:08:38 GMT

Helping Navigate Toward a Better Place:

Service Navigator Kai Batalona

A service navigator is similar to a case manager. The job involves meeting with residents, helping them to identify personal strengths to overcome challenges in their lives and to seek out opportunities for housing and whatever else would help them move forward and become successful.

Kai shares information with residents about local resources from a spreadsheet of agency names and contacts. The list is growing and includes local housing referrals, addiction treatment programs, mental health counselling, and more.

Hawaii is Kai’s native home. He moved to Portland in 2013 and to Eugene last year. He started with CSS as a resident at the Vet’s Safe Spot camp. We recognized his strong skill set and friendly ‘laid back’ attitude towards everyone and offered him a paid position with the CSS Service Team. He then moved to the Reboot Station on W. 11th, where several other CSS service staff members live & now he has just moved into his own apartment.

“I’m very thankful to CSS for everything they’ve done for me,” he said. “I’m so blessed to be here.”

Kai comes to CSS with a wealth of experiences and background in working with people experiencing homelessness. Having served 16 years in the Hawaii Army National Guard, he has particular expertise in working with veterans. He understands the ins and outs of working with the Veterans Administration and looks for ways to help veterans receive any and all benefits to which they’re entitled, including GI benefits.

While living in Portland, Kai worked at Do Good Multnomah, a great organization that helps veterans and veteran households with low-barrier, year-round emergency shelter, transitional housing, and outreach. He also worked in student financial aid for over 25 years, including stints at the University of Hawaii and Portland State.

“I really love this organization and working at CSS,” he says. “And I’m very happy to be a part of this great team.”

“Kai really brings a lot of life and work experiences to our organization,” says CSS Operations Director Erik de Buhr. “We’re really happy to have him as a member of our growing social service support staff.”

Life in a Safe Spot: “We all have the key.”

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 07:23:56 GMT

Life in a Safe Spot: “We all have the key.”

March 30, 2021

When Community Supported Shelters established its first camp for people trying to work their way out of homelessness in 2014, the City’s term for such camps— rest stops —did not quite capture what founders Erik and Kristin Fay de Buhr envisioned. The CSS designation of Safe Spots sometimes causes confusion when it comes up in the media or policy discussion, but its meaning is crystal clear to those who live in the camps.

“This place here is, like the sign says, a Safe Spot, really a safe spot,” says Herman Reyes, 69, the first resident in the new Lot 9 Safe Spot, after an earlier stint at the Expressway Safe Spot. “You come in here and you’re going to say, ‘Somebody cares.’”

Herman left the Santa Clara home he shared with his wife and grown son several years ago because of emotional clashes that frightened him. He camped. Got a job at a resort in the Oregon mountains. Stayed in a tent at the Nightingale homeless camp when it was first established on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Slept in his car. Couched surfed. Kept working as a housekeeper. Still tried to take care of his family.

“It was rough when you have to work and pay bills, take care of people, your loved ones,” he says. “You want to help them out. At that time, I still had a car, but it’s hard to get things done when you have to live like that in a tent or your car. You’re just barely doing a little more than surviving.”

In the summer of 2020, he moved into a Hut at the CSS Expressway Safe Spot. “It was a whole lot better. I could stretch out and sleep. There’s a bed.”

And with that bed came a community. “You communicate,” he says. “You talk. People are always eager to help with ideas they’ve got to make it better.”

After about six months at that camp, Herman figured his time there was beginning to run out and he was doing reasonably well, so he decided to leave to make room for someone else. “I had a car. I had a job at that time. I could still move around. I was more fortunate than others, so I didn’t want to take up that space, so I left so other people could use it.”

Herman went back to couch surfing or living in a tent or his car. But when CSS began the challenging task of building a community in the 18 new Huts at Lot 9, next to Autzen Stadium, they called Herman. They wanted someone with his CSS program experience—and his heart—to be the first resident.

Volunteers Bring Heart to Increased Hut Builds

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 07:44:03 GMT

Volunteers Bring Heart to Increased Hut Builds

Feb. 25, 2021

The recent initiative from the City of Eugene to establish five new Safe Spot Communities is very good news for many unhoused citizens among us. This exciting expansion means a significant increase in the number of Huts being assembled by the all-volunteer Hut Crews.

To date, about 60 new Huts have been constructed by the crews in the past three months—after putting up about 140 in Safe Spot camps and other locations in Eugene and Springfield in the first seven years of CSS’s existence.

“It’s really pretty amazing what the Hut Crews have done,” says CSS Chief Operating Officer Erik de Buhr. “They’re all volunteers who show up to make this happen. It’s a testament to their willingness to make a significant commitment to help provide a safe and secure place for folks to sleep, be part of a community, and look at options for what’s next in their lives.”

The Hut Crew has grown from one crew of about ten people to more than 30 volunteers on three crews, including a few people who drive down from Corvallis. In addition to assembling Huts on site, they also work at the CSS shop to prepare Hut components and supplies. The prep work includes building floors, decks, and steps; cutting vinyl sections for the roofs; and cutting metal plumber’s tape sections used to fasten the wire hoop walls.

The expansion has meant Hut Crews now work three days a week, with three different coordinators, to get the work done.

The volunteer crew chief is Jim Schmidt. Jim has been a volunteer with CSS almost since its inception eight years ago, and the same with Guy Maynard. John Kline, the third crew coordinators, started soon after.

Jim has seen a major transformation in CSS from the early days as a fledgling two-person nonprofit started by Erik and Kristinfay de Buhr, to a much expanded organization with a mission to serve the community.

“It’s pretty amazing to see how things have evolved over the years,” Jim says. “Back then Erik pretty much ran the shop and the Hut building operation, along with everything else he was doing.

Before the Huts: The Making of a Safe Spot

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 11:40:14 GMT

Before the Huts: The Making of a Safe Spot

Feb. 25, 2021

When Regan Watjus and Peter Chavannes from the City of Eugene went door-to-door in neighborhood outreach efforts around the five new Safe Spot locations, the conversations often took a turn when they mentioned Conestoga Huts. “When we made that connection, it would help people with what we were trying to explain,” Regan says—a change from just a few years ago. “It reaffirms the reputation and strong program that CSS has built.”Huts are the iconic symbol of Community Supported Shelters, and the arched roofs of new Huts are becoming increasingly visible throughout Eugene with the new camps stretching from West 18th Avenue to Highway 99.

But there is an awful lot that has to happen before any Huts can go up at any of the camps.

Site Selection:

Last summer, the City of Eugene sought to address the urgent need for more shelter for the homeless in the midst of a pandemic. Regan, who is the city’s liaison to the Rest Stop Program, and other staff members turned to the Public Works and Parks departments to look for city-owned property that would be suitable for new rest stops (the city’s term for CSS’s Safe Spots). Sites needed to be big enough, flat, and relatively dry, with good access to transportation, among other criteria. That process identified five new sites, which were approved by the city council fairly quickly. Urgency has driven this project from the start.

Soon after council approval, the city zeroed in on CSS to be the “operator” for these sites. “Taking into account the pandemic, the city—after assessing the capacities and capabilities of local vendors—found that CSS had both the experience and capacity to meet the short timeline and operational scale that the situation required,” Regan says.

Neighborhood outreach also happened after council approval, not the usual order of things, Regan says. Although they heard some objections, “We were a little surprised at how little resistance we received,” she says.

Site Plan:

City and CSS staff toured the sites to begin defining where the camps would sit within the sites. At that point, Erik de Buhr, CSS chief operating officer, focused on ensuring relatively easy access not only during the construction phase but also for the CSS service team members who work with clients and provide ongoing maintenance for the camp.

When the broad outlines of the camp took shape, Seth Kimmel, who was then CSS planning coordinator, sketched out basic site plans for placement of all the elements that go into a camp: a fence, a gravel access drive, a common building, a kitchen building, pathways, 14–18 Huts, and portable toilets. Erik gave Seth some guidelines. “You really want to have the Hut porches angled towards the southeast, if possible, otherwise they get a lot of direct element exposure from wind and rain. And you want to make sure that the common spaces have a south facing slope on the roof so the site is ready for a solar array in case we need to do it.”

Seth’s sketches guided development of the first two of the new camps. The footprint of Skinner City Farm had already been established as it had started as a Microsite with six Huts. Twelve Huts were added as part the city’s rest stop expansion. Lot 9, the second of the new Safe Spots, is in a graveled parking lot near Autzen stadium with lots of room, and the site plan was relatively straightforward.

Things began to get a little more complicated with the third site, Empire Pond, and CSS asked the city for more help navigating codes and land use regulations. “To meet the construction timeline, we knew we needed support from a city staff person to do the interdepartmental communications,” Erik says.

Marina Wrensch, who has a background in landscape architecture, became the latest team member on the city’s side for the rest stop sites. She worked from Seth’s original sketches, using Google Earth images and AutoCAD to develop more detailed site plans.

She says she approached the site plans for the new Safe Spots like she would any development. “There are code requirements for anything you want to build,” she says—things like avoiding wetlands and making sure fences are the proper distance from property lines. She has consulted with “lots of folks” in other city departments to make sure everything is in compliance. “My belief from the beginning was that we’re the city. We set the rules, so we need to follow our own rules as well.”

None of the new sites are officially considered wetlands, but most of them have “saturated soil,” potential for “awfully muddy” conditions that have to be considered when figuring out where to place the various elements within the overall site.

Site Layout 1:

Marina and CSS staffer Carmen Parkinson (who started out as a Hut Crew volunteer in 2019) use a 100-foot measuring tape, wood stakes, string, and white spray paint to first determine and mark where the fence and the access drive should go. Adjustments to the paper plan are made as they go. Google map images are somewhat distorted because they are not shot straight down and, as Carmen says, “It’s land and it has curves.”

Infrastructure:

Ideally, the access drives are done first, followed by the fences. Erik coodinates with subcontractors to get that work done. Access construction involves excavation and dumping and grading loads of gravel for the driveway and pads for the 22-foot X 28-foot common building, which will be used for meetings and other group activities, and a 12-foot X 12-foot “loafing shed,” which will house the kitchen. The fence around the 15,000 to 20,000 square foot camp area provides security as materials are moved onto the site and serves as a reference point for the next stage of layout. A portable toilet is also set up at this point.

Site Layout 2:

Marina and Carmen return with their tape measures and other tools to lay out the raised pathways and the Huts. Carmen places tall stakes where the plan calls for the ends of the three-foot wide paths and runs a taut string between them. She extends a 100-foot tape measure under the string and Marina marks with spray paint where the front corners of the Huts will go. Huts are six feet wide and at least six feet—ideally eight feet—apart. And no Huts can be closer than six feet from the fence. At Empire Park, the fence was not exactly as planned so they had to tighten the spacing between the Huts to the six feet distance.

Component Prep:

Meanwhile, back at the CSS shop, Construction Supervisor Barr Washburn is making sure that all the components and materials necessary to build Huts are ready. The five new Safe Spots will have a total of 86 Huts. The walls, floors, and decks for 70 Huts were fabricated by Essex Construction, the rest by CSS staffers. Volunteers and staff prepare the other components including roof materials, insulation, and steps. Barr and Carmen also coordinate getting all the components, materials, and tools to the Safe Spot sites—it takes an amazing number of pieces to put up a Hut—so the volunteer Hut Crews can assemble them.

CSS construction staffers are also building hand-washing stations and kitchen cabinets that will incorporate stoves, sinks, and an “island” prep area and will have stainless steel countertops.

A Family Builds a Hut

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 03:24:45 GMT

A Family Builds a Hut

Feb 21, 2021

A new Conestoga Hut was recently built and placed at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Springfield to provide temporary shelter for a person without a home. But the way the Hut was built and paid for is unique in the history of Hut building in Lane County.

The idea for building the Hut came from Marcola resident Marie Wilson. Marie received her yearly holiday bonus in November last year from her employer, InfoGroup Northwest, and wanted to use the $900 she received to help lift someone out of being homeless.

A few months later, with husband Don as the builder-in-chief and the help of several of their young-adult kids, a new Conestoga Hut was constructed at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Springfield. A new resident is now living there—in a sturdy and durable shelter—someone who had been living in her van for an extended period.

CSS’s New Service Delivery Model: CSS Services Expand with Camp Growth

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 06:46:43 GMT

CSS’s New Service Delivery Model: CSS Services Expand with Camp Growth

Jan. 15, 2021

As Community Supported Shelters staff and volunteers have been busy creating the physical infrastructure for five new Safe Spots—preparing lots, providing access, building Huts and common buildings—the service team has been going through a transformation to better meet the needs of people in all the CSS camps, including almost 100 people who are beginning to move into the new camps.

“The service team is like the heart of CSS,” says Erik de Buhr, operations director. “Everything else is infrastructure to support people physically, but the service team supports people emotionally and mentally. To grow, we need to specialize, to create more stabilization on the service team, to restructure things as we scale up, so it’s not a burden on us. It can actually make our jobs easier because we’re all more specialized.”

As preparations for the expansion began in the fall, Erik met weekly to discuss the new structure with the service team, including Marie Laura Roehrich, who started as a volunteer and was hired as the first “action plan advisor” in 2017. She was the first employee to play a role in CSS client services, which had been handled by CSS founders Erik and Kristin Fay de Buhr up until then. Erik and Kristin Fay continued to be deeply involved, as Marie Laura held monthly check-in meetings with the residents of the four camps that existed at the time. Eventually, as Erik and Kristin Fay’s time became more absorbed in CSS organizational work, Suzi Wilkins was hired to work with the Vets’ Camp and, later, Plaedo Wellman came on for the Expressway Camp. Their roles were defined as “camp facilitators.”

“We were doing all the conflict resolution, the camp meetings,” Marie Laura says, “helping people one-on-one with their personal goals, taking people to appointments. I think that model has its benefits of one person building a relationship, being the sole resource for the camp, but it just felt like too much to take on.”

In the model that emerged from those weekly meetings and is currently being implemented, Marie Laura is now a “service navigator,” one of three new roles, the other two being “meeting facilitator” and “peer support worker.”

Service navigators are essentially case workers. “I’m going to be focused on people’s individual goals and supporting them in finding the resources they need,” Marie Laura says. “A lot of people have the goal of getting housing or getting income, or maybe they need help with medical and dental appointments, or maybe they need an ID or birth certificate. My role is connecting them with resources and then helping them follow through with different tasks.”

The other service navigators at this point are Suzi and Kai Batalona, a recent hire who moved into the Vets’ Camp last August and has a long history of working for nonprofit organizations, including Portland Community College and the University of Hawaii. He became homeless last April after an apartment he had lined up in Eugene fell through.

Since he first moved to the camp, Kai has felt like a part of the CSS team. “I feel like this place is totally awesome. I came here as a team member; I didn’t come as just a player.” Kai started training with Marie Laura at the end of December. As CSS builds out its paid staff, it’s been a central tenet to hire people who have either lived in the camps or have worked as volunteers, as much as possible.

Kai now lives in a Hut at the Reboot Station, which has become a staff camp, next to Dani Rejcek the first peer support worker . She was left homeless last spring when someone who had given her a ride to Eugene for a job interview stole all her things and abandoned her. Cahoots set her up in one of the Huts by the fire station off Chambers and, after that Hut was broken into, she moved to the Reboot Station in early May, where she was quickly tapped to volunteer for the shower program. That eventually became a paid position.

Dani says that the general structure for the new model was worked out by the time Erik approached her about taking on the peer support role. She has a background in both social work and nursing and helped define more specifically the responsibilities of that role, which she started in mid-December.

“I go to each of my camps now, which is technically three and one of the mini microsites,” she says. “I spend time talking with the campers, finding out what they need, how they’re doing, how camp life is working, offer any support I can. When they need services beyond that, like help with their social security, things like that, I get them up the chain to the service navigator to work on that.” Another one or two peer support workers were expected to be added by mid-January with more likely in the future, with each worker responsible for one of the large camps and one of the smaller sites.

The fact that she arrived at CSS in a desperate situation helps her to connect with the people in the camps, she says. “They know that I understand how they’re living, and what it’s like to be completely dependent on somebody else for your place to stay the night. That changes your mental outlook on everything. So having somebody that’s been there, understands that, I think makes them more open.”

One of the ways Dani has introduced herself and her new role to Safe Spot residents is to go to camp meetings with the new meeting facilitator , Plaedo Wellman. CSS planned to add at least one more meeting facilitator before the full impact of the expansion hit.

Plaedo joined the CSS staff in October 2019 as camp facilitator for the Expressway camp. But his connection to CSS preceded that. Erik was one of the first people he met when he moved to Eugene nine years ago, and he rented a Conestoga Hut for his honeymoon four years after that. He worked for the city of Eugene gathering data about the unhoused right before starting with CSS.

In his new role, Plaedo says, “I facilitate the weekly meetings where we handle social dynamics. So if there’s any conflict, then I manage that. I do conflict resolution meetings. If there’s new rules or rules that need to be changed, I facilitate and handle how those rules are being treated. A lot of it is tone setting and community building. So for example, Roosevelt has a lot of conflict right now and I’m going to stop by there today to just chat with people, kind of changing the vibe at the camp, making sure that it’s a more joyous place when I leave.”

Plaedo believes his new role emphasizes his strength in managing social dynamics, “getting people out of negative spaces and anger and fear and pain and into a more calm space with themselves.” And it relieves him of aspects of his previous role that he wasn’t as comfortable with. “So it’s really great for me, for example, that I’m no longer trying to call up social security and figure out medical records and stuff like that. Marie Laura can do that and she’s great at it.”

Plaedo’s example shows how the new structure is designed to meet more of the needs of the people in the camps with fewer workers because each member of the service team can focus on an area where they have or can develop expertise. Instead of one person trying to handle all the service aspects, each camp will have at least three people working with them. “Per employee hour, we can give more quality care this way,” he says.

Equally important is the built-in communication and support within the service team, which applies to both addressing the needs of individuals in the camps and the ongoing evolution of the new model.

Even in his first two weeks, Kai experienced that collaboration. “I like how people pull together,” he says, “to figure out how we can solve the situation or figure out how we can move forward. Everybody’s putting in their two cents, like ‘I think this would work better than that.’”

“We have meetings,” Dani says. “We also email and text and call constantly. Thankfully I work with a group of people I’m also friends with. So our conversations are ongoing.” For example, she says, “We have a guy we’re working with on his unemployment, so I can email Marie Laura and she can figure out what the next steps are before she meets him. We try to keep everybody in the loop, make things run as smooth as possible.”

“When I do a meeting,” Plaedo says, “and people have more personal kind of things where they need support I could direct them to Dani because I’m focusing on the more interpersonal. And then bring Marie Laura and Suzi in if we need more external navigating of other services. So we’re all constantly talking through email and text throughout the week and talking about clients.”

These changes also reduce stress on the service team members. An important value of CSS is self-care among the staff, to enhance the sense of “a real community of people working together,” as Marie Laura says. “It feels like a relief that I can have a more balanced life, to be able to go take a vacation without constantly worrying about the camps. There will be multiple people to help each other out.”

As the new model was being implemented, service team members were already getting positive reactions from folks in the camps. “I walk in and you’d think I was Santa Claus half the time,” Dani says. “Everyone’s very excited and everybody has something to say—and they have someone to say it to, whether it’s good or bad.”

So are they ready for the dramatic increase in clients that was just beginning in January?

“Definitely yes,” Kai says. “I think we’re all excited about it.”

“Oh yeah,” says Dani. “Plaedo, Marie Laura, and I over the last couple of weeks are actually getting a feel for the new positions and how they work. I think we were really nervous at first, bringing more people in while we were trying to figure out how to communicate, but we realized that it was much easier than we thought it was going to be.”

“I think that we’re a team that takes things as they come,” Plaedo says. “I think that you can say we’re ready. I know that there’s going to be a thousand things that are going to emerge that maybe we can’t foresee that are going to teach us in the moment. I think we’re trying our best to handle as much as we can ahead of time. But I’m also preparing to expect the unexpected.”

“I think there’ll be challenges with the expansion,” Marie Laura says, “but it’s exciting that more people will have a place to live off of the street.”

Partnership with the City: Dramatic Growth Propels CSS into 2021

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 10:54:13 GMT

Partnership with the City: Dramatic Growth Propels CSS into 2021

Nov. 27, 2020

Chief Operating Officer Erik de Buhr and Peter Chavannes, Homeless Systems Policy Manager for the City of Eugene, tour potential Safe Spot camp sites.

In its first seven-and-three-quarters years of existence, Community Supported Shelters built and placed just shy of 150 Conestoga Huts. In the final quarter of 2020, CSS is in the midst of a dramatic expansion in an effort to add 100 Huts at five Safe Spots in a matter of months.

“It’s totally crazy,” says Erik de Buhr, CSS director of operations.

Sudden expansion of available sites for Safe Spots and Huts has been raised as a possibility so many times before—and gone nowhere—that you can’t blame Erik for being skeptical when the city approached him in September about making this expansion happen so quickly.

Then on September 30, the Eugene City Council approved the establishment of the new rest stop sites, with the intent of having them operational by the end of the year.

And the wheels at CSS revved into high gear. Despite his honest assessment of the craziness of this undertaking, Erik welcomes the challenge, “We’ve been in a small, protective state, trying not to grow too quickly, making sure that we understand what we do and how we do it.” Now, he says, “CSS as a concept is ready to grow—that’s the main reason I want to move forward with this.”

The Covid 19 pandemic is the primary force driving this push by the city. Shelters that crowd homeless people into shared indoor spaces—known as “congregate housing”—are less favored with an infectious virus on the loose. Covid has also greatly reduced the available spots in the Egan Warming Center program, which provides refuge from the coldest winter nights. And the city had federal funding available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security program that has to be spent by the end of the year.

For CSS, this has meant a dramatic increase in staffing and work by volunteer Hut builders, subcontracting Hut component construction to an outside firm, Essex Construction, as well as restructuring the service team.

By mid-November, three positions had been added to the CSS building and infrastructure team. Essex Construction will build about 70 Huts worth of wall and floor components, as well as decks. CSS staffers will build walls for the other new Huts, and volunteers will prepare other Hut components, such as steps, insulation, and roofing.

The sites designated for the new Safe Spots—spread throughout Eugene—require a significant amount of preparation before Huts can be assembled on them, including fence construction, grading, and access, which in some cases involves road building, something CSS hasn’t done before.

The fifteenth Hut and a gravel walkway were built at the Skinner City Farm site on November 12, completing the first phase of development at that Safe Spot.

But the physical infrastructure is just the beginning of CSS work. The longer term challenge is in the services that are the heart of the CSS program. “The service team supports people emotionally and mentally,” Erik says. “Not that the infrastructure doesn’t also do that, but it’s the way that we interact with people, that’s where the magic happens.”

The service staff will expand from four people working about 30 hours a week, about three full-time equivalents (FTE), to about ten FTE. And the way services are provided will be restructured to be more specialized. Each Safe Spot or Microsite has had a camp facilitator, who serves as a go-to resource for everybody in the camp. Now, service staff will serve in three different roles for the eight camps: peer support specialists, who build relationships with camp residents to support social continuity and reinforce program standards (five FTE); camp facilitators, who manage group processes, including meetings and conflict resolution (two FTE); and service navigators, who help residents find and work with other social service agencies after their needs have been identified with help from the peer support specialists and camp facilitators (three FTE).

Erik expects the peer support specialists will come from people with experience in the program, either as a camp resident or a volunteer. One of the current camp facilitators, who will continue in the new structure, previously lived in two of the Safe Spots.

“We really like to hire from our camp pool or volunteer pool first,” Erik says. On the infrastructure side, at least two staffers are or have been camp residents and one started as a volunteer.

“They’re socialized to our culture. The kind of culture that we try to nurture is something that’s just not done elsewhere.”

As it grows, CSS has to avoid the mindset where “efficiency rules and cutting costs and doing things as cheaply as possible is what really matters,” Erik says. “Or treating people as if they’re disposable.

“I feel a constant concern that if we grow too fast and we introduce too many people into the organization, it’s so easy for that to creep in because we’ve all been raised in a capitalistic environment. We can’t create the same environment that has injured the people we work with.

“We have to learn to recover from that, so we can live cooperatively.”

“That’s challenge number one, I would say—staying true to our ideals and values.”

The second biggest challenge, Erik says, is scaling up funding income to sustain this level of growth. Although government funding is covering most of the cost of the initial build up, it is not a sufficiently “constant and consistent” source to run the program. “There’s going to be 18 months of funding and after that, basically our donors and, maybe, unrestricted grants are going to have to provide our operations expenses, which we’re going to try to keep as low as possible but we will have to have a significant number of employees.”

“Risk number two in this is growing but not having the resources to sustain that growth,” he says.

Challenge number three is that growth leads to more growth. “This is just the first leap,” Erik says. The city still has plans for more Microsites. And a church in the River Road area is ready for five Huts whenever CSS can fit them into its schedule, with talk of more small sites in that neighborhood.

“For whatever reason, all of a sudden there’s all this social will,” Erik says. “And it’s really hard to tell social will, ‘Oh, no. We can’t do that.’ We want to be able to ride that wave.”

Erik understands that the challenges presented by this growth spurt are a result of the success CSS has had in making a real difference in addressing the ongoing crisis of homelessness and in garnering community support.

And he clearly understands the bottom line of all the risks involved: “It’s either going to make or break us,” he says.

But showing that the CSS model can work on a larger scale is what the organization has been building toward throughout its history.

“We’re going to change,” Erik says. “It’s hopefully going to change CSS for the better. The scalability question has been on the table for a long time. We obviously see that there’s a need to scale up. But the question is, ‘Can we scale up?’”

Microsites Making a Macro Difference

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 08:45:58 GMT

Microsites Making a Macro Difference

May 1, 2019

The Community Supported Shelters’ crew takes a break from setting up at Skinner City Farm.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic hit everybody hard, but especially people experiencing homelessness.

Tami Van Meer had been homeless for about a year and a half and was sleeping in a tent with 20 other people in the Dusk-to-Dawn program, a difficult arrangement because of her severe anxiety and particularly dangerous with a highly contagious virus on the loose. In April, she moved into a tent of her own in one of four emergency shelter sites set up by the City of Eugene.

Paul Parkinson, homeless for nine years, got stranded in Eugene when the pandemic hit. He had been visiting his ill father in California and stopped here to see his sister on his way back to Seattle where he had a tent in the woods and a storage unit. But Seattle was an early epicenter of the pandemic, so he made one last trip to gather his things and then, he, too, ended up in one of Eugene’s emergency shelter sites.

But those emergency sites were temporary and as the date for closing three of them approached in late spring, the city was faced with the dilemma of where people like Tami and Paul could go next.

The city turned to Community Supported Shelters and a concept called “Microsites.”

CSS had already, somewhat inadvertently, pioneered this new concept when the opportunity presented by the purchase of new property on West 11 ^th met the changing environment created by the virus. Originally planned as a site for a new Safe Spot, with 15 Huts, that property evolved into what was originally called a “pocket” site with six Huts and the home of the Reboot Station, providing homeless folks with access to showers, hygiene supplies, and other basic healthful services.

The first city-supported Microsite is nestled between Skinner Butte Park and the far north end of Washington Street and called the Skinner City Farm Microsite, named for the flourishing community garden just to the east of it. The same rich river bottom soil holds promise for a productive garden for the camp in the future. The CSS vision for Microsites includes garden spots and other collaborative work projects, like the Reboot Station. Tami and her service dog Ronan and five other people moved into tents on the property in June. Six Huts, a storage shed, and a gravel pathway were built, and Tami moved into her Hut in late summer.

Paul initially moved to a tent at the second new Microsite, on the property of the Eugene Mission, near the CSS Vets Camp Safe Spot. Six Huts were moved from the Vets Camp (two of which have been replaced) and Paul moved into one of them in July.

Chris Plourde is the CSS facilitator for both of these Microsites. He lived at and was on the volunteer management teams at the Expressway and then the Roosevelt Safe Spots before moving into the Shields House transitional housing with four other former Safe Spot residents in August. (Click here to read more about Chris’s new home, the Shields House.) Now he is a paid CSS staff member overseeing these two sites. He says there were some challenges in the early days.

“It’s to be expected. All of this happened very suddenly,” he says, and a few of the people moving from the emergency camps had a hard time adjusting to CSS guidelines. “Some have adjusted very well but others couldn’t leave the street on the street. We had to let them go. We’ve come to recognize that’s a really big factor in being a success in these camps is leaving the street on the street.”

It wasn’t hard for Paul to leave the streets behind. “It’s nice to have a bed, a door, and a key,” he says.

Nor for Tami. “Here, I feel more stable and my anxiety doesn’t get disturbed so much,” she says. “Sometime, I wake up and I have a panic attack. I calm myself and I realize where I am and I can settle myself back down.”

People moving on from Safe Spots have filled the openings in the two Microsites and both camps have begun to build the kind of communities that are central to the CSS approach. “We really try to form communities that look out for each other,” Chris says. “That’s been the most successful thing that has happened in our camps, and we want to try to replicate that as much as we can.”

Tami sees it happening. At a recent Skinner City Farm camp meeting led by Chris, the group talked about tasks that needed to be done, and individuals took responsibility to do them. Tami is doing cooking. “In our little community here,” she says. “We’re all trying to get along and do our own part and make sure everybody’s participating and nobody’s left out.”

About a month after moving into his Hut, Paul started building them—as a paid CSS employee. He works in the shop, building the wall components of the Huts.

A community has also been growing on the Mission Microsite. That makes a big difference for him. “If you’re alone, if you live in the woods and you don’t know anybody and nobody knows you, then all they see is a stranger,” he says. “And breaking through that is a major hurdle. And so, being hooked up with a group, then you have some accountability to the people around you, and you can establish a reputation. People get to know you.”

In early October, the Eugene City Council approved five new rest spot sites, which include expanding the Skinner City Farm site. Those five sites, which will be Safe Spots managed by Community Supported Shelters, will provide a total of 69 new Huts scheduled to be ready by the end of the year. Because those larger sites require City Council approval, they took priority among city staff over Microsite development. But, in a letter to Friendly Area Neighbors, which has proposed a Microsite at the former Kidsports headquarters on Polk Street, Brooke Freed, director of the city manager’s office, said city staff members were “working diligently to advance several new sites that will expand shelter in the community in the coming weeks and months through a combination of the rest stop and microsite models.” Freed said the Microsite proposed by FAN “is certainly one we would like to move forward” among “several” potential sites for the smaller camps.

For CSS, Microsites will continue to be a part of the continuum of its shelter options, which now span from single Huts sponsored by a church or a business or a private property owner to Microsites to Safe Spots to transitional housing like the Shields House.

From the first Huts placed near churches in 2013 to its response to the needs created by Covid, CSS has built its program by responding quickly and directly to the ongoing crisis of people experiencing homelessness. “This is what we do, this is who we are,” says Erik de Buhr, founder and chief operating officer. “We take what we’ve learned and adapt it as we expand our program to address the most pressing needs of the unhoused.”

Tami is working to get disability income and to continue seeking help coping with her anxiety. “I have more structure now,” she says. “So I’m able to make my appointments. I’m able to think clearer and to continue my progression through my therapy and everything.”

She’s gotten lots of help from Chris, the camp facilitator, and others in the camp but she’s also found that she gains from the support she’s able to give others within the Microsite community. “I try to be supportive to other people. It has helped my self-confidence, and my anxiety level isn’t so high.”

And she’s really excited about getting her hands into that rich soil next spring. “I’m really looking forward to the garden area because I have a green thumb,” she says. “I love to play in the dirt.”

When asked what it feels like to have a place she can call her own again, she says, “It makes me really happy. . . . Sorry, I’m going to cry. . . . It’s a good cry, not a bad cry.”

Ginny Weisman Reboot Station Volunteer Nurse

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 06:28:40 GMT

Ginny Weisman

Reboot Station Volunteer Nurse

Oct. 23, 2020

One person has very serious burn scars from the knees to the ankles. Ginny changes the dressings when needed, making sure there’s no infection. Some folks need a Band-Aid or two, or someone to just check in with.

Ginny also helps pass out new socks and underwear, shirts, pants, and jackets, all donated from the Mission. “Nothing makes you feel so good as a nice warm shower, fresh underwear, and clean socks!”

Ginny is a retired RN with 50 years’ experience in a variety of hospitals and other medical settings. Her last job was as a nurse in Alaska for 20 years.

She moved to Eugene a few years ago to be near her son. A friend who was bringing some donated items to CSS brought her to the Reboot Station, where she was introduced around. When Ginny mentioned she was a retired nurse, she was asked if she’d be interested in coming in as a volunteer. “I just couldn’t turn it down,” she says.

Ginny has quickly become a valued member of the Reboot team.

“Ginny’s caring personality, kind face, and skills in nursing are a great addition to the Reboot Station crew,” says Daisy Mills of the CSS team. “Her presence means that unhoused community members can receive health counselling on how to best care for their wounds or be directed to receive medical attention if necessary.”

Says Ginny, “Really, we could all use a place to come where there’s friendly people and you’re just accepted for whoever you are, no matter your circumstances.”

Shields House Opens Doors for Clients and CSS

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 10:11:47 GMT

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.

“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.

Leaving a Legacy of Helping Others

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 07:19:47 GMT

Leaving a Legacy of Helping Others

Sept. 16, 2020

Messiah Lutheran Church is a shrinking congregation. The church sits on a 3.75-acre open and breezy lot off River Road in Santa Clara. Its 30-plus members average 76 years old. Like many of us faced with looming mortality, the congregation has been taking stock of its life and what it might leave behind. In 2017, some church members took a 7-week course on the Lutheran concept of leaving a legacy.

“We got through this course and we couldn’t say what kind of a legacy we are leaving other than our church cross out front, so everybody knows where to turn,” says Anita Bjerklund, 71, president of the congregation. “You go through the motions long enough and you lose track of what you’re supposed to be doing. With us getting older, our congregation getting smaller, do we want to just fold up and let the property go into houses, and nobody remembers Messiah was here because they don’t remember anything outstanding that Messiah has done to help the community?”

Now, two women who had been homeless are living in Conestoga Huts shaded by an elegant old big-leaf maple tree behind the church, not far from where a contentious April meeting had squashed an earlier effort to provide temporary shelter for the homeless in Santa Clara.

“That is what God told us to do a long time ago, to help those in need,” Anita says. “We feel like we haven’t done as much as we could, but we still have a chance. And God is working with us.”

In November of 2017, Lane County commissioners approved a pilot program to allow overnight car camping in the unincorporated area of River Road in North Eugene and Santa Clara. As with Eugene’s car camping program, St. Vincent de Paul administers the program and provides portable restrooms and garbage service. The pilot program allows for 10 spots, and Community Supported Shelters made a commitment to offer Huts as shelters.

North Eugene Homeless Advocacy (NEHA), which had initiated and promoted the pilot program, sent out letters to about 15 area churches and a few private businesses seeking potential hosts for the allotted spots. They followed up by knocking on doors and talking to people. After all that, only two churches expressed a willingness to consider being hosts, according to Betty Grant, co-coordinator of NEHA.

NEHA’s letter arrived at Messiah Lutheran with the legacy discussion still fresh in the congregation’s mind. Anita says the church had been contacted in the past about hosting homeless people but “I think we were in denial that we were slowly dying,” she says. This time though, the church didn’t say “no.” Anita talked with Betty and a representative from St. Vincent de Paul about the car camping program, discussed it with the congregational council, and was still doing research when a proposal from Lane Transit District to host car camping on an unused lot at a major intersection in Santa Clara created a major controversy.

NEHA had encouraged LTD to offer car camping spots on that property.

The public meeting to discuss that proposal was held at Messiah Lutheran Church. About 175 people showed up. “That didn’t turn out too well,” Betty says—a definite understatement.

Public comments were predominantly and vehemently opposed. Betty says she was surprised by the strength and organization of the opposition. “I was, like, ‘Wow. We should take some lessons from their organizational ability.’” And she was afraid what that might mean for the folks at Messiah Lutheran and another church, still mulling the possibility of hosting car campers.

“After that meeting—because it was at Messiah Lutheran even—I thought ‘well okay that’s it for those churches. They’re not about to step into this very vitriolic situation,’” Bettys says. “So I was shocked when the church president called me to say, ‘yes.’”

After completing their research and assuaging some doubts they had, Anita and the council had called for a congregational meeting on May 27 to decide whether or not to be hosts under the car camping program. She sent a letter out to all members and included a sheet explaining Eugene’s program and a list of the rules that potential participants agree to.

One congregation member, who did not attend, sent a letter in opposition that was read at the meeting. He said he had been to the meeting about the LTD proposal and “nobody wants those people around,” according to Anita.

The vote was 17-4 in favor.

Anita deflects questions about how much the strident opposition to the LTD car camping proposal inspired Messiah Lutheran to move forward with their Huts. “Not much,” she says when asked if the LTD meeting came up at the congregational meeting that overwhelmingly approved inviting two formerly homeless neighbors to live on their property. But she does smile when asked if it didn’t require some bravery for the church to take the stand it did.

“The thing that is really ironic is that the LTD meeting was held here,” she says.

It did take bravery. Some who were important in developing both the River Road car camping pilot project and in helping Messiah Lutheran to be the first to participate are reluctant to talk about it, leery of stirring up the hornets’ nest of opposition to hosting the homeless in that area that stung LTD, afraid that might thwart future efforts.

Anita was too busy figuring out how to get rid of a real hornets’ nest in the bushes a few yards away from the Huts to worry about outside opinions. Those hornets are gone now.

Betty Grant of North Eugene Homeless Advocacy and Anita Bjerklund celebrate completion of the Huts.

Messiah Lutheran has been cognizant of the Huts impact on their neighborhood. They are placed as far off the streets that border the church as possible, barely visible from a side street that runs north of the church. The church sent a letter to the church’s neighbors thanking them for their acceptance and introducing the two new neighbors living in the Huts. The large field north of the Huts on church property has been used as “kind of a dog park,” Anita says. The letter told neighbors they were still welcome to bring their “4-legged friends” to the field, but to please leash them if they get close to the Huts. She hopes that might lead to more interaction between old and new neighbors.

“The ladies are outgoing,” she says. “With them talking to the neighbors as the dogs are out there playing—it could build and I think we’re just going to put it in God’s hands and let Him do it.”

“I hope we’ve opened Santa Clara” to be more welcoming to the homeless, she says. “I hope the door opened because there is such a need for it and the churches can do so much. If we can do more to help the homeless, that would be great.”

Betty Grant of the North Eugene Homeless Advocacy is glad to see the door open in that area. “It’s a great lesson,” she says. “Maybe starting little and quiet is the way to go.” NEHA facilitated the placement of two yards of bark-a-mulch (donated by Rexius) around the Huts.

After the meeting on the LTD proposal, she was convinced that “we need to go back and focus on communication with neighbors and sitting down and just talking.” NEHA has worked with the Eugene Human Rights Commission Homelessness Working Group, which is sponsoring six showings of the film “Under the Bridge: The Criminalization of Homelessness” in September and October, including two in the River Road and Santa Clara area. The film will be followed by panel discussions.

“It’s incredible” that Messiah Lutheran is the first host under the car camping pilot program, Betty says. “And I imagine it’s a little scary for them. But there couldn’t be a better church to be the first hosts.”

Roxan is grateful to all who have made it possible for her to sleep in a bed in a safe and secure shelter, especially the congregation at Messiah Lutheran. “It’s wonderful for them to step up and give a hand,” she says. “It’s rare these days. Most people are so busy with their lives that they can look right at you and don’t s ee you.”

It eve n took Anita a while to see the homeless situation clearly. She had her doubts at first. “I guess I was thinking about the panhandling and other stereotypes and lost sight of all the others. Then it hit me right between the eyes: This is what I’m here to do—to help others.”

CSS's Neighborhood Hygiene Station: A Concept for The Future of Meeting Basic Human Needs

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:54:02 GMT

CSS's Neighborhood Hygiene Station:A Concept for The Future of Meeting Basic Human Needs

Sept. 15, 2020

What does the future hold for human society? 2020 has been a year of constant change and adaptation for us all. Through all of this, though, a truth remains: human beings have basic needs to sustain life: food, water, shelter, and transportation are essential to support our personal well-being. As more people end up without shelter, how people meet these needs will also change. Society will need to adapt to a new set of environmental and economic realities.

These changes have led CSS to act to help meet the hygiene needs of people without shelter by creating a small-scale, neighborhood hygiene station called The ReBoot Station. Unsheltered people can sign up to get a shower, a nutritious meal, hygiene supplies, new clothes—and then go about living their lives

The hygiene station is grouped with a Microsite of six Conestoga Huts occupied by people all working toward a higher quality of life for themselves. Three of the seven residents are paid, part-time employees helping with showers and meals. At this point, the ReBoot Station is open for three hours per day, three days a week and provides an average of 50 to 70 showers per week.

I know that providing showers and meals to unsheltered folks is not a new concept and our numbers are low compared to other service providers. So what makes this model project noteworthy? It’s not what it does but how it does it. The big impact comes from the value of smaller, more spread-out hygiene stations combined with Microsite shelters.

Take a tour of the Microsite.

The ReBoot Station is nestled in with neighborhood businesses and shares an alleyway with residential homes. We have received zero official complaints about the project from the nearby business owners and residents, and some have even thanked CSS for making use of the vacant lot. We attribute the lack of negative, intolerant reaction to its small-scale design.

Here’s how it all works in a nutshell:

Up to eight people wishing to use the shower wait under a 200-square foot canopy tent outside the hygiene station. There are eight chairs spaced roughly six feet apart. Four people are admitted into the station at a time.

After being admitted, a guest washes their hands and checks in. They can get hygiene supplies (razors, feminine hygiene products, toothpaste & brushes, etc.) or new underwear or socks to go along with getting clean.

While people wait at a tent inside the station for a shower (with four socially distanced chairs), they receive a warm nutritious meal and can go through the donated clothes.

The shower trailer is on loan from the University Fellowship Church, while we explore the concept of installing a permanent, permitted, durable, campground-style bathroom that would also be ADA accessible. The mobile unit has soap/shampoo dispensers, a private and lockable space to dress, and two standing shower stalls with a single warm temperature setting.

The site has been toured by city officials, representatives from Trillium, CSS donors and supporters, and others. Many support the concept of small-scale, dispersed Microsites with hygiene stations as a strategy to make these basic services more accessible and the sites more compatible with a variety of neighborhoods.

As our needs continue to grow and change, so will our strategies for working to truly stabilize our community. We need to adapt our community’s infrastructure to help us all weather the storms we must face. We hope our first hygiene station will serve as a model for what should become standard throughout urban areas. In the same way that cities build parks, libraries, and fire stations as core components of good city management, they should recognize the need for shelter and hygiene stations as fundamental responsibilities of good governance.

This year has taught us that we need to get our heads out of the idea of returning to “business as usual” and start planning for the real challenges ahead. The sooner we make this mental adjustment the sooner we can begin creating supportive infrastructure to meet the basic needs of people in this ongoing housing crisis.

Charles Castle, Jr.CSS Workshop - Project Coordinator

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 05:17:14 GMT

Charles Castle, Jr.CSS Workshop - Project Coordinator

Feb. 5, 2020

CSS might be considered a bit unconventional in its approach to helping people create stability in their lives through the Conestoga Huts, Safe Spots, and support programs.

This “outside the box” approach seems to attract “outside the box” employees. Charles Castle, project coordinator for CSS, fits this pattern of being a little unconventional in the professional background and skill set he brings to CSS.

Charles can be found at the shop on Grant Street two or three days a week. He is also on-call for possible emergencies.

Charles is the planner and coordinator for a multitude of hands-on projects, keeping things organized for constructing and refurbishing Huts, with more than 120 now in place around Eugene and Springfield.

And he does it with good cheer and a little whimsy. After all, his true passion, in addition to helping folks lift themselves up from being unhoused, is writing poetry.

Charles first came to CSS as a volunteer for the Hut crew in 2017. He had been a licensed contractor and building site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity in Springfield, so came with plenty of talent for overseeing construction projects and managing volunteers. He was soon hired as project coordinator when a grant was secured to organize and upgrade the CSS shop.

Charles immediately started in on a “re-do” of the shop space to turn it into a more efficient site for building Hut walls, floors, and bed frames, and to develop systems for keeping track of the myriad tools and supplies. Those first few months brought a lot of dust and banging, as shelves and work stations were demolished, moved, or rebuilt, mostly by volunteers, overseen by Charles.

The space is now an organized beehive of activity on days when volunteers show up for building various components of the Huts or for loading up the trailer with parts for a new Hut build.

“Charles has become an integral part of the CSS team. With his leadership and vision CSS has more than doubled Hut building capacity. If it wasn’t for limited funds and for places to put Huts, I am sure that with his leadership we could quadruple the output of Huts.”

— Erik de Buhr

Before he obtained his contractor’s license, Charles had a lengthy career with PeaceHealth, working 27 years as videographer and community relations coordinator. That work ended when PeaceHealth merged with other health organizations.

Charles is very happy to be part of the CSS team.

“I really love this work,” Charles says. “I love using my hands and getting things done, as a balance for the more introspective part of my life, which is writing poetry.”

Charles has published four books of poetry. His latest is Chasing Down the Storm, Poems from 2017-2019 . He is an active member of a loose-knit guild of poets in the area. They gather regularly to read and listen to each other’s work, and provide inspiration and ideas for sharing their talents and gifts.

Sales of Chasing Down the Storm have brought in over $900. Charles is donating all the proceeds of that collection to CSS.

“It’s my small way of contributing what I can to this great organization,” he says.

From “When the Apples Were Ripening” in Chasing Down the Storm , by Charles Castle

Father, I remember when you were a tree—

all your years bearing fruit, standing with you

on the banks of the Mad River.

We were fishermen then.

I remember you taught me there is a depth

to things like rivers, like trees.

You said

But love is the most mysterious

of all deep things

You said

Son, fish there

along the faster currents. Learn to read

how the water moves. Become a fish

in your heart and when you become hungry,

let someone catch you,

because…

that’s how love works…

Making a Hut Happen in Redding

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 08:37:59 GMT

Making a Hut Happen in Redding

Feb. 5, 2020

It was a Eugene kind of day, gray and rainy, and one CSS staff member and two volunteers had trucked all the components of a Conestoga Hut the 323 miles from CSS’s Eugene shop—but it was a thoroughly Redding event.

Guided by the CSS crew, fourteen students from California Heritage Youthbuild Academy (CHYBA) assembled the Hut in a large lot behind the school as a broad sampling of the Redding community gathered to observe, all protected from the weather by a huge tarped canopy.

In the middle of it all, with an enthusiastic smile and a steady stream of upbeat commentary on the virtues of the Hut, was Laural Park, the force behind this late January event. Laurel recognizes the potential for Conestoga Huts to be part of the solution to Redding’s growing homelessness problem.

Laural, a retired social worker, became concerned about the lack of emergency shelter options during the devastating fires in the Redding area in 2018. She looked into available resources and services for displaced and homeless people and came to the conclusion that “our local communities are doing the best they can with what they have, but we need to do something better.”

She first heard about CSS last September when, exploring what other communities were doing, she had come to Eugene to visit SquareOne Villages and saw a Hut at Opportunity Village. Intrigued, Laural and her husband Chuck came back a month later and met with CSS Development Director Kristin Fay de Buhr. They toured Safe Spots and the CSS shop. She saw the “something better” that could help fill the gaps in Redding’s services for the homeless. She discovered that “the Huts are an affordable, transitional option to house people who are unsheltered,” she says.

Around that time, Chuck, also retired, had his eye on a top-of-the-line 10-inch telescope for his astronomy hobby and asked Laural what she might want for a comparable splurge. “I told him,” she says, “‘I want a Conestoga Hut.’”

Her idea was that if decision makers and community members could see the simple process of building a Hut and its effectiveness as an emergency shelter, then she would find allies to address obstacles like zoning, funding, and providing necessary services for residents. She made arrangements with CSS Executive Director Erik de Buhr to purchase a Hut and have the components delivered to Redding, along with a small crew to guide local folks in putting it together.

She found natural local partners for assembling the Hut at CHYBA. The eight-year-old public charter school is part of the nationwide Youthbuild movement and provides 16–24 year olds with academic, life skills, and career development training. Its construction training program emphasizes projects in community service and affordable housing. Assembling a Hut matched their mission perfectly. “It’s amazing,” says Lane Carlson, career and technical education director at CHYBA, “as far as the fit with our mission, it is absolutely the pinnacle of affordable housing.”

The buzz begun by the Hut build reverberated around Redding in the days that followed. Local media covered the build in-depth and enthusiastically. One television station did a series of follow-up stories on homeless issues in the area. The local country music station and morning talk shows were all talking about the build and the Hut. CHYBA students proudly showed their parents what they had built. Lots of people posted images on Facebook. People who hadn’t been at the build were already scheduling tours of the Hut, which is at the heart of Laural’s plan: Using the demonstration Hut as a shining example to garner support.

“So that’s the idea,” Lane says. “We’ll take that tent down around it, kind of dress up the area and try to give people an impression of what a community of these could look like.”

Laural says the current buzz has created “pressure now to start moving on this. We have momentum and I don’t want to lose it.”

Current Redding zoning laws do not allow people to live in a structure like the Hut. Creation of a Hut community similar to CSS’s Safe Spots will also require funding and a partnership with an agency to provide the case management service to help residents. Laural says that she does not have the background to address all these issues, “but I know people who do.”

• Lane is looking into local land-use laws and potential locations for a community of Huts.

• A local tiny home building company, Forever Tiny Homes, has said they’d love to help with Hut construction.

Interviews with Sarah, Neil, and Joseph

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 10:22:20 GMT

Interviews with Sarah, Neil, and Joseph Three people tell their stories about being in a CSS Safe Spot Community

“I was really happy,” she says, “because I suddenly realized I was living on my own now. I’m doing really well.” She’s sharing her new home with a kitten named Midnight, whom she recently showed off to the folks at the CSS office. She plans to move in with a cousin next year to save money. But, for now, she’s happy being on her own.

“I don’t know where I would be [without CSS]. I could still be sleeping under a bridge.” Instead, she says, “I finally have my own place.”

Photo credits: JayEads.com

Missing Rungs: The steep challenges of climbing out of homelessness

Sat, 11 May 2019 07:53:38 GMT

Missing Rungs: The steep challenges of climbing out of homelessness

But Charles spent 25 years in prison for a felony he claims was a set-up by a vengeful, corrupt prosecuting attorney in Idaho, and Cynthia is Samoan, with a golden tone to her skin. They both have physical disabilities. For all their efforts, no one has offered them an apartment.

“People look at you crossways when they find out you served time in prison. They’re afraid,” Charles says. “People have a hard time with the color of my skin and my disability,” Cynthia says. Because of their disabilities—Cynthia had a brain injury as a child that did lasting damage and a more recent stroke that renders her left hand unusable, and Charles has been in a wheelchair for twenty-eight years because of deteriorating disk and bone disease and spina bifida—they need to live on a lower floor with accessibility.

In a housing market like Lane County’s, where strong demand and a significant shortage of affordable housing create steep barriers, those personal factors make each step toward a home an even taller order.

Tiffany has two felonies on her record, the most recent in 2016 when she thought she was in danger and “freaked out” when authorities tried to force her to leave a hospital where she had sought refuge. She got three-years’ probation, which she has served successfully and will complete at the end of October this year.

She was at the Mission before first moving to the Roosevelt camp in December 2017. When she had reached the ten-month limit there without finding housing, she moved into a Conestoga Hut at Messiah Lutheran Church in Santa Clara. But after a couple of months there, she says, she got lonely and a new spot opened up at Roosevelt, so she moved back earlier this year.

“I’ve been looking for housing the whole time since I was at the Mission. I was seeing my counselor there and filling out any paperwork or forms she had.” Since then, with help from CSS, she has been working with St. Vincent de Paul and is planning to see if she can get help from Catholic Community Services. “I’m more than happy to fill out any form possible that will help me achieve something higher than what I’m doing right now,” she says

But when her hopes have been raised, her past felonies have knocked her down. “At one place they said, ‘You’re a felon and we don’t really want felons.’” Another time, she got a letter saying she wasn’t the kind of person they wanted in their facility. “And they said I lied about it, but I didn’t lie about it. I just put down the two worst things.” She says she didn’t realize the expectation was that she would list her entire history.

“They always talk about the felonies, so I thought I could speak to them and say, ‘Yes, I had two felonies and here’s what happened with them.’” But she didn’t get that chance.

Tiffany finds some hope in women friends from the camp who have successfully found housing. But two examples she mentions both had help from family members providing a boost into more traditional and stable housing situations. Once in that sort of housing, people have a better shot at establishing the history necessary to open up other housing opportunities.

“I don’t know that many people,” Tiffany says.

Every person in the CSS program is assigned an action plan advisor who meets regularly with them and helps them move from wherever they are when they enter the program toward their personal goals, including finding conventional housing.

Marie Laura Roehrich works with Tiffany and Charles and Cynthia. She says felonies are difficult to overcome, but there are legal support agencies who will help people expunge felonies at reduced rates. CSS has a general assistance fund available to help clients with expenses involved in cleaning up their records. But there are many stipulations as to who is eligible to have felonies expunged and no one in the CSS program has yet been able to take advantage of that. For example, even after Tiffany completes her three-year probation, she may still be ineligible because of her earlier felony. And Charles’ felony can never be expunged because it involved a sex offense. That also disqualifies him from Homes for Good, Lane County’s low-income housing agency, which will, under certain conditions, accept people with felonies on their records.

Other agencies, such as St. Vincent de Paul and Cornerstone Community Housing, are also open to people with histories that property management companies reject reflexively. But waiting lists are long and opportunities are limited.

Independent landlords could have more flexibility than management companies, if they gave individual applicants a chance to explain their histories and where they are now.

“People come from all kinds of backgrounds and have had to face various challenges,” Marie Laura says. “And even if someone has something on their history, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to repeat it. I think it’s important for people to look beyond the stigmas that society associates with certain choices people have made, to give people the benefit of the doubt that they’ve learned from their experiences.”

“These are real good, good people who’ve just faced a lot of challenges in their lifespans,” she says.

CSS action plan advisors help clients determine what lists they need to get on, to complete all the necessary paperwork, and to get to appointments. They are a part of the compassionate CSS community that also includes the other residents of the Safe Spots and other CSS staffers.

“It’s really helpful for all of them to be in a safe, secure space that creates a stabilized environment,” Marie Laura says. “It makes a difference for them to be in that supportive community so they can put more energy towards this complicated system that just has lots of barriers.”

Tiffany is grateful for the time she’s been in the CSS Roosevelt camp. “I really like this camp. It’s like a family here. I don’t have any family. It’s just nice to have these people that I’ve gotten to know and who make me feel better. I love these people. And then we’ve got the whole other deal over at the [CSS] office. Everybody at the office, they’re just wonderful, wonderful people.”

But she really hopes to move on sometime soon. “That’s what I’m concerned with, because I’m doing this probation and not getting in any trouble and just following whatever I’m supposed to do, minding my Ps and Qs and crossing my Ts and whatever. I’m looking forward to getting off probation, but even then I may not have a place to live.”

She’d just like a chance to explain herself to the person on the other side of her housing application: “I’m fifty years old and I’ve made some mistakes, but I really, really would like to live in your establishment. I understand I have a couple of felonies, one from a long time ago, the other more recent. I want to get my felonies removed, so that’s what I’m working for. But it takes more than just wanting it.”

Rusty is now four years sober and glad to be in the Vets Camp where he finds a camaraderie and respectfulness. “I haven’t ever really look forward to the future. I’ve started looking at that through one of the classes [at Sponsors], Moral Recognition Therapy, and it asks you, ‘What do you want to be doing in five years, ten years, if you had that much time to live, what would you do?’ A lot of it was imagination, but it actually got me to thinking, ‘Yeah, I’m hoping I can save my money up and buy me a modular home or a trailer. A home. So I’ll have my own place. I won’t have to keep moving. That’s what I’ve been doing for years.”

Hope & Randal: Where they are now

Wed, 01 May 2019 10:05:27 GMT

Hope & Randal:Where they are now

May 1, 2019

In early fall of 2015, Hope and Randal Freeman moved from the CSS Safe Spot at Chambers and Northwest Expressway into an apartment in South Eugene, where they continue to thrive and grow. They are deeply involved with their church, Harvest Church International, where Randal is a network and media consultant, as well as being the primary driver of the church van, and Hope has been a teaching assistant and done janitorial work. After finally recovering some of Hope’s legal documents, which had been stolen during their period of homelessness, they were officially married in January. Hope has now taken Randal’s last name. They are both studying at Xplore Nations Bible College and are almost finished with the second year out of the four it will take them to get degrees. They have a 2008 Town & Country minivan that a church member sold them for $1 and the church helped them to fix up. They are enjoying cooking with an electric stove, a crockpot, a microwave, and Hope’s long hoped-for KitchenAid mixer, a wedding gift from the church. Hope’s health has greatly improved. Thanks to new medication prescribed by a neurologist they say is one of the best in the Northwest, seizures that have plagued her most of her life—including when she was in the camp—have been controlled.

And they are expecting a daughter, Elisheba Zelda Freeman, June 16.

Hope and Randal still see counselors and get support from ShelterCare, the agency that helped them get their apartment. They look back on their time at the Safe Spot camp as stressful and uncomfortable in many ways. “We were still homeless,” Hope says. But if they hadn’t moved into the camp when they did, Randal says, they might still be homeless: “CSS gave us the time we needed to create the platform to start building our lives.” He says that the opportunity to participate as a Safe Spot camp volunteer staff member showed him that he had leadership skills that he is still developing through his education and work with the church. And they both say that they learned important interpersonal skills through the connections to other people in the camp, some of whom they are still close to.

“I wouldn’t have one-tenth of the blessings I have if it weren’t for Community Supported Shelters,” Randal says.

And Hope is very clear about what she puts at the top of any list of goals she’s made in the time since she left the camp: “Never be homeless again.”

Pujita Mayeda: Outreach Coordinator...and so much more!

Tue, 18 Sep 2018 10:03:19 GMT

Pujita Mayeda: Outreach Coordinator...and so much more!

CSS has expanded and broadened its mission in the 5 years that Pujita has been on staff. The donor base has grown to over 1700 people and businesses, and Pujita is responsible for managing that database and all related donor activity which includes being a part of the development team.

She works with the CSS newsletter team and with other staff and volunteers to prepare and mail the annual appeal letter and digital marketing campaigns. She helps organize the annual benefit dinner, and she makes sure food is available for meetings and camper work parties.

Pujita first learned about CSS in a phone call from a close friend and volunteer, Bhavia Wagner who asked her to come back to Eugene from overseas to work with CSS. After she was hired, Pujita quickly realized her background and skill set were a good match for a non-profit organization whose mission is to create stable and secure shelter for those in need.

She has been a world traveler and volunteer nearly all of her adult life, primarily to places that need social uplift or environmental protection. She provided care for elderly and infirm people at a facility in Varanasi, India, run by the Mother Theresa Order. She has been to Cambodia as part of Friendship with Cambodia, volunteering at orphanages and monitoring humanitarian projects and she wrote a “responsible travel” guide book for travelers to that country. She volunteered at a birthing center in Indonesia and soup kitchens and schools in African shantytowns and worked for a conservation group that protects black rhinos in South Africa.

She is an outdoor enthusiast and has backpacked extensively on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Himalayas in Nepal. She has also worked as a whitewater river guide on thousands of river miles all over the world.

“I consider myself a steward for the planet,” Pujita says. “CSS is a natural fit for me and I feel honored to be a part of the amazing work we do here at Community Supported Shelters.”

Challenges in the Transition to Housing

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 03:59:35 GMT

Challenges in the Transition to Housing

Latanya Bell, 45, moved into the CSS vets camp with a former boyfriend about the time Matt was leaving for his apartment. The couple argued a lot and were put on probation. They passed that probationary period and were moved to the Roosevelt Safe Spot, but the troubles continued as her boyfriend was “coming off a lot of meds,” she says, “and he flipped, became a whole different person.”

While Latanya was in the Roosevelt camp, Fay de Buhr, CSS co-director, asked her to volunteer at the CSS office. She had clerical skills learned while working in a doctor’s office in the past, and her exuberant openness helped her connect easily with clients. She enjoyed that work. She and her boyfriend moved into a loft above the office. After three-and-a-half months there, she got word that her housing voucher had come through. They moved into the apartment building right next door.

That lasted 10 months, during which the police were called eight times for noise disturbances. Her boyfriend stopped going to his mental health appointments and taking his medications. He withdrew from volunteering at CSS and demanded that she stop, too. He’d come to the office and make a scene, she says. Eventually she stopped, too. “I wanted to stay,” she says. “I really did, but I just didn’t stand up to him.”

Her building’s landlord asked Latanya to give her 30-day notice of leaving the apartment, instead of being evicted and having that black mark on her record. But with help from a social service counselor at St. Vincent de Paul, Latanya found a new apartment—on the condition that her boyfriend was not allowed to live there until he started a program to address his problems. She was issued a voucher for a year at that apartment but only kept it for four months. It was the winter of 2016-17 when ice storms blanketed Eugene. Her ex-boyfriend, who had continued “stalking” her, was freezing on the streets and his mother called Latanya pleading with her to take him in.

“So I buckled, and I let him in,” she says. “That was a big mistake. When the ice started to melt, then he didn’t want to come down off that mountain.” Again, in February of last year, she was asked to give her 30-day notice instead of being evicted. She’s been homeless since then, spending some time at the Mission (from which, she says, she was kicked out for initiating a petition supporting a volunteer who wanted to make hot breakfasts for the women), in city parks, staying with friends, and, most recently, behind a restaurant where she keeps the parking lot clean.

Latanya describes her family as “a bunch of haters” and says her mother tried to kill her twice: “once before I was born, once after.”

Elaine Walters of the Trauma Healing Project says that “the earlier people experience trauma and other kinds of adversity, the longer term and more developmental the impact is.”

“One of the biggest challenges is those developmental gaps that people have to work around, and they may do alright when they’re in structured environments, but when they’re trying to make it on their own without that structure, it’s very difficult,” Elaine says. “The same people who are more likely to get hurt often have the least access to help to recover, so that’s a double whammy. Then when we don’t get good support to recover, we begin to show the signs of wear and tear and developmental gaps that get us targeted for very certain kinds of interventions that are mostly focused on managing our behavior, which ends up actually compounding and worsening the impact of the trauma.

“So, you’re more likely to get hurt, less likely to get help, and then more likely to get kicked when you’re down and misunderstood.”

Jean House, 63, and Severia Prince, 28, moved from the Roosevelt Safe Spot, where they shared a tent platform for about five months, into a two-bedroom apartment in Springfield last September. They’re doing fine, though they still have a few boxes to unpack.

Severia, who had been homeless off and on for seven years, says that moving into the apartment, at first, had a “shock factor” for her. “You’re not used to being able to take a nap whenever you want to,” she says. “You’re not used to being able to take a shower whenever you want to. It’s things you’re not used to that you have to re-get used to.”

Jean had been homeless for a relatively short amount of time, eight months, including her time in the Safe Spot. She had been living in a trailer that had no heat and no water and was without electricity for a while, while dealing with some serious health problems. Her doctor told her she had to get out—even if that meant she was homeless—or die. She stayed with family and friends for a while and then the CAHOOTS Hut at the Roosevelt camp for 15 days. After a short stint at the Mission, she went back to Roosevelt and the shared tent platform with Severia.

“I don’t think [moving to the apartment] was hard for me because I hadn’t been homeless that long, but some people have been homeless so long, the stability scares them,” Jean says.

“If you’ve been homeless for a long time, you’ve lost that routine of all the stuff you’ve got to do to maintain,” Severia say. “It’s almost like going to prison. You get institutionalized but it’s in a different way.”

Severia says her time at the Safe Spot helped in her transition.

“We had to work together at the camps to do stuff,” she says. “We made meals. we had coffee together in the morning and so it was kind of more like a home life than just being on the streets.”

“We were outside but we still had the companionship and the feeling of a family,” Jean says.

Their advice to others folks who have been homeless making the transition to stable housing: “Take your time. If you have case management, use it. If you don’t, make sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row. Try to just do the simple things that make up everyday life that a lot of homeless people aren’t used to, paying bills and doing grocery shopping to make sure you have food in the house.”

Some of those adjustments have been welcome. Recalling a freezing January morning when he had to use the bathroom at Alton Baker Park, which had stainless steel toilets with no seats and, on that morning, a thin layer of ice around the rim, he says, “I’m looking at that cold stainless steel rim with no seat, and I’m saying to myself ‘This isn’t going to feel good.’ Now, I’ve got a padded toilet seat, so, hey!”

Jeff had been on the waiting list through Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County (HACSA now known as Homes for Good) for four years before being placed in his current home. St. Vincent de Paul’s Rapid Rehousing helped him to get his paperwork in during a brief period when HACSA had openings to accept applications. That window quickly closed.

Jeff earns some money collecting cans and makes sure to keep his counseling appointments. “I’m just going to keep doing what they’re asking.” he says.

He thinks one of the biggest mistakes made by individuals or agencies trying to help people experiencing homeless is to lump them into a few arbitrarily defined categories. “Every single person is an individual with different reasons and different causes,” he says, “and to try to box things in so narrowly is just wrong.”

“One of the great things about Community Supported Shelters is they take people on their own ability,” he says. “Not everybody has the same capability, and they’re willing to work with everybody.”

Even though getting people into housing doesn’t solve all their problems, it’s a necessary place to start, he says. “You have to get people into stable housing for them to make any more progress. That’s unfortunately true even with alcoholics and drug addicts. When they’re into stable housing their chances of recovery greatly increase.”

He knows of one formerly homeless woman who got evicted because she couldn’t get some paperwork to her landlord. “She just couldn’t bring herself to walk over there, some kind of phobia or fear, anxiety, and she wound up getting evicted over it, which was just stupid. Over just not turning in one little piece of paper. I can kind of understand that, in a way, but I’m not suffering like she was, not like that.”

It’s not a case of people getting too comfortable being homeless, he says, “I think they just give up.”

Vicki Goforth, 62, and Greg Blitz, 55, have also been in their apartment in central Eugene since January, after spending 4 months at the CSS’s Roosevelt camp. They had been homeless off-and-on, sometimes together, sometimes not, since Greg lost his job as a cab driver in Medford in July 2016. Greg had been on a Housing and Urban Development waiting list for a year but was given priority through the Veterans Administration because he is a navy veteran. They were persistent in seeking housing, checking in every week with the property manager of the complex where they now live.

Greg meets regularly with VA counselors and has put in a number of job applications. “We’re going to make it work. We’re going to get jobs,” Vicki says.

She didn’t have a problem with the transition to their new home. “I was just friggin’ happy,” she says. “Give me a door and close it and I’m happy.”

She’s grateful for the time they had at the Safe Spot and she enjoys it when some of the friends they made there stop by to visit: “And I’m saying, ‘you can do it. Try, go, put your best foot forward, keep trying. Don’t give up.’”

But sometimes people try and don’t make it. Matt and Latanya tried. But, unfortunately, many programs, even some with the best of intentions, don’t provide the help people most need, says Elaine Walters of the Trauma Healing Project. “You might call those challenges internal to the person but you might be better off noticing that the systems and the supports are not designed to help people recover, so . . . people tend to look worse over time and less able to function within the system that we’re trying to get them through.”

She believes that “housing first” can work for some people, but, she says, that there are few, if any, examples in Lane County “where people are given a home without a bunch of conditions.”

She says research backs up Jeff Howard’s observation on that subject. “When people get access to housing and basic needs without those heavy restrictions they actually tend to come off of drugs and other challenging coping strategies much more easily than when we put them in really restrictive situations.”

She stresses “meeting people where they’re at.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t want to bring them back into connection and get people engaging in support and services, but I think the [best] approach is much slower.” Services that aren’t cognizant of an individual’s situation and are conditional can make it seem like those individuals “lost because they didn’t comply, when, in fact, the thing they were being forced to do wasn’t really considering their history or experience.”

Elaine says some of the elements of an approach most likely to help people would be

Housing first where people are provided safe shelter and safe places to be,
Giving them the opportunity to be part of a community,
Listening to what people need, rather than telling them what they should do,
Helping people identify what’s going to be hard for them in the transition and look for ways to build support around that,
Offering opportunities for people to be engaged in activities and the leadership of their community, and
Teach building managers and landlords to establish early and regular communications and reach clear agreements about expected behavior.

Both Matt and Latanya take responsibility for their current situation.

“I should have reached out more when I knew I was a danger to myself,” Matt says.

Latanya says she did not have a hard time with the transition to housing, but the relationship with her ex-boyfriend stymied her. “I was growing, but I was also regressing” because of that relationship, she says.

“I can’t look to a man,” Latanya says. “I have my support systems and if you’re having troubles with a man, he’s acting crazy or whatever, you already know what your girlfriend is going to say.”

She learned to stand up to her ex-boyfriend, she says. “It took me a few more years, but I did.”

“I don’t have that relationship issue now,” she says. “It’s okay, but as far as trying to get involved with somebody else—I really need to work on me.”

Latanya has worked a variety of jobs through her current stint of homelessness and, now, she is trying to get back into a CSS Safe Spot. “I would rather be living legally and have more structure,” she says.

Matt still stops by the CSS office every now and then but says he isn’t ready to try get back into a camp. “I won’t come back to the Vets camp until I know I can stay clean because it’s not fair bringing it into the camp.”

“I know exactly what I need to do,” he says, “and I’m just not ready to deal with those issues. One day, maybe, but . . .”

Although he talks about what he should have done differently, he does feel let down by the service agencies he was working with.

“Granted my story is not atypical,” he says, “but it does highlight some areas where both I and [some] organizations dropped the ball.”

“I was asking them [VA counselors] to help, to either remove me [from the apartment] or make it so everybody had to leave. They kept saying ‘okay, we’ll work with HACSA to move you,’ and both of the building managers that were there at the time—they changed right near the middle of this—kept saying ‘yeah, we’ll move you to a different unit; we’ll move you to a different complex.’ Nothing. I should have yelled and screamed for help instead of having quiet conversations, but there were at least four separate occasions, looking back, where I should have been institutionalized. And nobody cared.”

His advice to other people moving from homelessness to housing is hard won: “Stand your ground when you feel you need something. Don’t let it get swept under the rug. A closed mouth never gets fed.”

In the time after his daughter died, Matt filled six 120-page notebooks with his writing.

“I was just writing because I didn’t have anybody that I could talk to,” he says, “or who was willing to talk to me.”

He has recently been given three different journal books with lots of empty pages remaining.

Mona Bronson - Client Services Coordinator

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 07:57:18 GMT

Mona Bronson - Client Services Coordinator

June 13, 2018

The vision and commitment to create a community-based non-profit providing stable shelter options for people experiencing homelessness started with Kristin Fay and Erik de Buhr . But the growing group of dedicated staff members and several dozen volunteers help keep the wheels of the organization turning every day of the year.

A key member of the staff, which now numbers eight including the de Buhrs, is Mona Bronson the CSS client services coordinator.

Mona’s understanding of the need to provide temporary stable shelter for people whose lives are in crisis has grown. “Hearing clients’ personal stories demonstrates to me again and again how the uplift of simply receiving temporary shelter helps turn things around for many people we serve,” she says. “And the gratitude expressed by them for compassionate basic support is deeply heartfelt.”

She adds, “My perspective has also changed as to how people with mental illness do their best to cope, but are not always successful at retaining stable, long-term housing. That’s where CSS offers some basic support until a person either stabilizes with medication or counseling, or supportive housing in the larger community can be established.”

Mona recognizes the importance of a growing group of supporters to keep the work of the CSS vision alive. “Visions need worker bees to make things happen, and that’s where the many volunteers and donors make CSS truly a community effort.”

“The name ‘Community Supported Shelters’ has always seemed to me to be an inspired one—fostering community in the camps and engaging the wider Eugene/Springfield community to support the Safe Spot program’s success.

“What a wild ride it’s been these past 2½ years,” Mona says. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute my part.”

Kristin Fay is just as grateful to have Mona’s contribution: “Mona’s ability to stay calm and flexible with all the changes we’ve experienced at CSS is a huge asset and blessing. She is very smart, supportive, loving, a wonderful co-worker, a teacher, and a beautiful friend. She is an incredible asset to Community Supported Shelters in so many ways.”

Walla Walla Welcomes the “Conestoga” Difference

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 12:16:51 GMT

Walla Walla Welcomes the “Conestoga” Difference

Feb. 21, 2018

The winter of 2016–17 was “devastating” in Walla Walla, Washington: day after day of temperatures rarely going above 20 degrees, winds gusting at more than 50 miles per hour, and repeated dumps of snow. The city’s relatively new homeless camp did not fare well. Tents collapsed or tore, and volunteers from the Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless struggled to help the residents keep their bedding and clothes dry—to keep people alive. What’s more, the volunteers had no support from the city to make or enforce rules or to provide even a basic amount of safety and security in the camp. “Chaos,” “absolute mess,” “out of control,” “jungle” “like something in Afghanistan or Syria,” are the terms they used to describe it.

“That people didn’t die is amazing,” says Assistant City Manager Byron Olson.

“We weren’t going to do another winter like that,” says Alliance volunteer Craig Volwiler.

The city needed the Alliance because no one else was willing to manage the camp. The Alliance needed the city to provide a site, infrastructure, and support for enforceable rules. Negotiations about a new camp at a new location began even before last winter ended.

Those negotiations, which involved city engineers, police, parks and recreation, the city manager’s office, and the city attorney were often frustrating for Alliance members because the city was reluctant to support the sort of camp that the volunteers believed could succeed. During one of those sessions, Alliance board chair Chuck Hindman said if the city agreed to a more permanent camp site managed by the Alliance, the volunteer group could build 20 Conestoga Huts for it, according to Volwiler, who was at that meeting. The Alliance had not discussed making that sort of commitment.

Later, “as the negotiating got a little uglier,” Volwiler says, “he changed the number to 30.”

Nobody thought they could do it—especially Volwiler. “My jaw dropped because I’m one of the youngest people who’s active and I’m almost 70,” he says. “I didn’t see how this was going to happen.” When the city and the volunteers eventually reached some basic agreement on plans for the camp—based on the Alliance building 30 Huts—he thought, “What are we going to do now?”

The Alliance first heard about Conestoga Huts and Community Supported Shelters when Dan Bryant, pastor of Eugene’s First Christian Church and one of the driving forces behind Opportunity Village, spoke in Walla Walla in April 2016. One of the Alliance’s first initiatives was Madison Park, a tiny house project similar to Opportunity Village. That project was eventually scrapped because of neighborhood opposition and the city piling on so many stipulations to its zoning approval that it became financially infeasible.

The situation for the homeless in Walla Walla, a city of about 32,000 in southeastern Washington, dramatically changed in 2016, when the city passed an ordinance that made it illegal to sleep in public places. That law was a response to downtown merchants worried that people sleeping in doorways could hurt the burgeoning flow of summer tourists, attracted by a flourishing small-vineyard wine industry.

Dan Clark, an attorney and one of the founders of the Alliance, made the city aware of a lawsuit (Bell v. Boise) for which the U.S. Justice Department issued a statement that said, in essence, that it is unconstitutional to ban sleeping in public spaces unless adequate alternative places to sleep are provided. In reaction to that information, the city of Walla Walla put up some fencing around an area of a public park and designated that as the “homeless camp.”

Management of the camp fell to the Alliance. “No one asked us to do it. [But] no one else was going to step in and do it,” Volwiler says. They tried to implement some of the practices they had learned about from the CSS Safe Spots: a set of rules, self-management among the campers, regular community meetings. But none of that worked. The Alliance volunteers had no control over who came into the camp. To serve the purpose of off-setting the public sleeping ban, they had to let everybody in. And, for the same reasons, they had no power to kick anybody out. They were allowed to manage the front gate, but the fire marshal insisted on an unlocked back gate—out of sight of the front gate. There was no overnight management at all.

“Going home at night at 10:30 or 11:00, you knew the party was going to start as soon as your headlights were gone,” says volunteer Jan Foster. “The city knew it was going to fail,” she says. “They had every expectation that it was going to be a jungle.”

Standing in the middle of the new camp, surrounded by 31 Conestoga Huts, she says, “With this, they were very resistant to everything we wanted to do because they knew this would fail, too.”

While in Walla Walla, besides meeting with camp volunteers and clients and Assistant City Manager Olson, de Buhr met with a Monday morning group representing churches and organizations serving the homeless and Alliance volunteers who have just started a pilot program called Exit Homelessness, a more intensive approach to “case management” than CSS’s Action Plan Advisors. Folks in Walla Walla were particularly interested in Eugene’s car camping program and the Safe Spot’s self-management, community building, and handling of limited stays.

It was apparent in the engaged conversations during de Buhr’s visit that volunteers and communities serving the homeless can learn much from each other, that we face many of the same problems. The Exit Homelessness volunteers suggested the CSS look into innovative programs for the homeless being tried in Yakima, Washington, and de Buhr told them that CSS is working on a collaborative effort with folks in Tacoma.

Assistant City Manager Olson said it was important to dispel common myths about homelessness, which seem to exist everywhere, most notably that the homeless come from someplace else (80-85 percent of Walla Wall homeless are “homegrown,” he says) and that homelessness can be cured, like polio was with a vaccination. We lack the resources to take care of everyone with significant mental health issues, he says, and “we are going to have homeless vets, as long as we . . ,” his voice trailed off. “ . . . Go to war,” someone else finished his sentence. Olson’s son served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is not a problem that is going to go away or disappear,” Olson says.

Volunteer Jan Foster, 74, in addition to spending four hours a night, seven nights a week at the Sleep Center and having been an active member of the Conestoga building crew (“Busting our hump, but always laughing, that’s what I remember.”), keeps a daily log of the activities at the camp that she shares with other volunteers. She details the comings and goings of clients and volunteers and what community groups brought food (tamales, pulled pork sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, ice cream, and more) or made donations of clothing or bedding and such. But the heart of her journal entries are the ongoing stories of the people who come to the Sleep Center and the efforts of the volunteers to help in some way. Told with humor and candor, the entries reflect the frustration and sadness that can pile up when dealing with troubled people with limited resources and tools, but also the love and joy that such work can bring. A few entries from a single night in January (names of the clients withheld at Foster’s request):

[6 p.m.] . . . And AB, for no reason anybody can fetch, tears a strip off Nancy for housing all the shitheads down there in his vicinity. Completely gratuitous rudeness, which in addition scares young C. I know what’s working AB’s squeejaw: his housing search has failed yet again, and his voucher extension lapses on the twenty-third of this month. After that, he’ll have no chance at all, having no steady income.
[8 p.m.] . . . Nancy says that DE cleaned the whole parking strip of dog poop this afternoon. DE does not even own a dog. Piling up treasure in heaven, that guy; also, the highest recommendations from Sleep Center volunteers, if such should ever have any value in his housing search.
And I’m afraid I’ve done F wrong in accusing him of telling people I’m selling drugs in camp. No no. According to GH, F’s telling everybody I’m using drugs in camp. (Well, chocolate , yeah, guilty. But I can control it. Can take it or leave it alone. Honest.)
[9:58 p.m.] J gives me a book he picked up at the Just Right closeout: The Perfect Horse. Combination of horses and history neither of us can resist; he knows I’ll hand it back when I’ve read it.

A good indication of the more than night-and-day difference from the old camp to the new are the last entries from Foster’s log on several nights about a year apart.

27 January 2017, 9:50 p.m.: I go home, hoping not to hear fire engines in the night.
1 February 2017, 10 p.m: Just as I am leaving, a furious fight breaks out between C and D . . . K is waiting at the gate to walk me to my car. He shakes his head.
4 February 2017, 10:15 p.m.: K brings the three axes and hatchets into the office tent just in case.
26 January 2018, 10:05 p.m.: All quiet as Peter and I go home
29 January 2018, 10:10 p.m.: All quiet as I go home.
2 February 2018, 10 p.m.: All quiet as Peter and I go home.

Eugene Mennonites provide major assistance at Roosevelt Rest Stop

Thu, 19 Oct 2017 06:07:48 GMT

Eugene Mennonites provide major assistance at Roosevelt Rest Stop

Oct. 18, 2017

The residents at the Roosevelt Safe Spot now have a kitchen, thanks in large part to the generosity and craftsmanship of Eugene Mennonite Church members and money raised from our 2017 Annual Dessert Dash.

The new kitchen was constructed a few months ago at the southwest corner of the camp. The 10 by 10-foot structure is made of sturdy aluminum tubing with plywood walls and a corrugated sloped roof. The floor, made of compacted ¾-minus gravel, is level and dry.

To say the new kitchen is an upgrade to the previous “structure” would be an understatement, to put it mildly. The old kitchen was a minimalist tarp-like shelter that was cramped, leaky, and offered little storage or cooking capacity.

“We couldn’t be happier with our new kitchen,” says Donna Jackson, resident manager of the Safe Spot. “To be able to cook and clean and have things organized is a blessing.”

The new kitchen was built primarily by a crew of skilled CSS residents during a Safe Spot work party. Members of the Mennonite Church provided funding for the project, assisted in the build, and then built and installed shelving and counter space.

Support From A Community

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 10:32:10 GMT

Support From A Community:

Community support is an inherent part of CSS’s identity

Oct. 18, 2017

Fay and Erik de Buhr didn’t really have any intention of starting a nonprofit that would build and manage emergency shelter for the homeless. But their experience doing “interpersonal social work” and experimenting with small living spaces meshed with unexpected synchronicity with community demands to take real action to address homelessness in Eugene-Springfield.

“We really just kept following threads,” Erik says.

A prototype Conestoga Hut, which Erik and Fay and son Abram were living in behind the CSS shop, was set up in Eugene’s Park Blocks for a City Council meeting in late 2012. The purpose was to encourage the council to include such structures in the city’s car camping program so they could be used in Opportunity Village, which was then still in the planning stages.

The council approved inclusion of the Huts in the car camping program but that early exposure of the Hut bore other fruit as well. Two donors contributed money to build the first two Huts under that program at the Church of the Resurrection and another donor challenged Eugene businesses to match his donation of $5000—and that $10,000 would help build 10 of 28 Huts that were placed in 2013.

“We have also received a flood of e-mail from groups and individuals interested in helping build the huts or donate materials,” said a story in a December 2012 Opportunity Village newsletter. The community support inherent in the vision and the work of Community Supported Shelters had begun to activate.

“We started to realize there was some community momentum around this,” Erik says.

Kitty had pledged to seriously address homelessness in Eugene after she had made the decision to close the Occupy Eugene camp in 2012. She had seen the prototype Hut when it was at the Park Blocks for the council meeting and spoke when the first two Huts were built at Church of the Resurrection. She remembers Erik speaking at a council meeting about the need for sites where small groups of homeless people could legally camp. She recalls that at the meeting with Erik and Fay in her office, “They said somebody should do it [run what they were then calling Rest Stops], and I said, ‘Well, why don’t you?’ And they did.”

Craig said the board was leery of CSS taking on the Rest Stops as well as building and placing Huts. “Several of us had some real serious concerns about liabilities and legalities and all the risk involved, how you manage that,” he says. “Some of us were overwhelmed with it. But Erik and Fay looked at those concerns from a different point of view and did not get disabled by it.”

Kitty is thankful for that. “I don’t know how we ever would have gotten this Rest Stop thing going and doing it so well if we didn’t have people as dedicated to the well-being of other folks as Erik and Fay. It’s not something you’re going to see a lot of financial return on. You don’t even know when you start whether you’re going to get much support or not. You just know that you feel like you have to do something.”

“I don’t think government could have done it,” she says. Government can’t operate on “Money will come if you do the right thing.” And sometimes Erik and Fay have wondered if CSS can.

Sati Suwinski and her family have been donors to CSS. Sati also knew Erik and Fay before Community Supported Shelters but it’s the work that attracted her to donate: “Homelessness is a really important issue and very visible issue here in Eugene. For me, any program that addresses an issue by empowering people to make better choices for themselves and sort of inspires them into being more proactive in their own journey and their own path, I think is really, really important.”

This year, she also started volunteering at the front desk at the CSS office. In that role, she is often the first person someone looking for help may encounter in the organization. “It’s an important part of the experience for me because I do get to hear people’s stories. Often they will share a bit about where they’re at now, maybe where they’ve been in the past, what their journey has been that has brought them to Community Supported Shelters and to homelessness. I am always hoping that we can be of service to people even if they don’t end up living in one of our camps. I think just having an interaction with someone who’s really listening and who’s present can be supportive for people.”

Community Supported Shelters is still following threads and trying to do the right thing, with faith—informed now with good data and world-wise advisors—that the support from the community will continue to come.

“There’s so much power in the people coming together in community to accomplish a goal,” Fay says, “bringing what we can as a community to help the disadvantaged whether it’s material or financial. To me the most beautiful part of what we have is that interaction.”

She points out that at the annual fundraising dinner this year, almost everyone in the room ended up standing when Erik asked people to stand who had worked on a Hut or helped with a meal or met with clients or worked at the front desk or otherwise done hands-on work to support CSS.

“The few people who weren’t standing were probably thinking, ‘whoa, these people aren’t just giving money, they are participating in creating and operating this shelter program,’” Erik says. A quick check of its donor and volunteer databases showed 125 people who give both time and money to CSS. In 2016, volunteers logged a total of 25,240 hours for CSS.

“We really try to make it about the relationships, about the personal connections,” Fay says. That applies to the relationship between CSS as an organization and its clients, the relationship between volunteers and CSS, the relationship between the community and CSS, and the relationship between the community and the homeless.

“There are all these micro-situations where community members who are in the housed community and the unhoused community get together and they get to see each other in this different light,” Erik says. “That’s one important thing for us, creating opportunities for people to have intimate experiences whether you are housed or unhoused. That’s what keeps a lot of people coming back. And we try to keep that experience fresh and fulfilling for people.”

Community support takes many forms: dollars or hours or testimony in the public arena from leaders like Kitty Piercy or media as in recent Register-Guard editorials. The return on those investments of money and time and spirit to help those perceived as less fortunate brings rewards on a profound personal level as well as benefiting the communities of homelessness and the larger community which surround them.

Losing More Than A Smile:Teeth problems among the homeless

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 07:31:07 GMT

Losing More Than A Smile: Teeth problems among the homeless

Josie McCarthy, manager of The Dining Room, a Food for Lane County program that serves up to 300 free meals four days a week, estimates that 75 to 90 percent of its diners have significant teeth problems. “We think about it all the time,” she says—in the type of food that is served and how it is prepared, “cooking the hell out of vegetables,” chopping salads, pureeing fruits. And Josie constantly reminds volunteer servers to be aware of and sensitive to the condition of the diners’ teeth.

“It would be rare for us see a homeless person whose teeth are in good shape,” says Kim Freuen, clinic coordinator at the White Bird Dental Clinic, where about 10 percent of 2000 annual clients are homeless.

“A lot of time homeless people don’t have the ability to care for their teeth,” Kim says. “If you have nothing, every day you’re looking for food, you’re looking for water and where you can sleep, trying not to lose your belongings. So teeth are kind of down the list.”

Ree Wearin, dental case manager at HIV Alliance and volunteer bookkeeper for CSS, says teeth problems for the people she works with—about half of her 205 active clients from all around Oregon are homeless or underhoused—are compounded by the stigma associated with HIV, both because some dentists are reluctant to care for such patients and because the patients shy away from dental care for fear of that reaction.

For Chris Plourde, his bad teeth are in his genes. Two brothers have lost all their teeth and his sister has only been able to keep hers by spending “thousands and thousands of dollars,” an option not available to him.

Sherri Newman, 54, a resident of CSS’s Roosevelt Safe Spot, says her teeth went bad one after another over a seven-year period. “I’d gotten a few extractions but it was very painful because as soon as I’d get a tooth pulled another one would go bad,” she says. Now she’s more than happy to flash a bright white smile with the new dentures she’s had about a year now, thanks to help from White Bird.

Dave Morgan, 55, who has lived at the Chambers Safe Spot since February, says he tried to maintain his teeth. He had dentures many years ago and wanted to get implants but couldn’t afford it. “I had good teeth. I planned to do all this [to improve them],” he says, “but when [his 11-year-old daughter] Samantha died, so did that dream and then I just didn’t care anymore. My teeth have been hurting me on and off for 10 years.”

Chris says part of the perception problem that he has encountered is that in Eugene bad teeth are often associated with methamphetamine use. “It seems like you get pigeon-holed as a certain kind of individual,” he says, “but I’ve never done that stuff.” When he first started at LCC, he was “kind of chatty” with other people, but as he became more aware of negative initial reactions, he deliberately withdrew from engaging others. “It really got bad over the last year and I started falling into these states of depression which are very different for me,” he says.

“I used to suffer from depression way back, but I figured out why and kind of eliminated that from my life,” Chris says. “Then, I could say that all of that stuff originated inside of me so I felt empowered because if I’m the problem, then I could be the solution. But this was coming from outside of me and it seemed like an obstacle that no matter what I did, I’d just get this fear. Imagine going up to someone and getting that reaction and knowing that no part of it is coming from anything you are doing.”

Josie McCarthy sees that sort of battered self-esteem from her Dining Room clients. “People don’t smile,” she says. “They lose their jaw shape. They look older. They are so defeated.” Ree Wearin of HIV Alliance perceives the same thing. “It’s really hard to smile with your teeth rotting and it becomes a real barrier when you don’t have the ability to smile and talk openly.”

Having to avoid smiling makes it harder to get a job, especially one that requires interacting with the public, says White Bird’s Kim Freuen. And it’s not just smiles that people with bad teeth lose, she says. “You notice how your mouth can change a lot of situations, frowning or surprise—a lot of emotions are displayed by your eyes and your mouth.” Ree says her clients with visibly bad teeth find it harder to get housing, perhaps because of the association with drug use or possible criminal history.

Kim describes broader health problems caused by bad teeth. “If you have chronic infection in your mouth because of decay or gum and tissue being infected, those infections can get in your blood stream and affect your heart. If you are diabetic, it affects your ability to control your diabetes. If you have joint replacement, it can affect your joints. Oftentimes people will come in and say ‘I need to have surgery but they won’t let me until my teeth are dealt with.’ So it definitely affects all of your health and your ability to take other steps to make yourself well.“

Dave Morgan, a long-time truck driver, arrived at the Chambers Safe Spot last February after what he describes as a “decade of nothing—wandering in the darkness,” grieving the death of his daughter. “Then it came to me,” he says. “Maybe I can start stepping forward.”

One of his realizations is that “to get back to being what I believe to be the essence of me,” he had to focus on taking things one small step at a time. First, he concentrated on his health. He’s lost almost 55 pounds. His once-high blood pressure has returned to what it was when he was 35 years old. He wore out a donated mountain bike by riding 125 miles a week. He does 200 pushups a day. He stayed off cigarettes and didn’t touch alcohol for eight months. No drugs. He started eating right.

“All the bullshit everybody always says you should do,” he says—“Well, I did it.”

Now, he decided, it was time for his teeth: ”I hadn’t cared about my smile because I had been living in this awful place—no dignity, nothing but grief and despair. But now it’s time to get it back,“ he says. “To me, the teeth are part of the puzzle and after all that, I’m going to feel like a new and improved me which I haven’t felt like in a dozen years.”

Dave is working through White Bird, where he got the initial exam and help with the paperwork for insurance and referrals for extractions and dentures. “My dentist [at White Bird] is a really cool dude. He’s like, ‘You’re telling this story. You’ve got some sort of frickin’ energy going on.’ He’s going to get my smile back.”

Sherri Newman says the two-and-a-half years she’s spent at the Roosevelt Safe Spot have given her the stability to finally deal with her teeth problems in a comprehensive way. “I never would have been on my feet enough to take care of myself like this,” she says. “You have to have a home base to heal from surgery. I can’t imagine sleeping under a bridge and having to heal like that.”

Ree at HIV Alliance says her work is most rewarding when she sees the change in her clients after they’ve had their teeth fixed. “It’s wonderful to see them stand taller and smile broader.”

The same goes for Kim at White Bird. “It’s wonderful,” she says. “They are very pleased. Sometimes we’ll have people who have really decayed front teeth and we are able to correct it. Just those small changes make such a difference to their confidence. It’s like the thorn out of the lion’s paw: they feel better and they’re happy.”

The Dining Room’s Josie McCarthy sees the same thing. “When they get new teeth, the first thing they do is come in and they smile.”

Sherri Newman is only too happy to flash her Hollywood white smile. “It’s changed my life,” she says. “Before, I would always smile with my mouth close and I didn’t want to smile in pictures. I can smile now and I don’t feel weird. I don’t have to be self-conscious. People react to me differently. I feel like I’m more confident. I can talk to people and smile at them and just be myself.”

White Bird Dental Clinic

Kim Freuen, clinic coordinator at White Bird Dental Clinic, says most homeless people are eligible for the Oregon Health Plan and Lane County has many dental providers, in addition to White Bird, who accept clients on OHP. But, she says, “We like to think of ourselves as homeless friendly.”

Part of the clinic’s mission is to serve the homeless, Kim says, and some of the clinic’s funding comes from a Health Care for the Homeless grant. The clinic performs general dentistry, which allows its dentists and hygienists to do exams, cleanings, and fillings. For oral surgery, which is covered by OHP and is needed by many homeless people, patients must go to a general dentist like White Bird for a referral.

Kim urges homeless people to come and get a cleaning and an examination even if their teeth aren’t hurting. “We would like to see as many homeless people as we can,” she says. “We are here to help them: Let us clean your teeth. Let us help you keep your teeth so that you’re not at the point where you are in so much pain that you need to come in. We prefer to save teeth than to take them out but a lot of people have that misconception that you only go when it hurts, so they do end up losing more teeth.” She also urges anyone who works with homeless people to encourage them to come to the clinic.

White Bird Dental Clinic, 1400 Mill Street, 541 344 8302

HIV Alliance

HIV Alliance’s dental care program is available to people who are living with HIV/AIDS and have incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level, according to Ree Wearin, dental case manager. Clients are connected with dentists and provided with transportation and lodging if necessary—clients come from all over the state. The program works with dentists throughout Oregon but has an especially close relationship with the LCC Dental Clinic, which gives priority to the alliance’s clients, teaches good dental hygiene, and trains its staff in working with HIV clients. LCC has satellite clinics in Medford and Salem.

Insurance, usually OHP, is billed first, but the agency will pay for all pre-approved expenses not covered by insurance. Treatment is often “repairs of last resort,” Ree says, but regular check-ups and cleanings are encouraged—up to four times a year. She says it’s unfortunate that OHP does not pay for work such as bridges and crowns, so extractions are the most common approach to serious problems. Once people start losing teeth it’s harder to keep the ones that are left. But she still appreciates the coverage that allows her clients to address their dental problems.

HIV Alliance, 1966 Garden Avenue, 541 342-5088

“Superstar Volunteers” for CSS: First United Methodist Church

Thu, 22 Jun 2017 06:26:12 GMT

“Superstar Volunteers” for CSS: First United Methodist Church

Kathi Hoffer, Blake English, and Lee Sutton helped to plan the event. Blake was the head cook for the dinner, a role that suits him well as he has much experience in the world of Texas barbecue. The annual dinner included about 160 pounds of barbecue, six gallons of beans, and all the other fixings.

Kathi and the First United Women’s Group helped facilitate the dessert dash, which brought in $3200 to help build a new kitchen at the Roosevelt Safe Spot. Kathi and Blake also donated a stay at the Adobe Resort at the coast and a Texas BBQ for 20 people for our raffle drawing. Many others in the congregation helped set up and clean up, and many brought desserts. JoAnn English was the “behind the scenes” angel supporting the cook and keeping the BBQ buffet well stocked throughout the dinner. Rosalie Hulbert headed a team of volunteers that spent endless hours in the kitchen putting away dishes after the event.

The church waived the venue fees for the event and provided all the dinnerware, tables, and chairs and equipment, which helped make the event run so smoothly.

In addition to the food pantry and the fundraising dinner, Lee and several other church members have been making and serving lunch to the Expressway Safe Spot camp residents following their monthly work parties.

The United Methodist Women of FUMC raised $1,000 to donate to CSS, and the FUMC ‘Sock it to Mission’ campaign and Justice and Mission Matters (JAMM) fundraisers raised $2,600 for CSS as well.

“Everyone at First United Methodist Church has been very gracious, generous, thoughtful, thorough, and kind,” says Fay. “Words can’t truly describe how grateful and blessed we feel to have the support of these folks. It’s been a divine journey.”

Challenges of Getting a Job While Homeless

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 04:10:14 GMT

Challenges of Getting a Job While Homeless

June 20, 2017

It’s hard to imagine Rose Jordan being annoying—with her quick smile, organic laugh, and unswerving positivity. But that’s what she says homeless people sometimes have to be to get a job. Of course, when Rose says it, you know she’s talking about a most positive and uplifting sort of annoyingness.

“Be persistent,” she says. “Be annoying if you need to be to let the person know you actually want that job.”

It’s worked for Rose, 25, who lived in CSS Safe Spots with her husband Jeremy for most of two years after four years living in fields—to some extent. For the last three Christmas seasons, she’s worked as a Santa’s helper at Valley River, a job that averages about 30 hours a week from early November through the holiday. That position also led to a job assisting the Easter Bunny at the same mall. But it took a lot of persistence for Rose to land those temporary jobs, and full-time steady work remains an elusive goal. Finding any kind of work, which can be an important step on a path out of homelessness, is tough for anybody without an address and all the stigmas attached to that condition.

“Once they find out that you’re homeless, it’s ‘you can leave the establishment now,’” says Shawn Cooper, a 40-year old who moved into the Veterans Safe Spot in January. “They don’t even want you to come in the door.”

Cooper has been homeless off and on since 2005 when, after watching his best friend kill himself and finding out his wife had been cheating on him, he attempted suicide and subsequently received a less-than-honorable discharge from the Navy, where he served for six years, the last four as an operations specialist. He spent seven years “in the woods” in Missouri. In 2013, his daughter Autumn Nicole (one of his five children) came back into his life by inviting him to her wedding. That experience “woke me up,” he says. “It gave me a purpose again.” Around the same time, a friend in Oregon suggested he come out here and try to get some help rebuilding his life.

Since then, Shawn has been in and out of housing, largely because of an on-and-off relationship with a woman. The swings in that relationship have followed his employment status: “Each time I would lose a job, each time we would fall on financial hardship, she’d bolt,” he says. “When I get another job and I start getting stable again, she wants me back and I’ll give it another try, but it falls through my fingers and she up and leaves and then I end up back out homeless.”

His situation is complicated because of his less-than-honorable discharge from the military, which is another obstacle when seeking stable employment and prevents him from getting assistance from the Veteran’s Administration. He has had help from local veterans’ services, including support in appealing his discharge status, which was also backed by Representative Peter DeFazio. An earlier appeal was denied, but he has recently launched a new appeal.

He got laid off from his last job just before last Christmas and ended up living in a tent in a wooded area in Springfield through the ice storms and freezing weather (“I swear to God, I almost died out there,” he says). One day, he knocked on the door of the CSS office by mistake when he had a meeting scheduled with St. Vincent DePaul’s Support Service for Veteran Families at the church across the street. A few days later, he returned to his camp to find everything gone. He went back to CSS “to see if maybe they could figure something out, somewhere to lead me. They could tell I was shook. By the end of the day, they had me in [the Vet’s Camp]. I was very blessed.”

Shawn continues to actively look for work and offers a variation of Rose’s advice to homeless people looking for work: “Be as proactive about your situation as possible, don’t expect somebody to do the work for you. If you want to change, that’s the only way it’s going to happen.”

And despite his string of setbacks, he remains optimistic: “I’m always going to have hope because I refuse to give up. I know that I’ve got the drive and the ambition, I just need the chance.”

George Sisney got the chance he needed when he was still camping by the Willamette River, waiting to get into the Chambers Safe Spot. He had met with Erik and Fay de Buhr in early summer of 2015 to see about getting into a camp. In the course of that conversation, he heard about NextStep Recycling, and he knew the work they did with electronics recycling and reuse was “right up my alley.” He was determined to get a job there, and when he found out they welcomed volunteers, he jumped at that chance .

Through all these changes, he showed up at NextStep. “When I found out I could volunteer, that’s what I did—six days a week almost nine hours a day.” He worked on many aspects of the process at NextStep, which receives donated electronics and either recycles them or repairs them for reuse, through sale in a retail store. Part of its mission is also to offer “job and social training to community members.” George dismantled computers, worked in the audio-video area, evaluated computers, built computers from recycled components —and then became assistant to the lead technician in the repair shop. In August last year, after a year of volunteering, he was hired to take over as the lead technician—full-time and paid.

George adds stubborn to Rose’s annoying as traits that homeless people sometimes need to get employed. He found the job he wanted and was willing to work for free and to live without stable housing to get it. “I wasn’t going to go look for a job that was demeaning or something I didn’t like,” he says. “I’m stubborn that way. There’s a difference between voluntary houselessness and involuntary. It started out as involuntary but because I wanted this job so bad, it became voluntary.”

He loves his job. “I love working with computers,” he says. “I love working with technology. I get all the great toys to play with. I love fixing things and learning. I’m always, always, always learning something new all the time and I’m challenged.”

But it took him almost five months after he got full-time work to find housing he could afford. He moved into a studio apartment in January. “The rental market in Eugene is horrid,” he says. “They’re catering to nothing but the university. All the housing is sucked up by them. Now I understand why there are so many people out there who are houseless.”

His advice to other people who are homeless, and especially those who are given a chance in the Safe Spots, is to take advantages of opportunities when you get them. He says he has seen too many examples of people who get comfortable in a camp and it becomes “couch potato time.”

“If you want something like what I was going after,” he says, “you’ve got to work for it, you’ve got to be focused on it.” But how many people—homeless or not—can or would spend a year working for no pay?

Rose Jordan has done some of that. She volunteered in the Community Supported Shelters office for seven months in 2014-15, which she says allowed her to contribute to the organization that was helping her and to get training for work as a receptionist. It also kept her from being bored, one of the things, she finds most annoying. Currently, she is working on a trade basis at the Broom Closet, an alternative collective clothing store—a “punk rock store” in Rose’s description. She gets $11.25 an hour in trade value and has been told she will get a paying job when the store starts hiring.

Even a person as persistent and positive as Rose, though, has run into a lot of hostility in her dogged pursuit of a job. “Oh my gosh, nobody wanted to take me—sorry to say this—because I was homeless, and they thought, “‘Oh, hey, every homeless person is the same.’”

She has put in applications at Fred Meyers, Safeway, Dollar Tree, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond—in some cases multiple times. But she often doesn’t even hear back. “It’s really hard trying to find even a minimum wage job that would give you a chance,” she says. “People want high-end energy but when you go in and show them how you are and who you are—they go, ‘oh, we want you’ but when you do the initial interview and they find out your homeless, it’s like, ‘oh, I’m sorry we don’t want you.’”

She was fortunate that the woman hiring for the Santa’s assistant job could see her for the qualities she displays—high-energy, integrity, honesty (to the point that she couldn’t not tell people she was homeless), friendliness—“not just for my homelessness,” she says. And once given that chance, she performed well enough that she’s been welcomed back for two additional years, with raises above the initial minimum wage.

But that is part-time seasonal work.

So, bolstered by an inner joy and her Christian faith, she keeps on trying. She and Jeremy moved into an apartment in the building next to the CSS office in June with help from a Shelter Care program. In addition to enjoying sleeping in a bed and waking up warm in the mornings, one of the best things about being in regular housing is that she has an address to put on the applications she keeps filling out and turning in: “Yahoo!, I can actually put that down,” she says. “It makes me happy and I have that awesome possum feeling about it. It’s just grand.”

“The experience while I was in camp is what gave me the self-motivation and the self-persistence—the annoyingness—to be actually willing to be out there and find a job. And now, having an actual apartment and a roof over my head is basically the icing, cherries, whip cream, sprinkles on top of the cake.”

Supporting Communities Among the Shelters

Tue, 20 Jun 2017 10:36:37 GMT

Supporting Communities Among the Shelters

June 20, 2017

Their resumes would frighten some people: ex-cons, recovering meth addicts and alcoholics, college drop-outs and drifters. Most have run into sometimes self-constructed obstacles that have diverted their lives into a tail-spin that sent them crashing into homelessness. But now, they have emerged as leaders, with the roles of coordinators, mediators (also called peace-keepers and problem-solvers), groundskeepers or maintenance managers, kitchen managers, and transportation managers. Currently, the camps have between three and six on-site managers.

One of the great challenges of building and maintaining camp communities is that, by the nature of the program, the members of the community change often. The basic objective of the camp is to provide safe temporary shelter to give homeless people the stability to begin to change their situation. “Success” is when people find a better housing option and move out. And “failure” is people who move out because they can’t function in the community setting. Successes are more common than failures, but one way or another, people are moving out regularly. And with the long waiting list to get into the camps, people are moving in just as regularly.

“It changes every time you got a new person coming in,” says John Maddox, 66, groundskeeper at the Vets Camp. “That’s a new personality.” Because veterans are eligible for housing assistance from the Veterans Administration, the successful kind of turnover often happens more quickly there than at other camps. “But we learned one thing,” he says. “If you have four empty Huts, don’t send four guys at one shot because that’s four different personalities. We’re good at one. So [the CSS office] said, ‘OK, we’ll give you one a week.’”

Being good at assimilating new people is key. “I think we do a very good job of, when people first come in, letting them know what’s acceptable and what’s not and if they have questions, who to come and ask,” says Donna Jackson, 62, coordinator at the oldest of the camps, the Roosevelt Safe Spot.

“I let them know what the rules are and how to behave for a ‘minute’ so you can stay here, try to keep everybody here, even the rough ones,” says Bill Petrovic, 58, mediator at the Expressway camp, “’cause everyone’s got to have a place to be.”

The general practice is to let newcomers settle in and adapt to the group living situation at their own pace. “We take them on a little tour and say ‘this is what we expect from you, and after that, it’s up to you.’” says John. “In life, I’ve found it’s easier for you to dive into it [rather] than for someone else to push you.”

Fortunately, the volunteer managers—who, for the sake of stability, are allowed to stay in the camps beyond the usual 10-month limit—were all once newcomers themselves and understand the challenges of moving from the daily individual struggle for survival on the streets to a camp with 15 to 20 other people trying to work together. “When I first got here I didn’t know what to expect,” says Jeremy. “From what I’ve known of homeless people, they were either tweakers, drunks, or drug addicts of some sort, but then I looked at myself and thought, ‘well that can’t be everybody because I’m not like that anymore.’ After two or three days, the shell started to crack a little bit, and I started opening to these people.”

It took Red Stevens, 57, groundskeeper at the Roosevelt camp, a lot longer. “It took me quite a while to trust people, several months,” he says. “I like to be by myself. I’d go back [to my tent] and watch movies. Then I got to know people.” He appreciates the space he was given early in his stay and now he’s an important contributor. He also appreciates the CSS policy on alcohol and drugs. It’s against the rules to drink or do drugs in camp, but people are not evicted for drinking or smoking pot off-site. People who repeatedly abuse alcohol or use hard drugs are required to seek treatment. Red was a heavy drinker when he first came to the camp.

“When Red first came here, I had to pick him up out of the middle of the street. He was blocking traffic because he was trying to crawl across the street,” Donna says. “I couldn’t walk,” Red adds.

Red has tried treatment and says it didn’t work for him. But he had a stroke last January and has curtailed his drinking significantly. And the problem-solver at Roosevelt—an old drinking buddy of Red’s—is currently undergoing treatment. “We don’t have a bunch of people drunk in camp anymore,” Donna says. “That used to be an issue.”

Although the CSS alcohol and drug policy does give people like Red a chance to be in a safe community while they struggle with substance abuse issues, it can also add to the challenges for the on-site managers to maintain that safety.

Mary Schulz, 43, kitchen manager of the Chambers camp, tells of a deaf and mute resident with a drug problem. He has endeared himself to his fellow campers in some ways but when he is on drugs, he becomes angry and frightening, especially to the women in camp.

“I have compassion for him for his condition because he was born that way,” she says. “It’s not his fault that his parents just could not be bothered by a child with disabilities. Everybody’s just kind of shoved him into a corner. I’m a former meth addict, too. I’ve been clean and sober 22 years. I grew up being abused by men. I myself used to hide behind the abuse as to why I had to get loaded—but it’s not a good enough reason. He’s choosing to do the drugs knowing what they do to him. I don’t have compassion for that.”

When he’s on drugs, most people avoid him. The camp managers confront him, and they call Cahoots. But he has not been evicted. “He’s grown on [CSS staff], he’s grown on me, he’s grown on everybody in some way, shape, or form,” Jeremy says. “It’s pathetic, it’s admirable, it’s all over the board, some of the things he does are really stupid, some of the things he does are really amazing, so it’s really hard to kick him out on the curb.”

“When you know he doesn’t even have a curb to go to,” Mary adds.

In June, that resident was in Lane County jail for a probation violation, which Mary and Jeremy hope will accelerate his entry into a rehab program for which he has applied.

Bill from the Expressway camp, explains the drug and alcohol policy plainly: “No one is saying you can’t get loaded, but you can’t do it here and if you do show up that way then you need to stay in your tent and sleep it off. That keeps them safe.”

The camps all have mandatory meetings every Wednesday, and once-a-month work parties, communications meeting with someone from outside the camp, and staff meetings. When there is a fifth Wednesday in a month, managers from all the camps meet. “It’s good to get different perspectives because what works for this camp might not work for another camp,” William says. “And they might have an even better solution, which is what we hope.”

Residents engage in varying degrees of informal community activities at the different camps. Mary of the Chambers camp says social events “kind of randomly happen. We might go out and play ball or take care of the yard. We communicate, visit, sit up on the hill and just kick back—pretty much like a family almost.”

At the Expressway camp next door, things seem a little more low-key: “We have little cook-togethers and stuff like that,” Bill says. “Some people go to Starbucks together. There’s a group playing dominos now.”

“There are times when people just sit in the same area,” William says. “I’ve seen every seat in the common room completely full. Nobody talking. Everybody on a device or reading a book. They’re together, but they aren’t doing anything together.”

“They’re getting along,” Bill adds.

At both the Roosevelt Camp and the Vets camp, the residents eat together often but have few other non-required organized activities. At Roosevelt, there are occasional TV nights or folks might get together to do a puzzle. Donna and Red were setting up a watering schedule to involve everyone in the garden and encouraging people—one more time—to clean up after themselves in the kitchen.

John at the Vets camp says the residents have come together to work on firewood and other projects and there’s talk of a group trip to Spencer Butte or the Coast but nothing has come of it yet. They will go off in small groups to downtown and the library or head to the rivers to do some fishing. He likes to get away himself when he gets a chance. More than shared activity, what he sees as the essential underpinning of community is respect for each other: “You’ve got to show respect—if you’re not showing respect, you’re causing issues.”

For John, being in a leadership position is “an opportunity to do something. See that little pile of blackberries over there—well I’m cutting them down to make a big old garden because that’s what I do. I got up this morning and I painted all the woodwork on those benches. This is at 7 o’clock in the morning with a cigarette and a cup of coffee and I feel good.”

William and Bill of the Expressway Camp feel good about the direction their camp is heading now. “So far we’ve gotten real lucky on the people [the CSS office has] sent us,” William says. “They’ve been polite, they’ve been upbeat, they’ve got a general sense of going and doing something.”

But they acknowledge they’re in the early stages of the sort of community they’d like to see in the camp. “It’s still a baby,” Bill says. “We’ve got a lot of kindness. For some people it just takes a ‘minute’ to adjust to the rules and if you do it with kindness, it works better. We’ve got a pretty good crew right now. We have people who help us out to do stuff around camp and with other people when we’re having a hard time. So it’s not just staff dealing with it. And it’s much quieter!”

Mary and Jeremy think their Chambers camp is in a very good place now. “There’s a consistent basis of respect here between the people in the camp and the on-site managers,” Jeremy says. “I’m closer with those guys than I have been with a lot of people in my life to be honest with you.”

“When we’re coming back here,” Mary says, “we can say, ‘I’m going home.’ It’s to the point now, where the majority of people in this camp have bonded and are so close with each other that if asked to move to another camp, the answer would be ‘no.’”

Donna and Red share those sentiments about their camp—despite Red saying that sometimes being in a leadership position in the camp feels like having “a house full of kids and no Cadillac out front.”

“We take great pride in this camp,” Donna says. “We really do. Everybody does. Most people are so grateful to be here. They can leave their tent open and nobody bothers it. It’s very mellow. We don’t have any violent outbursts—at least not for a long time.”

“I like mellow,” Red says. “Everything be just fine.”

Red says his leadership role “gives me something to wake up for, do my watering, no big deal. I enjoy doing that, always have.”

Donna has discovered a talent for leadership. “I like my job. I’m good at this. I’m good with people.” And as much as she has helped foster the community at the Roosevelt Safe Spot, that community gives back to her.

“I have depression issues,” she says, “but with this kind of community and having such open relationships with people, I never feel lonely or isolated. That’s a big thing for some people—if you don’t feel like you fit in or people aren’t really nice to you then it adds to whatever you might be going through on you own, so this community atmosphere is really good for me.”

Autobahn Imports Sharing is Part of Their Business

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 04:07:27 GMT

Autobahn Imports Sharing is Part of Their Business

March 8, 2017

Autobahn Imports has been in business servicing customers in Eugene/Springfield since 1974. It also has the distinction of being the only car repair shop in Lane County to host a Conestoga Hut—actually a pair of them—on its property.

“It just seems the right thing to do,” says the owner of Autobahn, Sree Thakkun. “We have the vacant land, so if I can be of service helping others in this way, so be it.”

The first Autobahn Hut was recently moved from a south Eugene church parking lot and relocated by the CSS volunteer “Hut Crew” to the backside of Autobahn’s property on River Rd. A second Hut was recently built on the site.

Sree said the decision to allow placement of the Huts has a practical side as well. It will help as a deterrent to possible vandalism or theft on the property after business hours. In addition, the two Hut residents will be responsible for 10 hours of work per month at the site doing chores such as trash pickup, cleaning the bathroom, and cutting the grass.

The idea to host a CSS Hut site came from a conversation Sree had with Pastor Dan Bryant of First Christian Church. He and Dan have known one another many years as neighbors and friends. Dan knew CSS was looking for sites in neighborhoods where Huts could be placed, so asked if Sree would be interested.

Sree has led a life of adventure since the early days of his youth, including time being homeless. He was born in India and traveled extensively in his native country, at one point joining the Freedom Fighters of India in the quest to help improve the lives of oppressed people. He also traveled to the northern holy city of Rishikesh where he met the renowned teacher Swami Satchidananda who provided practical and spiritual guidance.

Sree emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1970s, spent time at an ashram in Pennsylvania, lived at a commune in Michigan, and eventually came to live in Oregon. His took a job in Salem at a car repair shop—after persistently bugging the owner to hire him, and at first for no pay—then moved to Eugene where he opened the Bug Barn, which later became Autobahn Imports.

Sree has also been an active volunteer and longtime soccer coach with Kidsports.

“I have been a bit of a rebel since the time I was born,” he said. “Water flows where it needs to” is his philosophy.

“We’re very excited about providing Huts at Autobahn Imports,” says Erik de Buhr of CSS. “It’s not every day you meet a business owner who is as supportive to our cause as Sree is, and that’s refreshing.

“It’s the human thing to do. It gives someone who is struggling with fitting into mainstream society a place to have stability. By giving them a place we prevent them from possibly becoming a burden on others.”

CSS volunteers are people of action

Thu, 08 Dec 2016 09:10:33 GMT

CSS volunteers are people of action

Dec. 8, 2016

John Winquist was driving on W. 11 ^th near Beltline earlier this year when he spotted a small abandoned metal building in a nearby field.

“There wasn’t anything going on around it,” John says. “Just a sign with a phone number.”

For John, the wheels started turning when he saw the metal structure on W. 11 ^th . He called the number posted on the building and found out the building itself was not for sale. But he did eventually talk with the owner of Tri-State Carports that sold metal structures like the one on W. 11 ^th . The owner listened to John’s description of the CSS Safe Spots and agreed to donate the metal sections and hardware needed for the building.

John and Pem drove to Harrisburg to pick up the metal walls and attachment pieces. CSS hired a crew of workers from Portland to come down and construct the building.

John has since added two sliding windows—ones he found at a window company in Junction City, which gave him a good discount. He also built a lean-to shed on the back side of the shelter that serves as storage for firewood.

The new community room has allowed residents to gather for community meals four or five times a week. Before the room was built, Donna says, the camp had at most one meal a month together. It’s also a gathering place for weekly planning meetings where decisions are made about Safe Spot events and where problems of daily living can be worked out.

“It has no doubt brought our community closer together,” Donna says. “We really look after each other here, and can have longer conversations about whatever is going on in people’s lives. There’s not as much of people being isolated as there maybe was before.”

“I really like what Community Supported Shelters is doing to provide a little stability in people’s lives,” John says.

John and Pem continue to volunteer for CSS. Their primary focus recently is cutting and hauling firewood for the Safe Spots, and they have brought four cords to the camps so far.

John will continue to keep his eyes open for opportunities to help make a difference in people’s lives at Community Supported Shelters.

Fred Wesley, Window Maker for Conestoga Huts

Tue, 17 May 2016 06:22:13 GMT

Fred Wesley, Window Maker for Conestoga Huts

May 16, 2016

The Conestoga Huts that have become an important part of temporary micro-housing for folks in Eugene are simple structures by design. But simple doesn’t mean cheaply built. And that especially goes for the single window installed at the back of each Hut.

Each window is handcrafted from cedar boards in the small wood shop of Fred Wesley. Fred puts in about five to six hours of volunteer time on each window, cutting boards to length, planing and sanding them, installing dowels at the joints, and gluing and clamping everything in place. It’s a lot of work and makes for a lot of sawdust, but Fred is happy to be part of a group of volunteers who help folks to live in temporary shelters.

“I just like to help out when I can,” Fred says. “And if I have the skills necessary to do a job, all the better. I like what CSS is all about, and I really like that people who don’t have a home can live in a temporary Hut for a while.”

“And every home needs a window, right?” he says.

The windows have hinges and open outward, held in place by lengths of small chain and a wooden fastener that Fred also makes.

Fred has been a woodworker most of his life. He and his wife Phemie built a cabin they lived in near the southern Oregon town of Broadbent in the 1970s. They salvaged most of the materials for the cabin from various sources in the area. Fred also worked as an odd-job carpenter for several years there, and Phemie was a potter.

Fred eventually took a job with the post office in Myrtle Point, and later transferred to Eugene. He delivered mail for the remainder of his post office career, mostly on a route in south Eugene, and is now retired.

Fred is also a longtime musician. He plays sax and standup bass and has been part of several bands over the years, playing most recently at The Jazz Station. He was a key volunteer at The Jazz Station when their leased building on West Broadway was refurbished to create the performance space.

Fred took over the Conestoga Hut window-making operation from Henry Schmald, a former volunteer with CSS who built over 30 windows. Henry was quite meticulous in designing and building the windows. He passed the design onto Fred in a notebook, including photos and drawings, which show precise measurements of each window part.

“It’s been really helpful to have this notebook with plans for the window,” Fred says. The notebook is quite detailed, including a cartoon of a guy sitting down to have a beer while the glue is drying for the window joints.

Fred makes two windows at a time. He says making them in pairs is more efficient.

Erik de Buhr, program director of CSS, says, “Having volunteers make custom windows gives the Huts a special touch. It helps the people coming into our shelters know there is more than just people’s donations behind the program…there is love.

“There is a group of great volunteers who give their time to give people in less fortunate circumstances a unique opportunity to do something different with their lives.”

Homeless Winter Safe Spot residents talk about what it takes to get through a winter.

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 09:18:10 GMT

Homeless Winter Safe Spot residents talk about what it takes to get through a winter.

Feb. 7, 2016

It’s winter again in Oregon: rain, cold, that oozing gray wetness that permeates everything. For most of us that means maybe cleaning our gutters, getting our furnaces checked, adjusting the thermostat, laying in a supply of wood for our stoves or fire places or paying bigger utility bills. Winter is something we pass through between our heated cars and our heated homes, wearing just the right layers of fleeces and raincoats and waterproof footwear. And we’ve been known to complain about the hassle and unpleasantness of it all.

But for those who live outside of conventional housing–-or just outside, period–-winter is a daily challenge to be overcome.

“It’s something that concerns me a lot,” says Praise, who lives in a Conestoga Hut at the Roosevelt Safe Spot and has had 18 different periods of homelessness in his 52 years. “I’ve been unhoused enough I’ve figured out the bare minimum of what I need for comfort because I have a lung condition, so I do try and make sure I stay as healthy as possible.”

For Nan (not her real name), a middle-aged woman living in a tent at the Chambers Safe Spot, this is her first homeless winter—and it’s hard. “I get cold easy,” she says. “I have to put a lot of effort into staying warm and dry.”

Sherri, 54, and Gary Newman, 62, live in a Hut at the Roosevelt camp, after they spent last winter in a tent there. Even though it’s much easier coping with winter in the Hut, Sherri says they still have to make a concerted effort “every day” to keep themselves reasonably comfortable.
Jeremy Jordan, 31, is in his fifth winter living outside and his second in a tent with his wife Rose at the Chambers camp. He says it doesn’t take him long to get ready for winter because he keeps close track of the changes in the weather. Certain people at the camp monitor the weather closely, and residents even compare sources to make sure they are getting the most accurate information.

Konnie “Mack” Mack-Kilday, 27, homeless since 2007 and in her second winter in a tent at the Chambers camp, says that while those experienced living outside can prepare relatively quickly, it can take others as much as a few weeks and sometimes they don’t really know what they need until winter is upon them.

“Number one is you have to fight for your right to keep your body dry and your belongings dry, especially your clothing,” says Praise. “If you go out and get soaked, you’ll be so cold,” Sherri says, “and you’ll get very sick.” Mack agrees. “It’s definitely key keeping dry,” she says. “Last winter, I didn’t have a rain suit but I got blessed with a rain suit this year and I’ve been a hundred times warmer and I haven’t got sick yet.”

Praise uses an umbrella when he goes outside of his Hut around camp so he doesn’t bring any moisture inside. He says he’s learned enough about thermodynamics to understand how to keep warmth in either a Hut or a tent while maintaining a sufficient airflow to minimize moisture buildup. He’s conscientious about wiping down any moisture that might build up. And when he has to wear heavy clothes to bed for warmth, he wears layers so any moisture resulting from sweat is dispersed among the layers rather than soaking a single layer.

“If you know you are going to sweat” he says, “you have to find a balance. Being unhoused really is a lot about balance.”

Sherri and Gary say it’s much easier to control moisture and keep their belongings dry in their Hut than it was in the tent last year. They have some condensation because of temperature variations between inside and outside, but they make sure to wipe it away and use Lysol in spots where they suspect mold might develop. Their top advice to newcomers to a homeless winter is to always keep a dry change of cloths, including extra pairs of shoes and socks and an extra coat.

It’s not as easy for Nan, who had bronchitis when we spoke to her, in her first winter in a tent. She keeps all her clothes in heavy plastic bags inside of plastic totes. Tents at the camp sit on raised wooden platforms with an A-frame tarp above, with openings at both ends. Most people add additional tarps to close off the ends, but even those extra tarps don’t always keep moisture out. Nan says she had to throw out some of her blankets because they had gotten moldy.

“There’s a few of us out here that for whatever circumstance, they just struggle with waterproofing,” Mack says. Her mattress sits on a piece of plywood raised off the tent platform by four bricks to allow air flow because mold tends to develop under her bed. The mattress is a little larger than the piece of plywood so she supports the edges with a couple of candles and two Dri-Z-Air containers, which have beads that are supposed to absorb moisture and are also used by other camp residents.

Jeremy and Rose get a lot of moisture in their tent, which Jeremy says is more of a summer tent with mesh all the way around it. “We literally have to pull almost everything out, wipe the tent down, and wring whatever we have out,” he says. “We have a drying line in our tent from one post to the other and we hang things up and let them dry out. It’s almost a daily issue.”

People who live outside keep a close eye on the temperature. Praise says a certain shift in thinking happens when temperatures get below 40 degrees at night. Others say that temperatures between 30 and 35 degrees prompt them to really start paying attention.

When the nights get cold, Nan wears two or three pairs of socks to bed, two pairs of tights, a turtleneck and an additional shirt, a heavy fur-hooded coat, a warm hat, and gloves. She has two sleeping bags stacked on top of each of other and a bunch of other blankets on top of that. She pulls the covers over her head so her breath will help keep her warm. When the temps get down to 30 and below and the Egan Warming Centers are open, she goes there.

Jeremy and Rose sleep on four thick egg-shell pads under three blankets, and they bundle up in so many clothes, it looks like they’re wearing life-jackets, he says. That keeps them plenty warm, even on the coldest nights, but they do generate a lot of moisture.

Mack sleeps on top of her sleeping bag with a thin throw blanket and a comforter on top until the temperature gets below 35 degrees. Then she’ll get under her sleeping bag, she says, which is rated to work down to 5 below zero. When it’s really cold, she throws a hand warmer in the sleeping bag, to keep it warm all night, she says.

Sherri and Gary have a propane cooking stove in their Hut, and they’ll light that for about 10 minutes when they first come in at night: “It warms your place up and it stays warm until you open the door,” Sherri says. They make sure they have sufficient ventilation so fumes from the stove are not a problem. They use sleeping bags and comforters, but it’s much more comfortable in the Hut than it was last winter in their tent, when, Sherri says, she would just hunker down for the night under piles of covers. The Huts are “well-insulated,” Gary says. “They stay pretty comfortable.”
Praise agrees, even though he has an older Hut that’s not as well insulated as the newer ones. He doesn’t use propane but says a couple of candles provide enough heat to warm the space. On cold nights, he sleeps in a mummy bag inside of a larger sleeping bag, making sure the bags are big enough to move around in but not so big they allow cold air to settle inside.

Praise, Mack, Sherri and Gary, and Jeremy and Rose have made it through the coldest nights without using the Egan Warming Centers, but they all say they are glad the centers are available for other camp residents who do go there.

Both camps have central tents with propane heaters where people can go anytime they get too cold. That’s one of the reasons that those who have lived through winters on the streets say it’s easier coping with the elements within the community of the camps.

“It’s much, much easier,” Praise says. “Living in a community like this where you have structure and longevity, it forces people to get along with each other, and the more trust you build, the easier it is to learn from each other. It’s a continuous education we give each other.”

“It seems a lot easier here than being out on the streets on your own.” Jeremy says, “just because you’ve got that secureness here and collaboration.”

“It’s so much safer here,” Gary says. “When you’re out on the streets, especially in the winter, you have to worry about your life, about your valuables. You really can be a victim for predators.”

There’s no formal structure in either camp for winter preparation. “People need to find their own wits about how to deal with winter,” Mack says. New people who aren’t experienced living outside in the winter or are still learning to trust the camp community sometimes need to try their own approaches first, she says.

“But we still give them ideas about what they could do,” Jeremy says. “We don’t let them fall too far,” Mack adds.

“A lot of it goes on behind the scenes,” Praise says, “and nobody has a complete picture of how much it happens.”

The Safe Spot residents offer some additional advice for anyone new to being homeless in the winter:

Have a sleeping bag that is rated to at least 30 degrees or lower.
Invest in good hand warmers.
Stay hydrated. Drink lukewarm water if you can get it.
Get tarps thick enough to hold heat in and last for a while.
Get heavy plastic totes with lids to keep clothes dry.
Get and wear extra socks so at least your toes don’t get too cold.
Get out and move. Aerobic exercise heats your body up and reduces your viral vulnerability.
Make sure you have a good source of weather information.
If you’re lucky enough to have a mate, hugs are a good source of heat
“It takes a commitment,” says Praise. “It takes a willingness to be your own caretaker.”

Hope & Randal: Love is kind

Wed, 18 Nov 2015 07:40:09 GMT

Hope & Randal: Love is kind

Nov. 17, 2015

Randal Freman, 34, and Hope Taylor (Freman), 28, lived at Community Supported Shelters Safe Spot Three, at Chambers and NW Expressway, for eleven months. In early November, thanks to ShelterCare, they moved into a 2-bedroom apartment on South Willamette Street. Randal and Hope had an epic journey to finally get to a place of their own.

Hope was born with birth defects and health problems so serious that she was given a 10 percent chance of surviving, and she was the second person ever to be placed on the ECMO heart and lung life-support machine at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. Her mother left her on her grandparent’s doorstep and for much of her life she believed her grandparents were her parents. Her left side has been partly paralyzed and she has had seizures and suffers from osteoporosis, as well anxiety and panic attacks. She married young because she wanted to be “sealed in the temple” with her Mormon husband. They lived in Louisiana. After the birth of her second child, who was born with three holes in her heart, Hope had a breakdown from postpartum depression and was placed in a mental hospital. Her husband had moved another woman into their house and kicked Hope out. A service group, the Assertive Community Treatment Team, “found” her in the hospital, helped her get disability, and placed her in a shelter for battered women. When her Utah family found out, they came and got her and set her up in a Mormon “singles ward” in Salt Lake.

Randal was raised as a Southern Baptist in Wichita Falls, Texas. When he was ten, his family—his mother, step-father, sister, brother-in-law, and him—set out hitchhiking from Wichita Falls to Denver, walking the first 80 miles to Quanah, Texas. They ended up in Salt Lake City because they slept through their planned stop in Cortez, Colorado, and didn’t wake up until they were in Utah. He lived in Salt Lake on and off for 20 years. He had certifications in computer technology and ran his own computer repair business. He had six kids with his common-law wife, but when he was 29, she left him and took the kids. About the same time, his mother died. Even before then, he says, his life was “kind of crap for a long time.” But after those setbacks, “I just didn’t want to feel anything anymore,” he says, “so I started doing meth.” He became severely addicted and lived in a homeless shelter for about three years. In late 2013, he entered a recovery program at The Rescue Mission of Salt Lake.

In early 2014, Hope and Randal met online through a website called Meetme.com. Randal says he loved her smile in the photo on the site. They built a relationship online and by texting, which was breaking the rules for Randal, who was not supposed to have a cell phone. At this time, Hope’s family was pressuring her to embrace Mormonism again and a friend virtually held her captive for periods of time while claiming to protect her. Randal kept urging her to meet with him in person. She would agree and then back out.

Finally, in late May 2014, they agreed to meet at the downtown library. She sent a text, saying she was coming. Then she called to say she wasn’t. Then another call—asking what floor he was on.

Randal : So she sits down across from me and I’m so happy. I’m giddy. I really like this girl. I like her attitude. I like her behavior. I like the way she talks

Hope : He sees the look on my face and he asks, “What’s wrong?” And the tears just poured out.

Randal: And I had to walk over. I was trying to give her comfort, and the moment her hand touched mine, I was like—I really want to be with this girl. We’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since.

They were both breaking somebody’s rules by seeing each other. Hope’s family disapproved of her dating a non-Mormon. Randal was not supposed to be dating anybody while in the recovery program. They sometimes talked on the phone until three or four in the morning, Randal staying on the line after Hope had fallen asleep: “He would listen to me sleep,” she says. He was put on nine-day lockdown after he stayed out all night to be with her.

When he got out of lockdown, they moved out of their respective places and went to live with friends of Randal’s from his drug-using days, but that didn’t last long as the “friends” tried to scheme Hope out of her social security money. By this time, it was summer, so they got a tent and lived in the mountains.

A friend of Randal’s convinced them that Oregon would be a good place to go because the cost of living was so much lower than in Salt Lake. They picked Eugene by a random search of the map— “and the name was cool,” Randal says. Their friend paid for their tickets.

When they arrived in Eugene in early September 2014, they bought a tent, sleeping bags, and a generator and set up camp in a field off Highway 99 near Four Corners, where other people were camping and they were told it was okay. After about a week, the police came and told them to leave. So, they put all their stuff in storage and went to the Mission. The Mission was tough for both of them, with Hope’s anxiety around people and the enforced separation between them for all but eight hours a day. “We had to sneak around to Ninkasi Brewery to hug and kiss goodnight,” Hope says.

They had heard about Community Supported Shelters from friends and moved into Safe Spot Three shortly after it opened last December. Soon, Randal began serving as assistant manager and is now the on-site manager. They were married by Reverend Bob Chambers of Triple Cross Motorcycle Ministry on January 28, right outside the gates of the camp, but they are still not legally married because Hope had all her legal papers, including her divorce decree, stolen. They hope to have that resolved soon and she will then legally take Randal’s last name.

While they were in the Mission, Randal taught Hope to make bracelets using macramé knots (“I replaced my addiction to methamphetamines with an addiction to crafts and God,” he says.) to help her cope with her anxiety. It works so well, she says, she can’t stop making them. She hopes to start selling them and has made initial attempts through Craigslist and the CSS office.

Randal works part-time for Bigfoot PCS as a field technician, working with computers again. He has remained drug-free since he first entered the recovery program in Salt Lake 26 months ago. He recently called his counselor from that program, which he left abruptly, to thank him and tell him he is still clean.

Hope has been cut off from any contact with her children by her ex-husband but she keeps track of them through Facebook. She also recently connected with her grandmother and another relative through Facebook, which she says has helped her to piece together the story of her past, which has been distorted by her memory problems and lies she was told by her family.

She struggles sometimes to get the help she needs. Recently when she was trying to set up her health insurance, she says, someone at a social service agency treated her like she’s “little,” she says, “and my family already tells me I’m a five-year-old. So I’m afraid to go back. But I need to.”

The camp can be stressful, too, she says, because there are so many people. She has made some friends, but it’s hard because of people coming and going. She does feel a sense of growth since she’s been there. “I can ride the bus by myself, without my music, now. The smallest sounds would scare me. People talking would scare me and send me into a panic attack. It still kinda does but it’s a lot better.”

Randal says that living in the Safe Spot has helped him find direction in his life. “It’s helped me and Hope in so many ways,” he says. “It’s given us a sense of community. We feel like we’re contributing to a micro-community within the camp. Looking out for each other, and working together.” He feels he’s found a calling in life, to help people who are homeless and he hopes to contribute to the camp after he and Hope find housing, through participating in Bible studies, which have been held just outside the camp, and by preparing food for residents.

Now that their time in the camp has led them to find housing, Randal had this message for Erik (director of programs) and Fay de Buhr (director of operations) and everyone involved with CSS: “Hope and I would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you have done for us both as regular campers and as volunteer staff and for all that we have learned during our time with this organization. You guys make a major difference in people’s lives and don’t let anybody tell you different.”

Recalling a passage from the Bible (1 Corinthians 13) that was read during their wedding, Randall says, “Being a site manager for Erik and Fay at Safe Spot Three has taught me the true meaning of ‘Love is patient; love is kind.’”

Ziggy Lawsha Rediscovers His Optimism

Thu, 24 Sep 2015 08:34:19 GMT

Ziggy Lawsha Rediscovers His Optimism

Sept. 24, 2015 - From The Humboldt Edge May/June 2014

Steve “Ziggy” Lawsha moved from the Community Supported Shelters Vets Camp Safe Spot into an apartment in mid-May. His stay at the camp was relatively short but it came at a critical juncture of his life and helped him get back to being the “positive person” he’d always thought himself to be.

He tried to make it work in Humboldt for over a year, living off the Social Security Disability payments he receives because of mental health problems, trying to get his HUD subsidy reinstated and writing for The Humboldt Edge, a publication by and about the homeless (see accompanying article below).

As last winter approached, though, he came to Eugene where rents were cheaper and he could get a fresh start. “I’ve never really had a negative point-of-view,” he says, “except at the point of eviction, when I felt really down.” But even then, he says, “although I got a raw deal, I knew I had to weather it.”

He stayed at the Eugene Mission for awhile but a positive test for marijuana got him kicked out of there, at night, in the winter. He spent one night in a motel, then went to the local VA for help. A staff member there gave him a sleeping bag and some other equipment and, after talking with Erik de Buhr (Executive Director of CSS), took him to the Vets Camp, where there was a spot for him.

Lawsha says he was sick when he first got to the camp and focused on getting housing—going to the VA or the Social Security office, getting his paperwork in order—so he didn’t interact much in the camp. But when he started feeling better, he started getting to know some of the other folks. “It was more like a community,” he says. “I’d come home and the fire would be burning and we’d sit around and introduce each other. And, of course, veterans, we’ve got all these stories to tell—and we’d kid each other.”

Camp residents also helped each other in locating services and working with the various agencies that could help them secure housing, Lawsha says. One fellow camper who had lived in Eugene a long time gave him a “guided tour” of the city, helping him to feel more at home. “That was cool,” he says.

In addition to help from CSS and the Vets Camp, Lawsha credits St. Vincent de Paul and the Hope Center at the Westside Apostolic Church (a collaboration between the church, St. Vinnie’s, Food for Lane County, and other veterans support organizations.) with helping him move from homelessness to his one-bedroom apartment on Coburg Road. He got support from the HUD-VASC (Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) program and is working part-time in a VA vocational rehabilitation program—and moving forward toward that teaching career.

He was in the Vets Camp for just over a month but it meant a lot to him.

“Without the Safe Spot,” he says, “I probably would have had to go back to California and live in the shelter because there was no other place for me to stay.”

He maintains relationships with de Buhr and some of his fellow Safe Spot residents. “I won’t forget where I came from. It was great to be there, trying to help out other guys even at the same time I needed some help, too.”

The Bum Rap

By Ziggy

When I became homeless, there were women who once thought me eligible, who now find me undatable. Surprisingly, others who wouldn’t give me the time of day now find my present predicament exciting and sexy. However, they don’t know how to approach the subject without seemingly showing pity for my situation.

It is for those people that I developed this primer. Here are some points to consider if you would like to date someone who is homeless:

Have a place of your own; it’s not considered dating the homeless if you are homeless too.
The homeless do not have a specialty dating service like ChristianMingles.com or Meetaninmate.com. So if you see a homeless individual that you’d like to date, the weather is a great icebreaker. You can also ask one of your homeless friends to introduce you.
Schedule your date for a weekend or holiday so your homeless prospect won’t miss valuable social services engagements Monday through Friday.
Do not take a homeless date to the library, the park, or to McDonalds. It’s not a date, it’s just killing time. Do not take them on a date to Clam Beach. It wouldn’t be a date; you would just be taking them home. That would be like taking the Pope on a date to the Vatican.
If you want to give a homeless date a gift, buy it at a local pawnshop. The chances of your success on your date will increase if you happen to buy them an item that they once owned.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: Sheriff deputies or police officers should wear civilian clothes when asking for a date with the homeless. Dismiss any remarks your date may make about the department.* They are just trying to be authentic. (If prior arrangements are made, you can pick up your homeless date in your squad car, but put them in the back seat so that their homeless friends won’t needle them for dating a cop.)
If a homeless person breaks your heart, perhaps they were just not really that into you to begin with. Do not despair. There are plenty of other eligible homeless out there who will accept you for who you are.

*Unless it’s true.

From the Streets to a Home

Thu, 23 Jul 2015 08:46:22 GMT

From the Streets to a Home

When he moved into the Vets Camp, Owens, 44, who has osteoarthritis in his hip, was trying to get Social Security Disability Insurance but was stymied by the bureaucracy. He had been kicked out of the Eugene Mission for testing positive for marijuana use, which he says he was taking to alleviate his hip pain. Though smoking marijuana was not allowed in the Vets Camp, he could smoke away from the camp. And the camp gave him a stable and safe place to be while he worked his way through the bureaucratic maze of Social Security—and something more: other people with whom to have normal conversations.

“It gets lonely out there,” he says. “There’s a lot of solitude in being homeless. ’Normal’ people don’t want to talk to you. People will kind of act like you’re not there. It was valuable just having someone to talk to. We had a camp full of vets and we’ve all got something in common.”

When his disability payments finally came through, he stayed with his brother for a while before moving into his current place in February. He has an upstairs room with a window air conditioner. ”This is perfect,” he says. “It’s quiet, on the edge of town, there’s not a lot of traffic going by. There’s no drama here.“ He’s trying to lose weight and arrange to have bariatric surgery so he can get his hip fixed, and he is pursuing a passion for photography.

“It’s pretty empowering having my own place. I’ve come a long way from sleeping under the bridge. Every time I drive past that bridge I look at it and it makes me appreciate the things that I have.”

Nonnie, 40, started working at the Salvation Army—a ten-minute walk from the Roosevelt camp and OVE—at the same time they moved into the Safe Spot. She is now a supervisor there and does “pretty much everything,” working as many as 25 hours a week, even though she’s only scheduled for 18—she goes in early and stays late to get as many hours as she can. Carlos, 45, has been working on getting disability insurance payments since they were in Portland, well over a year ago, but has faced many of the same bureaucratic obstacles as Owens did. He’s now hoping to get help with the paperwork—which he struggles with—from a Eugene attorney who offers assistance with social security problems at no charge.

Opportunity Village has 30 dwellings—including nine Conestoga Huts—accommodating close to 40 people. In the Vasquez’s 8-by-10 small home, living conditions are a step up from their situation in a tent at the Safe Spot. “It’s nice to be able to stand up,” Carlos says.

OVE has a kitchen facility with two refrigerators, laundry facilities, a common area in a yurt with computers and Wi-Fi, and a bathroom area with showers. Some residents have their own gardens with flourishing tomatoes and zucchini. Nonnie and Carlos have solar panels, which they first started using at the Safe Spot, to charge their cell phones and run a portable DVD player. And they’ve found a supportive community similar to what they experienced at the Safe Spot.

Like Owens, Carlos and Nonnie point to the camaraderie at the Safe Spot as a key element in their transition from homeless to small home residents. “That’s really hard to find these days in the homeless situation because out there everybody’s in it for themselves,” Nonnie says. “But in the Safe Spot and at OVE, everybody works together.”

“ We made good friends [at the Safe Spot] and that’s important to us,” Carlos says. “We’re kind of weird. We don’t have a lot of friends. We’re very picky about who our friends are and we found people who are very humble and genuine—just good people. That just improved the quality of that safety feeling. We still have relations with people there. ”

The couple says that the reputation that the Safe Spots and OVE have earned in the community has helped to open doors for them.

“When it comes to references, we have Erik [de Buhr, executive director of Community Supported Shelters] and the people we live with now,” Carlos says. “And everybody knows Praise [site manager at the Roosevelt camp]. “People will say, ‘oh, you live with Praise, you must be okay.’”

“We needed references to move in here,” Carlos says. “It always helps to have local references. In the future when it comes to being able to rent a unit that is super important to have.”

“Both of these places are well known and spoken of well,” Nonnie says. “If you live down by the river, people will give you this look, like ‘what kind of person are you?’ But if you’ve come from the Safe Spot or OVE, they know you’ve had to work with others and live in a community.”

Carlos and Nonnie are saving their money with the hope of moving to a place where they can stay long term and “have kind of a normal life.” They feel like they are in a much better position to do that than they were when they arrived in Eugene with everything they owned on their backs.

“We know there are going to be challenges that are going to get in the way,” Nonnie says. “But we have our faith never ending, and He’s blessed us with so many things already, like being here.”

“It’s wonderful here.”

Vets Camp Has A New Home—with Huts and Sobriety

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 09:39:44 GMT

Vets Camp Has A New Home—with Huts and Sobriety

Community Supported Shelters will move the Veterans Safe Spot Camp to Eugene Mission property.

April 28, 2015

The Veterans Safe Spot, managed by Community Supported Shelters, is moving from Chambers and Northwest Expressway to property within the campus of the Eugene Mission. With that move, beginning in early June, residents will go from living in tents on platforms to Conestoga Huts with access to electricity and the meals, showers, and other services provided by the Mission. They will also be required to be—and to stay—sober.

The new camp will open with up to six Huts, with four others ready to go, and will be set on a large open lot that was used for the Mission’s newspaper collection program, which ended about two years ago. The camp for veterans will be developed amidst the Mission’s eleven buildings on its 7.5 acre property on West 1st in Eugene, but it will continue to be independent of the Mission. “What’s important for us to remember is we’re on Mission property but it is our own program,“ says Erik de Buhr, executive director of CSS.

The Mission provides shelter, meals, and a variety of services for 400–600 homeless people every day, more than any other program in Lane County. It is forthrightly Christian-based, but the current staff is consciously trying to counter an impression that “they force God down the throat,” of their guests, says Jack Tripp, executive director. Mandatory chapel attendance was ended about a year ago. “We are not backing away from the fact that we are a Christian organization because we are, but I couldn’t find anywhere in the Bible where Christ shoved his message down people’s throats.”

That’s one of many ways the Mission has changed in Tripp’s four-and-a-half years there. “We kind of killed the Eugene Mission,” he says. “It’s destroyed. That thing you knew before doesn’t exist anymore. That was a homeless shelter; that was a flophouse—it enabled homeless folks to sit here forever.“

Now, he says, the Mission is becoming a “wellness shelter” for homeless people. Among the new initiatives are a Life Change program, a one-year intensive Christ-centered recovery program for up to 60 men and women; a Community Social Service Hub, which brings agencies serving the homeless to the Mission; and active case management, which means all residents have a staff member who knows their situation and tries to steer them toward wellness. Except for those who are severely mentally ill, who can stay indefinitely, there is little patience for those not making progress.

“If you come to the Mission you cannot sit here,” Tripp says. “You will be case-managed. So if you don’t want to be case-managed, go somewhere else.”

All guests are required to shower every day and wear hospital scrubs to bed so their cloths can be cleaned. Men, women, and women and children sleep in separate quarters and eat at different times. And the Mission has a zero-tolerance policy toward use of alcohol and drugs. They test randomly or when someone displays signs of intoxication. One positive test and you are kicked out for six months.

When Tripp heard that CSS was looking for locations to place Huts, he suggested the unused newspaper collection area. He was especially supportive because the camp was targeted to veterans. “We have such a heart for veterans because we serve so many now—that it just seemed to be a no-brainer.”

Sobriety was the one requirement that Tripp insisted on. At the current Vets Camp location, residents are allowed to drink off-site and it generally takes three “write-ups” for drinking in camp (or other rule violations) before eviction. Tripp was concerned that any drinking within the Mission campus would undermine all the people trying to stay sober. De Buhr agrees, “The big thing is maintaining sobriety because if we don’t, we’re basically putting a thorn into their program.”

Beyond that, de Buhr thinks promoting sobriety is critical in helping homeless veterans. “I feel like we need to support them beyond just giving them shelter. We need to work with the addiction issue because otherwise we’re just moving alcoholics into houses without really meeting their deeper need. So when the opportunity came up to move, to have space at the Mission, it was a chance to take that next step.”

All people moving to the camp will be required to be sober. De Buhr estimates that of the nine people currently in the Vets Camp, one is alcoholic and four or five drink regularly. Anyone struggling to stay off drugs and alcohol will be asked to go through a 90-day in-patient treatment program through Willamette Family Treatment Services before moving to the Mission site. Residents at the camp will be tested by CSS camp managers, but the consequences of a positive test will be different than those the Mission enforces: residents will have to leave the camp for two weeks, but they will have a place to go. A small fenced-in area connected to the remaining Chambers Safe Spot camp will be set up for those in “exile.”

Campers at the current Vets Camp site have shown mixed reactions to the move. De Buhr met with them in mid-April to discuss it and by the end of the meeting, “They were fine with it,” he says. But in the time since then, some concerns have emerged. “Some of the vets there have a preconceived idea of the Mission and they’re pretty unhappy about it,” he says. “There is a rebel-like tendency in homeless culture, and it will be up to them to decide what to do in the end. A few of the campers who don’t engage so much in homeless culture are happy about it.” One vet has already agreed to the 90-day treatment program if he’s still struggling to stay sober when it’s times to move.

“Change is hard and change is a process,” de Buhr says.

At the meeting, he asked the campers if CSS offered a choice between a “wet” camp where they were allowed to drink and the Mission project with the sobriety requirement, which would they choose. “Nobody chose the wet camp,” he says. Another meeting is scheduled for early May, and de Buhr hopes he can again clarify the intentions behind the move and counter any pessimism that has developed.

Both Tripp and de Buhr acknowledge that their respective organizations take different approaches to serving the homeless, but as they’ve worked on this common project, they see important similarities as well.

“We’re different in a lot of ways,” Tripp says, “but we share our love for the homeless.” And he sees more than that.

“When you’re serving in these kinds of ministries, you get kind of a tunnel vision towards those you are serving,” he says. “We think about the community at large not just the homeless. We are told by God to do two things: to love him with everything we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Well, why would I think that those who have homes are not my neighbors as well. So our efforts in the past of enabling, I think, were really hurting this community, and now by being used by the Lord to try to help folks get well, that’s well for the community, too.”

Both CSS Safe Spot campers and participants in the Mission’s Life Change program volunteer with Eugene’s Parks and Open Space Division to do work in city parks. “Isn’t that great?” Tripp says. “This is about really trying to help this community—and neither of our organizations are enabling. We’re loving.”

“What the Mission is doing is impressive,” de Buhr says. “They serve the most homeless people of any organization in Eugene and they do it without tax dollars. Eugene’s not big enough for us to not be working together. We have to share resources and be talking to one another. We both want to hold people to some standard. It’s really important that people feel they have certain standards to meet. If they don’t, chaos just takes over. We don’t work as hard as we do to enable a few people to just continue their path downward.

“The Mission is trying to do a lot of down-to-earth kind of things, and I’m totally about being down-to-earth and trying to create programs that help people improve their situations—whatever that improvement looks like for them. Somebody can be making just a minute improvement and to me that’s just a huge success.

“Our organization tries to push for changes in redefining what citizenship can look like,” de Buhr says, “so active citizenship can be distributed to larger amounts of people, and you don’t need to have all the advantages of society to become a contributing member.”

When the Mission site became a possibility there was some discussion of that becoming a fourth Rest Stop managed by CSS, of keeping a camp going at the current Vets Camp site. In addition to the Vets Camp and the adjacent Chambers Safe Spot, CSS manages a Rest Stop at Roosevelt and Garfield. The Rest Stops average about 15 residents each. But de Buhr concluded that would have put too much strain on CSS resources. By keeping resources concentrated on three camps, it may even be possible to serve as many people as four camps could handle, he says.

Both de Buhr and Tripp recognize that our community lacks facilities for homeless addicts and alcoholics who get kicked out of the Mission, the Rest Stops, or other programs: a “wet” shelter or camp. “We realized we couldn’t house those who are using,” Tripp says. “Does that mean we don’t have a huge heart for those who are using? We do. I do pray this everyday: ‘God if you want us to open a wet shelter someday, give me two million bucks and we’ll do it.’ This community needs one because I think if we can pull those men and women out of the woods, we can at least get a relationship started with them to get them into case management. But it’s not happening now.”

“I’m not opposed to a wet camp,” de Buhr says, “because I think a wet camp could actually sober some people up because they would be surrounded by that behavior exaggerated. But to find a place for a wet camp, that’s crazy. It would be like running hell.”

As it is, both organizations struggle with funding and resources. Tripp says the Mission operates on a budget of $2 million a year and they need $3 million to do what they want to do, and the staff of 30 full-time-equivalent positions should be 50. De Buhr says CSS wants to keep growing and exploring new ways of providing shelter for people who have no place to go but they have to be careful of spreading themselves too thin. “You have to be wary of compassion burnout. We don’t want to run this organization we’ve been building for several years into the ground.”

Fundraising for the Vets Camp at the Mission was initiated by Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy. So far, about $14,000 has been raised toward a goal of $25,000 to get the camp up and running, de Buhr says. The First Congregational Church is planning a month-long fundraising campaign with the hope of gathering an additional $10,000. Those funds cover the cost of the Huts, electric hookups, porta-potties, garbage collection, drug testing kits, and some operational costs for CSS.

De Buhr sees enough room and infrastructure at the Mission site to develop microindustries for campers to work in at some point. One possibility would be composting: “Where people would learn how to make soil and then we could sell the soil to the community for gardening.” But that’s still just a possibility.

“We have a saying ‘grow as we go’ and ‘grow slow,’” he says. “We’re not promising anything but the old site had no potential to create microindustries, but with this site we have a lot of potential.”

The transition to the new site will begin in early May, with the removal of tent covers and periphery equipment at the NW Expressway camp. The first step at the Mission will be to put up a fence between the camp site and the building to the east that houses classes and physical fitness activities for the Mission’s women’s Life Change program. Huts will be added in increments of three, de Buhr says, to best accommodate volunteer work parties. As many as 15 Huts could eventually be placed there, he says.

De Buhr hopes some of the vets at the current site will find housing through the Veterans Administration before the move. Others may opt for the treatment program and others may decide to leave rather then commit to sobriety and living within the Mission. All current residents who are veterans and sober will be welcome at the Mission site, de Buhr says.

“I predict a smooth transition, where there is no lapse in service to anybody unless that’s what he or she chooses,” he says.

Leaders within the camp will be responsible for security and addressing any problems that might arise. Mission staff members will be available for support and backup. No formal arrangement has been set up yet for evaluating how things are going, but de Buhr and Tripp expect regular check-ins to assess the situation.

“This is like the next experiment,” de Buhr says. “It’s a good place for us to be to focus our resources and put a little more pressure on some of the veterans who want help to stay sober and to seek assistance with that. Maybe with the infrastructure upgrade to Huts with electricity, people will have more reason to want to stay sober.”

“This is a test for both of us,” Tripp says. “this may last a month or it may last 50 years.”

Lights On at the Roosevelt Safe Spot

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 09:55:16 GMT

Lights On at the Roosevelt Safe Spot

Feb. 23, 2015

A new sense of purpose emerges from connections between a father and son and NextStep and Community Supported Shelters.

It’s an all-American scene. A father and a son at a workbench, eyes fixed on the task at hand, tools and hardware spread out in front of them, hands busy with screwdrivers and pliers and drills, working with clear purpose at screws and bolts and tangles of wire. Not much need for any words.

Ray Shields and his son Jonathan are dismantling electronic components donated to NextStep Recycling, a Eugene nonprofit that recycles used electronics, makes technology accessible to low-income people, and provides job training to at-risk population groups.

Ray and Jonathan live together in a Conestoga Hut at the Roosevelt Safe Spot, managed by Community Supported Shelters. They are volunteers and they like what they do.

“I like to take things apart,” says Jonathan, 36, with a smile.

“I like to tinker,” says Ray, 66, with a similar grin, “whether it’s a bicycle or a solar panel, it’s something to play around with.”

Ray’s tinkering, Jonathan’s contribution, and the strong ties that they as individuals and Community Supported Shelters as an organization have developed with NextStep are working out well for everybody.

“He wanted to come back here, so that was cool,” Nelson says. “The basic dismantling upfront is more for the kids and beginners. The qualified masters come back here and do heavy dismantling—the things we don’t want the kids to mess with upfront, things that may have something hazardous in them. Somebody like Ray can figure that out pretty easily.

“Ray and Jonathan have logged hundreds of hours.” Nelson says. “They come in every morning and do an excellent job. They get along well with everyone. Ray’s kind of a semi-genius, a genius in progress.”

The NextStep–CSS connection goes back to when de Buhr worked at NextStep as marketing manager and CSS was a new vision just beginning to take form in his mind.

“Erik would come in all the time and talk to me and share his ideas and his visions, which are pretty dead on, I think,” Nelson says. “I knew what Erik was all about and when he said he was going do something, I said, ‘How can I help?’”

The volunteers also include mentors, mostly seniors who show up on a regular basis and provide guidance about both specific tasks and general work habits. Paid employees include five people from Jobs Plus, a state program to help people transition off public assistance that pays wages for a six-month period.

Luis Buckhalter was living at the Mission when he started volunteering at NextStep through Experience Works, a job training program for people fifty-five and older. Six months later, he was hired as a paid employee in the tech department. Now, almost five years later, he’s supervisor and trainer in the computer dismantling area.

“The main issue with homeless, they have old behaviors that have to be changed,” Buckhalter says. “If we change our behaviors then we can move on.” With both homeless and others in his area, he says, “We try to give them some job skills, show them how to carry themselves on a job, and have a real work environment. A lot of the people we get don’t have social skills, a lot of them don’t have people skills at all. We’ve got to work on behaviors and social skills—because they work hand in hand.”

NextStep also helps volunteers and Jobs Plus employees find work. Nelson recently hired Lena Demosthenes, who was a Jobs Plus client, to coordinate job search services.

“We can’t hire everybody that comes in the door,” Buckhalter says. “But we can try to assist them in other ways to get a job, you know, ‘dress right, act right, show up, don’t show up raggedy, don’t show up stinking, don’t show up with your boobs hanging out—nobody’s going to hire you.’”

Referring to Demosthenes, who is also a full-time student, he says, “When you can see someone like that, see how they rise up, I’m paid. I’m paid over and over again. The money here ain’t shit. You know, I’m going to keep it real. But when I see someone moving on to better things; than I’m paid, then a smile is on my face.”

Nelson, too, has a smile on his face when he reflects on how NextStep is faring in its mission to recycle, make technology accessible, and advance job training, but acknowledges challenges. “I think we’ve been able to maintain what we are doing but there’s a lot of obstacles. We have to make a bunch of money, and scrap prices are way down right now.”

About a quarter of NextStep’s revenue come from recycling scrap; they sort out 65 different commodities. The primary source of funds is the NextStep ReUse Store at 980 McKinley Street—and the store is dependent on “people bringing their stuff in here [to the donation center at West 10 ^th Avenue and Garfield Street] and us picking stuff up.” The NextStep staff puts a lot of time into contacting businesses, encouraging them to donate their used electronics.

And Nelson expects the close relationship with Community Supported Shelters to continue and would be happy to see more volunteers come from the safe spots. “We’re open to that. Any of them can come over here if they want to anytime. There haven’t been that many show up but the few that have, have been pretty good. These guys [Ray, Jonathan, Patrick] really like it. Everybody needs to find his own thing to make him happy to work for free.”

Ray Shields would like to see his work at NextStep turn into a paying job, but he is getting a lot out of it as a volunteer. He had done volunteer work when he was living in a church parking lot before moving to the Roosevelt Safe Spot, but he didn’t feel appreciated. It’s different at NextStep. “I do feel appreciated,” he says. “Roy comes back to where I’m working to tell me the food’s ready—and that’s aimed right at me. He calls me before he calls anybody else. It’s nice of him to cook.

“And, he’s always saying, ‘Need anything for the camp? It’s yours.’” Items that Ray has taken back to the camp include one of the solar panels on his Hut, the lights in the central tent, several of the 12-volt server batteries that store the electricity, as well as assorted cabinets and tables.

And Ray is certainly appreciated by CSS’s de Buhr, “Ray doesn’t wait for somebody else to do things,” de Buhr says. “He won’t allow himself to be stuck by the situation. He’ll just go ahead and scrap things together.”

Ray says he didn’t really have a purpose in life until he moved into the Roosevelt Safe Spot and got reconnected with Jonathan.

“My purpose is kind of twofold,” he says. “To do what I can for the camp, and NextStep is included in that, and to help my son. He’s given me a purpose again. I lost that purpose because I did something stupid years ago and kind of broke my family up. My son is the one who stuck by me. We work together. We go to church together on Sundays. I get to try to be his dad again.”

Ripping away at a donated television at the NextStep workbench, Jonathan says he enjoys working with his father, that they function well as a team trying to keep up with the assorted electronics that NextStep sorters keep loading into a large wooden box next to them.

Jonathan is the main breadwinner for them now. He does odd jobs—walking the dog, mowing the lawn—for his grandmother. That not only gives them “pocket change” to go along with the food stamps they receive, it also contributed to the lighting and charging projects they’ve done for the camp, paying for the first solar panel and other materials not available from NextStep. “I help a little in the projects,” Jonathan says. “Normally, I provide the money, which I have very little of. And he provides the know-how.”

Ray’s know-how is based both on his education—he studied radio/television servicing at LCC right out of high school and he has an associates degree in culinary arts and food management—and a lifetime of work experience: “If you put everything I’ve done down on a resume, it would look like a phone book.

“Just because somebody’s homeless doesn’t mean he’s uneducated,” Ray says. “There’s a lot of people here that are very talented and very educated and they just got themselves into a situation that made them homeless—that’s what it is.”

Roy Nelson says he’s thankful to have Ray and Jonathan and Patrick Shipley at NextStep.

Roosevelt Safe Spot site manager Praise says that the experience of those three and the benefits that NextStep materials have brought to the camp might inspire others—including him—to volunteer at NextStep.

And Ray is thinking about upgrades and new projects. He’d like to change the halogen lights in the common tent to LEDs, which use less energy. He’s thinking about a solar array for a charging station and maybe even wiring in the whole camp. The other safe spot camps are watching with great interest to see if a similar set-up could work for them. And he’s trying to figure out how to regulate hot water use if the camp goes ahead with a proposed shower system. Nelson has a couple of tanks ready for him that might work. And Ray and Jonathan are thinking of signing up for Lane County’s Master Recycling Program. There’s lots of tinkering left to be done.

“I guess what makes me feel the best,” Ray says, “is being here with my son.

Filling A Gap with A “Godsend”

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 09:42:27 GMT

Filling A Gap with A “Godsend”

Jan. 8, 2015

Collaboration between Community Supported Shelters, ShelterCare, and the First Christian Church keep Aaron Smith heading toward recovery.

Aaron Smith did not want to go back out on the streets. Recovering from an infected collarbone and being weaned from an eight-year addiction to heroin, he was nearing the end of the 30-day limit of his stay at ShelterCare’s Homeless Medical Respite Program.

“I had nowhere to go,” Smith says.

But ShelterCare community health worker Sydney DeBell had worked with Community Supported Shelters in helping a couple go from a Conestoga Hut in a CSS Rest Stop into the respite program and then back into the Hut—which had been moved to the First Christian Church—before finally placing them into housing managed by ShelterCare. DeBell thought that Hut might work for Smith. After meeting with Erik de Buhr, CSS executive director, and signing a behavior agreement with the First Christian Church, Smith moved to the Hut in early December.

“This is a Godsend,” says Smith, who was living in the brush not far from Franklin Boulevard before his hospital stay. “It’s dry. I can lock my stuff up. It’s just a safe place for me and my dog to lay down at night.”

The kind of collaboration that kept Smith—and his dog Pup-pup—off the streets can play a key role in addressing homelessness, says Dan Bryant, pastor of the First Christian Church. Different groups can bring different capabilities to address the problem, he says, and “If everyone takes a little piece of it, we can create solutions that work.”

ShelterCare has a long history of working with other organizations to create coordinated strategies to meet the needs of homeless clients, says Lucy Vinis, development director. She welcomes Community Supported Shelters as a relatively new partner. “The Huts are a pretty spectacular short-term solution to fill in the gap between one step and the next,” she says.

Smith went to the emergency room with his infected collarbone and ended up at Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend for about two weeks. The hospital treated his wound and began to wean him from heroin with methadone treatment. Social workers there determined that he was eligible for the ShelterCare respite program—a partnership with PeaceHealth and Trillium Community Health Plan, which coordinate Oregon Health Plan coverage in Lane County. OHP covers the cost of the respite treatment.

De Buhr says he first contacted Trillium about the couple in the Rest Stop Hut, who had repeated visits to hospital emergency rooms, and the Trillium caseworker agreed that the ShelterCare respite program was a more efficient way to treat them. The collaboration has grown from there.

During Smith’s stay at the respite program, the staff coordinated his medical treatment—changing his bandage every other day, administering his medication, and facilitating regular visits to his primary care physician. He was tapered off the methadone and now takes only non-narcotic sleep aids.

The goal of the respite program, according to Vinis, is to move clients directly to longer-term housing after the program’s 30-day limit is reached. ShelterCare offers about twelve one-to-two bedroom subsidized apartments through its new Cascade program, but the respite program has grown so fast—initially intended to serve four clients at a time, it now has fifteen—that it is not always possible to accommodate all respite clients. That’s the gap that Aaron Smith found himself in.

That’s where a Hut can serve a valuable role as an intermediary step, Vinis says. Moving respite clients like Smith into a Hut instead of releasing them to go back to the streets allows the ShelterCare case worker to keep working with them, to make sure that their medical or mental health problems continue to be addressed. And it helps the clients meet the challenges of whatever sort of recovery they are dealing with.

“We all know that it’s a lot easier to organize your thoughts and do the things you need to do when you have one safe place to be,” Vinis says.

In addition to coordinating Smith’s medical care, ShelterCare is helping him to secure identification papers, a critical step in applying for Supplemental Security Income and maybe even getting back to work in the painting and construction field, which is what he did before “lots of bad choices” landed him on the streets. He also gets a bus pass from ShelterCare and someone to talk to. “[Community Health Worker] Jeanette [Saint-Onge] pretty much took me under her wing, and she’s been a great help.” The plan is for Smith to stay in the Hut, which is now designated for ShelterCare clients, for one to two months before moving to more permanent housing.

For CSS’s de Buhr and Dan Bryant of the First Christian Church, ShelterCare’s involvement fills a gap in their skill set for dealing with homeless clients facing challenging medical or mental issues. “We’re not social workers,” de Buhr says. “We’re focused on providing basic shelter, and many of these people need somebody to be their advocate. ShelterCare can do that. First Christian Church can provide the space for the Hut. So it’s everybody doing what they do best in the community.”

Bryant, who also serves as vice-chair of Lane County’s Poverty and Homelessness Board, hopes this kind of collaboration will encourage “more folks to host Huts.” He’s actively campaigning around the county toward that end.

“We know we can do this,” he says. “There are lots of ways to make it work by getting more community partners involved, to help people who want to host Huts with things like client intake and management. Someone else can do those things.” St. Vincent de Paul’s overnight parking program, for example, provides client-screening services for some Hut hosting programs.

“The critical need,” Bryant says, “is more spaces to put these Huts.”

ShelterCare’s Vinis says she “absolutely” hopes to see more Huts become available to fill in the gaps for homeless clients. And de Buhr says CSS is ready to build as many Huts as there are places to put them. “It’s more difficult now finding sites for Huts,” he says, “than getting money to build Huts.”

CSS has other collaborations in the works. All the components of a Hut for White Bird Clinic are ready to go in the CSS shops, but a location has not been set. That Hut will host clients for very short-term (two or three days) emergencies. CSS also is in discussions with the Eugene Mission about providing several Huts for clean and sober veterans.

Aaron Smith says his Hut has helped to keep him clean and sober. “Before I didn’t give a shit. I had nothing to care for. What? A tent? Come on. This Hut and the help I’ve gotten from ShelterCare has given me a reason to care and a structure. I don’t want to lose this. I really don’t.”

God’s Challenge: Hosting Huts at Wesley Methodist

Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:49:24 GMT

God’s Challenge: Hosting Huts at Wesley Methodist

Nov. 18, 2014

The first 15 months of a Hut hosting program at Wesley United Methodist Church have brought successes, failures, a lot of learning, and immeasurable rewards.

“We’ve learned,” he says, “and we’re better able to take on that kind of issue because it’s not somebody else talking to us about it, it’s something we’ve gone through. Now, we try to strategically intervene on these issues, instead of just applying a direct hammer.”

“Even the guest we had the hardest time with, I like him,” Porter says. “I’m his friend and he knows I’m always going to be his friend.”

“We started wanting them just to follow the rules directly, but you’ve got to talk to these people and let them talk to you and you’ve got to let them know that they’re helping us as much as were are helping them.”

Porter says that one of the challenges is that their guests sometimes have learned “how to work the system,” developing sometimes manipulative coping skills necessary to survive on the street. While they may not lie directly, “they’re not being truthful,” he says. One man never mentioned in his application interview that he had serious health problems, that he needed insulin, refrigeration, and a breathing apparatus. While not happy with the guest’s initial lack of candor, the church group was able to accommodate him and he became one the success stories. They even helped him with a deposit he needed to move into the housing situation that followed his time in the Hut.

“We’re not perfect by any means, but we’re trying,” Porter says. “Every new person is a new situation.”

“What I really like about it is that after you get to know them and they have some trust in you, you get to see them as they really are, rather than as just being different from you.”

It’s that spirit of compassion that has made the Wesley Wagons program successful, according to Keith Heath, St. Vincent de Paul’s Service Station manger and overnight parking program coordinator—and advisor to Wesley group. “They meet with the residents once a week and make them feel loved and part of the church community,” Heath says. “And they always ask them, ‘What can we do to help?’”

“When we treat people with respect, we’re going to get positive results 99 percent of the time,” he says.

The Wesley group got started after a visit to the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, where there was an active Hut hosting program. Wesley United has a long history with service and mission work. “We’re a Christian organization and if we don’t try to act out quite a bit of what Jesus said, we’re missing something,” Porter says.

They spent time explaining the program to people who lived nearby in their Willakenzie neighborhood. They did encounter some resistance. One neighbor with children insisted that a fence be put up so there wasn’t a view into his backyard from the Huts. And other people were “awfully nice about it,” Porter says. “You don’t want to create a situation with your congregation or your neighborhood where you’re going to have antagonism going on all the time. That’s hard to predict but it’s something you’ve got to work on.”

The church is fortunate to have a big enough piece of property that there is a “buffer” zone between the Huts and neighboring houses. The fact that the Huts are portable also helps to ease concerns of neighbors and the congregation. “We hope our Huts stay there for a long time but it’s not as rigid as it would be if you went out there and put up a more permanent structure,” Porter says.

The Wesley Wagons committee worked with Community Supported Shelters to set up the two Huts and with St. Vincent de Paul and Heath to select their guests. Heath continues to work with them in screening potential new residents and dealing with challenging situations.

“We could not operate without St. Vincent de Paul and a person like Keith. We just couldn’t do it,” Porter says. “We wouldn’t have the knowledge or the resources that he has to bring the clients to us—to make sure that we weren’t creating any problems for the neighborhood or the church or the client.”

Heath also helps when things don’t work out with a guest. “All of us are lay people who believe in the dignity of each person, that if they can feel that they are significant and needed, they’re on their way,” Porter says. “Sometimes that doesn’t happen right away and sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Keith and St. Vinny’s are so much more skilled with situations like that.”

Things have worked out well so far for Mel Bradshaw, who moved into his Hut in June and, as the October rains hit, was making plans to move into a camper on land owned by St. Vincent de Paul. Bradshaw, 59 years old, has been on the streets since his 17-year marriage fell apart in 1999, spending most of his time “collecting cans and drinking beer.” He lived on loading docks and church porches between stints at the Mission. Now, he hasn’t had a drink in almost two years, and he has a renewed sense of hope.

“I was losing faith, getting old and feeling crippled from a failed surgery,” he says. “I thought I can’t do this anymore and then all this came into my life, and it gave me confidence to keep trying, to keep working out at the Y, to stay sober. This is kind of a blessing. People have told me along the way, ‘You get sober and things start happening,’ and it’s true.”

It’s not always easy for Bradshaw. “There are a lot of pitfalls all around,” he says. People he used to drink with on the street call him or ask to come to the Hut, seeking help he’s not in a position to give them or possibly to tempt him. One time, two drunk men took a cab to the church and were drinking in the Hut next door—neither Bradshaw or Oh were there at the time. The police were called. Bradshaw apologized to the church, but Porter and pastor Erin Martin were understanding and supportive, he says.

Bradshaw works on the flowerbeds at St. Mary’s church where he first got sober, and he has spent hours fixing up the rose beds at Wesley United Methodist Church—tending the roses, “resurrecting” a statue of St. Francis, and even washing the big windows of the church that look out on them. “I think that surprised them,” he says. “They didn’t see that coming from a homeless guy.”

“Mel goes out of this way to do things for the church,” Porter says. “James [Oh, the other current guest] helps dig trenches and does other things. They’re teaching me to be a better person, especially because of the situations that they’ve been in. I’m learning and I’m getting more out of it than they are in many ways. I feel that way—you get more out of giving indirectly than you do out of getting. And it really helps me when I see these two people. They understand the importance of giving—and that’s half the battle.”

Porter is quick to sing the praises of the Conestoga Huts, which stood up so defiantly against the driving rain. “It’s just a wonderful structure, you could almost kiss it. It’s so well thought out. It’s a wonderful stopping off point to go from one direction to another. It’s an interim thing, to give people that step up they need.”

He also says the Affordable Care Act had made a big difference for people struggling with homelessness. “Some of these people have health issues and they need to be dealt with. Now that they all have health insurance, they feel more like they are part of our country and part of our community.”

St. Vincent de Paul’s Service Station provides key services, Porter says: meals, a place to take a shower, and a means to charge up cell phones, an important communication tool for people trying to rebuild their lives.

St. Vincent de Paul’s Keith Heath says reduction in funding from the city of Eugene has resulted in the reduction of two managers at the Service Station, which is no longer able to be open on weekends, and a loss of 12 spots in the parking program, which provides legal camping, free garbage disposal, and porta-potties to homeless people living in their vehicles. As a result of those cuts, he says, his program can no longer offer porta-potties and garbage service to new Hut hosting programs similar to the Wesley Wagons. (Those services continue for existing programs.)

But, he says, if a church or other organization wants to get a similar program going, he will offer the same kind of client-selection and ongoing consulting support he provides to the Methodist church. “I’ve been doing this for nine years,” Heath says, “and I’ve learned to do it with whatever resources I have available.”

Programs like the Wesley Wagons, Heath says, are “definitely doing their part” to address the problems of homelessness. They may be “baby steps,” he says, but they play a critical role in helping people who have been stamped with stereotypes of homelessness—drug addiction, alcoholism, mental illness—to feel like they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. “Everybody wants to be noticed and respected,” he says.

Both Heath and Porter believe the 50 percent success rate of the Wesley Wagons is a good start, but both believe 100 percent is possible.

“It’s a challenge,” Porter says, with an openhearted smile. “God is challenging us.”

“If it wasn’t a challenge, why do it?”

Our definition of ‘homeless camp’

Sat, 01 Nov 2014 09:31:20 GMT

Our definition of ‘homeless camp’

Nov. 1, 2014

In October the Eugene City Council passed an ordinance to allow for a temporary camp in the area to help deal with the homelessness challenge. Community Supported Shelters (CSS) submitted an informal proposal to the City to manage a camp. Recently, we began to think about how the public may perceive the concept of a homeless camp and how that might differ from what we are actually working on.

In very simple terms, the camp is a safe and legal place to put a tent for the winter for those lacking access to traditional housing. The most important word here is “safe,” which is why we call our camp “Safe Spot.” From the perspective of the campers, the camp provides a place to sleep at night where they won’t be hassled by law enforcement for sleeping in an unauthorized area, where they won’t be directly on the ground and have to wake up in huge puddles (tents at Safe Spot have designated areas on tent platforms), and where there are people to ensure that personal belongings are safe so residents can leave the camp and not worry about theft.

The underlying concept of safety also extends to the nearby businesses and residents. Rules regarding noise, violence, theft, respect, cleanliness, and community participation will be enforced. These camps are only ”safe” if the neighbors to these camps feel “safe” being next to them. Any business next to a Safe Spot Camp will have a direct phone number to Community Supported Shelters to report any problems.

We are thinking realistically about our role as managers of the camp. We are a small organization with limited resources. Our desire to take this on comes from a sense of community duty. During our yearlong effort building Conestoga Huts, we have met many people who, for lots of different reasons, need a place to be.

We plan to put five Conestoga Huts on the site to house the on-site managers. These managers will be selected by CSS and will check in routinely with our office. We hope that spreading some responsibilities to a small group of people will help achieve two goals: one, to give those folks an important role in our community, and two, to help our organization not get too stretched from the overall responsibility.

We want to make meaningful activity part of the lives of all the residents. The tent campers, who will be screened by CSS, are required to contribute a certain number of weekly volunteer hours to be allowed to stay at the camp. The volunteer service would take place at designated nonprofits approved by CSS. Some of the unhoused folks we have met are already volunteering somewhere because they have the desire to stay busy.

The overall vision is for the Eugene Safe Spot to be a gateway into the broader community for the camp residents, since the ordinance declares it to be a temporary winter camp. That’s why meaningful activity is such an important part of our plan. Participating in meaningful activity is not possible without having easy access to bare essentials like shelter, heat, and the ability to take care of personal hygiene. Without these elements, one’s daily goal is reduced to basic survival. So we are also considering a weekly shuttle from the camp to a shower facility and laundry. Our idea is to make these things easy for people, so more important activities like volunteering, skill building, and community development can be successful.

In a way, our most desired goal is to use this opportunity to try to change the way the broader community thinks about people who are homeless. We understand that this could take some time, and we hope the rest of the community keeps an open mind as we try new things to address this situation.

Windy Dayton

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:08:21 GMT

Windy Dayton

Oct. 31, 2014

I joined the board six or seven months ago. Erik and Fay started out as this scrappy team, this dynamic duo, having this amazing vision, so the board is trying to get them up to snuff as far as being a nonprofit organization and all that goes with that and the fund-raising work—the not-very-glamorous stuff. We’ve got a pretty good team. I try to use my connections with the church communities to get more spots for Huts to be placed and to help to get the word out there about the organization.

You just say, “You know those little Conestoga Huts” and everybody says, “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that. I saw one at the corner of such and such.” People really are waking up to what we’re doing by seeing Huts around the city.

People have had really good experiences with the Huts, like at our church. We have three people who live in the Huts and two of them are huge members of the church—and we’re a seriously no-pressure kind of place. It’s not a condition of living there, but they’ve become part of the family, which is pretty amazing. One of them just was “received” at the church, which is kind of like being confirmed. Another is one of our best readers and is now a pledging member, which is a big deal for him because he has had a lot of struggles and for him to put that on some sort of priority list for himself is cool to see.

They’ve breathed life into this little garden in the back of the church and now all three of them are out there slogging dirt and people are bringing plants for them to plant. It’s just great.

People considering hosting Huts are sometimes concerned about things that are not fun and exciting, like liability—if someone was to get hurt and things like that. Folks have concerns about some of the issues that can arise, which could rise anywhere obviously, like drugs and alcohol on church property. It’s a different thing than at a private residence.

But anytime I ever talk to anyone who’s considering having a Hut in their parking lot, we talk more about all of the bonuses. The security is fantastic. We used to have real problems in our parking lot because it’s very secluded with lots of trees. And the church is a very empty building a lot of the time. Folks would be having parties over there and we’d find needles around, where the kids are playing. And now nothing. It’s more secure now because they are just a presence.

It’s amazing what CSS has accomplished so far. I’ve never seen anybody be so focused and work so quickly and so efficiently, starting from those little fledgling Huts in the parking lots. In a year and a half, a very short amount of time, they’ve gone from this teeny little idea to ramping up to this big fundraising sale [on July 19], which I hope is going to get them to a place where they can really not worry quite so much.

I work a lot in the homeless activism communities and I think folks can get distracted by the big issue of the moment. I’ve watched Erik and Fay though all of that, through all of the Whoville situation and all these things going on in the city and they’re just like, “This is our mission, this is what we’re doing” and they just continuously stay focused.

I think managing the rest stop camps was a natural next step for them. I don’t want to speak for them, but I would say that when they were just doing the building, they were meeting more and more of the residents of the Huts and getting more and more intimately involved, and started to think, “We have so many other things that we can be offering out here to the world.” But, with the city not putting any money towards the camps—they’re putting their approval towards them but no money—I’d like there to be more money to support that work.

We started building and placing the Huts, and every quarter things got a little more complex. Now there’s a board and a staff person and nonprofit status on the horizon and the camps and meetings with the mayor. Every step has just gotten more complicated. When they were just doing Hut placements here and there, I think they could do it by kind of rubbing pennies together and scrapping it all out but now they’ve got people who are really relying on a steady income stream. The porta-potties need to be paid for and everything maintained. So the success of this sale is pretty critical. I mean Erik doesn’t even get paid. It’s too much.

But all these wonderful blessings are always raining in. A Mazda Miata was donated, and we’re going to sell raffle tickets for that. It’s worth $10,000 —so things like that happen.

In the next year, I would really like to see a budget that has the rest stops completely covered, to have Erik on the payroll and actually getting paid for all of the work he does, and to get back to building Huts and placing more of them in the city. We’ve also talked a lot about pushing more education in the community. With Erik and Fay’s experience trying to get these camps started, they are running into a lot of ignorance, a lot of things that people don’t understand and some very valid concerns, too. It’s a very polarized issue. It’s either very un-PC to say anything negative about homeless people or it’s totally an expression of this ignorance. We need some really good conversation, more building community with other homeless activists, and to expand all of our consciousness because people are really interested in grappling with homelessness.

The city, I think, has moved at lightning speed on so many of these things. Coming from Massachusetts—where I would never see an idea like Opportunity Village go from inception to completion in my lifetime—I got whiplash it happened so fast here. Are they going to fix homelessness in one year? Of course not. This is a societal and cultural problem. No town on its own is going to be able to fix it, but I’d say this town deserves some real kudos for the work they’ve done.

Long term, I would love to see more rest stops smattered all around the city, which I think would help normalize a more village-minded approach. People are terribly alone, and even sometimes when they are all together, they are ignored and not seen. Something that’s come out of Opportunity Village and the rest stops is a really positive banding together and creation of these micro-communities that allow these people to shine. All the volunteer work that folks from the camps are doing in the parks is so amazing.

Everyone really wants to be of some purpose. Maybe they’ve been blind-sided by drugs or alcohol or mental illness or something but if we can help to get underneath that and get to that person, we see that folks just want something to do. So I would love to just duplicate and duplicate and duplicate this over and over again until it’s just a norm in our society, where people are not hiding off in the woods and separate and alone—ever.

I have a lot and there’s so many people that I see everyday that just have nothing. I have a home. I have a farm. I have a family. I have the luxury of home schooling my kids. When we opened up the parking lot at our church to these residents, I saw not only was it feeding me—I got to make some really deep connections with the folks who live there that will be maintained for a lifetime—but I’ve also seen the folks in my church have all sorts of interesting experiences, many of whom would never have had a conversation with one of these folks for whatever reason. We’ve got little old church ladies pulling up a plastic chair outside a Hut and gabbing away with the homeless guy in the parking lot. And that kind of makes my day to see that happening.

I hear from people in the neighborhood who are really proud that those Huts are there. They’ve never set foot in our church, never even come by, but they just feel so good that they are in their neighborhood.

And my kids . . . they make stuff for Mark, who’s one of the guys in the Huts. He’s their favorite. He always finds little cool pinecones and cool stones and gives them little things like that.. They’re painting these flowerpots for him and they’ve dug up these plants that they’re going to give him on Sunday.

It’s good for them to ask all those hard questions about why is that person sitting there on the street corner. I really try to help them see that the person on the street asking for our help deserves to be acknowledged—and not in some soul-killing way for a seven year old. I just talk about the super basic stuff that we are all taught as children, yet seem to forget as we age: treat everyone with kindness and respect and share what we have. I think about what a confusing message it gives my children, any children, when car after car drives by, when people walk by and ignore them, especially when at home, I try to teach them to show compassion and concern if someone is hurt or upset, and to not exclude anyone, even those who might be harder to get along with.

People in the community can always help by donating money. Anybody who goes to church or lives near one or near a business can talk to someone and ask if they would ever consider hosting at least one Hut. Folks could get their book group or Rotary group or whatever to sponsor porta-potties for a month or a quarter or a year and know that it has the most direct impact on people.

Roll down your window and say hello to someone who is homeless, even if you don’t want to give money or you don’t have any money, just connect in some way. That creates a big change in itself.

We’re really in hot pursuit of a few new board members who have the kinds of skill to secure some grant funding, and folks who just have a lot of connections in the community and who can walk the talk as far as the fundraising world goes. Most of the folks that are on the board at this moment have other skills, so it will be really good to try to mature in that way—and to admit that money does, in fact, need to happen big time.

I am in full support of what Erik and Fay and Community Supported Shelters is up to. I am very proud of them and proud to know them.

Lee White

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 11:01:12 GMT

Lee White, car camper host: “Here, she is safe. So that’s fine.”

Oct. 31, 2014

Lee White is cofounder, chief executive office, and president of Northwest Media, a 28-year-old for-profit Eugene company that develops and operates international websites that serve foster, adoptive, and kinship parents with training and also serve youth at risk. The company has hosted a car camper behind its downtown Eugene building for three years. For information about the Overnight Parking Program, call 541 514 1435.

I read about the car camping program in the paper and we have this space [behind our building] with a little lawn and a paved area where we used to keep a truck. So we opened it up to car camping.

I had our office manager call and study the program and they came out and did a site visit, I believe. They introduced us to one guy who wanted to put a big mobile unit in there, and I said, “No, that’s too big, that’s not right.”And then they found a woman living in a Volkswagen van, and she was our first and only client. She’s been here around three years now.

We interviewed her and we laid down some serious rules. We’re providing a place but not a home. And I was a little hesitant about someone who would cling to our office staff and take our time but that turned out not to be the case. When we told her we wanted it private, and she said she wanted it private, too, so that’s how it been. And yet, we still use the lawn occasionally.

My feeling is it’s a mutual situation. She’s not a night watchperson, but she has helped us at times. There was one time the janitor left the backdoor of our office open to the alley—literally open—and there’s a lot of unsavory, unscrupulous characters walking down this alley at night. She called me at home and told me that it was open and I came down and shut it. That in itself was extremely valuable.

My commitment is I give her the space. I set up an electric plug outside so she can run a heater in the winter and we have wireless Internet that she connects to. And that makes her happy. But that’s all. The city provides a “porta-potty.”

Through my life I have sort of been aware of this issue and had some involvement at times. I myself was homeless when I was in college for over a year in Santa Barbara and Ventura. I lived in my car. I found that it was very difficult to find good parking places and safe ones and to use rest rooms. All that was very difficult, especially back then. That was 40 years ago. I guess I have a soft spot for people who are living in their cars.

When I lived in Santa Cruz, I was a surf bum, so I chose to live in my car. I didn’t have any money but I could always have dropped out and done some real work instead of going to college or surfing all the time. I volunteered to be on a committee in which they were talking about the problem of transient youth in Santa Cruz. And their solution was to run ’em out of town. My solution was—cause they talked about them urinating on the street and around town—to put outhouses out for them to give them a place so they don’t have to go on the street. And I think things like that are the first step, like the Service Station in Eugene where people can go take showers and get cleaned up and take care of themselves.

I don’t think that you are going to solve their problems for them. They have to solve their own problems. The people who find themselves in these circumstances have to work their way out of those circumstances but you can have tools available to them that when they make that choice they can get themselves cleaned up or they can live at the level that they want to live.

I think there are a lot of people caught in this situation who are older and don’t have enough income to rent a place. They can maintain a vehicle. She comes and goes all the time, so she can maintain her life if she doesn’t have to pay rent.

At first, I thought the situation with our car camper was transitional, and the city said these people usually stay about three months. Then it got to six months and we talked to the guy in charge of the program, and he said, “If you’re open to it, it’s fine with us to keep it going.”

I’m fine with her staying here, if it helps her stay off parking on Blair Boulevard or some weird place where she’s worried somebody is going to break a window and get her. Here, she is safe. So that’s fine.

Businesses should consider hosting car campers if they have a situation like I have, where we’ve got got some privacy, fencing, and a nice little area. I don’t know about throwing someone in your parking lot per se. And I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I would be looking at her to be my night security person. I think the idea going into this is that you’re not doing it to gain anything; you’re doing it to help a fellow human being who is maybe not as fortunate as you are.

It’s been a very positive experience for us.

Jim Schmidt and Emmet Band

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:58:52 GMT

Jim Schmidt and Emmet Band

Oct. 31, 2014

Jim Schmidt: “I am doing what I like and doing something good as a result of it.”

Emmet Band: “I don’t know what better service you could do.”

Jim Schmidt, 63, and Emmet Band, 67, are volunteers for Community Supported Shelters. Jim is a retired professional photographer and Emmet owned and managed Adaptive Engineering Services in Sonoma, California, a shop that built custom wheelchairs and other specialized devices for people with profound disabilities. Both are veterans of the Vietnam War, Jim serving in the Army and Emmet in the Marines, and are active volunteers for a number of community organizations.

Q: You two met through work with veterans groups working for peace. How did you get involved in that?

Jim: All the male members in my family have served in the military, but nobody ever talked about it. In 2002, when the buildup toward the war in Iraq was in full swing, I realized I had been doing the same thing for thirty years and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I had to find ways to express my feelings about the ravages of war and to support others who have been through the same things.

Emmet: I got involved with a group called Veterans for Peace because I believe we need to find ways to live without resorting to the violence of war, that’s fundamental to creating the kind of society where people can flourish.

Q: What attracted you to volunteer with Community Supported Shelters?

Jim: I saw a little column in the Eugene Weekly last winter. I think it had a picture of a guy sitting in his Hut, talking about what a difference it had made in his life and a little blurb from Erik [de Buhr, executive director of CSS] looking for volunteers. I thought this was a really good fit for me, not fine carpentry or really polished building skills needed but just the ability to cut something off at a right angle and to screw that into another something that was cut correctly. It’s a fun as well as rewarding process, and at the end of the day we’ve done something to improve the life of someone who has far less than we have.

It fits in with my philosophy of not being able to change the world and not even really attempting to anymore, but thinking that if I can change a little corner of the world and other people will change their little corner of the world then we might make some progress. And I kept trying to get people in my little email list involved in it. There are five of us that came out of that list who are involved now.

Emmet: Yeah, Jim was probably badgering people to get involved and I eventually said, “yeah, sure.” For me, it boils down to providing someone with shelter. It’s wonderful to create something with your hands and stand back and say to yourself, “that looks nice,” but with Community Supported Shelters we give that creation to someone else. When you give what you helped make to someone, it is a gift for both parties, and when you give housing—wow, what an impact!

We recently built a Hut for a couple who had been sleeping in a tent. When you’re 60 years old, crawling out of a tent on a cold morning is not something you want to be doing. What a huge deal to be able to stand up inside your home and to walk out a door, as opposed to crawling out of a tent on a frosty morning.

Jim: I understand that when Erik was doing his preliminary research the three basic criteria he came up with for shelter were: “off the ground,” “out of the rain,” and “a door that locks.” Those sounds so fundamental to us but they can make a huge difference for people, and we can contribute to that with a few hours a week of sweat equity. That’s a good deal.

Q: What has your work experience been like with CSS?

Jim: Positive. I sympathize with Erik a little bit putting together a volunteer crew. You can’t really treat them like you would treat eight employees as far as when they show up, how long they work, how hard they work, how well they do the job. But he’s gotten very lucky in a lot of ways. He has attracted some, if not highly talented people, at least highly dedicated people.

Emmet: You’ve got people who are committed, you’ve got people who have skills, you’ve got people who can work together—it’s a bloody miracle that all that has come together to produce these things, these Conestoga Huts. My first work was with Jim on the decks and it’s been amazing to see how those evolved.

Jim: With the decks, there was a point that you had to crawl under the deck to secure it to the Hut. And now the Huts are closer to the ground than they used to be. So getting under there is really getting difficult, we would have to find somebody not only young but skinny. But now there’s a way to do that without crawling under the deck.

I really have a lot of admiration for the way that Erik processes things and works continually to evolve the product. He’s not afraid to tinker and he’s a good engineer, just innately. You can see the way that he envisions the whole thing and the way it works now, but he doesn’t let his ego get in the way if there is a better way to do something. We just do it. He just kind of smiles and nods and says, ”oh, yeah,” and that’s cool.

Q: How do you think the Conestoga Huts affect our community?

Emmet: It’s huge. Twenty-six Huts are out in the community. We’ve affected 26 people’s lives—some folks are doubled up, so maybe 30 or 35 people’s lives—in real significant fashion, give them a chance to build something on this base and it’s in our community, it’s in our backyard, and that’s where we need to focus. It serves people on a very basic level and I don’t know what better service you could do. You can feed somebody and that’s good, it keeps them going for a day. But here you’ve got something that’s day and night, your stuff is secure, you’re dry, you’re not sleeping in the dirt, you’re not crawling out on a muddy tarmac or a mud pile.

Jim: And maybe it can lead them out of the vicious deadly cycle that some are caught in, maybe give them a six-month respite. The fact that there is still such a thing as homelessness is heartbreaking, that a society cares so little for its individual members that it lets this happen, that it lets the need for what we’re doing occur at all.

On the other hand, there it is, we can theorize about the world as it should be or we can try to change what we see around us, to make things a little better for a few people at a time. And, especially when we have cold weather like we’ve had recently, we could be saving lives. We could be preventing the next Tom Egan [an Army veteran who froze to death on the streets of Eugene in 2008].

You see the need. I didn’t go through life making great decisions, that’s for sure, but through more a matter of luck than anything else, I landed in a position where I can help and, by my own personal standard, it would be the worst sort of immorality if I didn’t help. If I have the means to help and I didn’t, I couldn’t live with the implications of that at all. And I like making noise and I like making sawdust and I like drilling holes and driving screws. I like the atmosphere of the woodshop. I’ve always liked that. I like the smells. I like every part of it. So, wow, what the hell, here I am doing what I like and doing something good as a result of it. It’s a wonderful combination of things.

Q: Does your work with CSS connect with your veterans’ support work.

Emmet: Whether we’re building Huts, or working in the Dining Room [a Food for Lane program serving free meals], or helping at the Egan Warming Centers, an unfortunately large percentage of the people we are serving are veterans.

Jim: I’ve seen far too many veterans caught in the heartbreaking cycle of homelessness. We can and should question why that happens to the men and women who have served their country, but a Hut is something tangible we can do for them. It’s not directly veterans’ support work, but if we help a veteran along the way, all the better.

Q: What would you say to someone considering volunteering for CSS?

Jim: Oh yeah, it’s fun stuff. I can’t imagine anybody walking through the door that we couldn’t find something appropriate for them to do, ideally something that fits their skill level, but it’s also an opportunity to learn skills. We had little kids on our Hut-raising a week or so ago who are all going to want cordless drills for Christmas. In just a few short minutes, you can show somebody the skills to use that tool properly and not hurt themselves and do a job effectively. So I think, yeah, I’d encourage anybody to drop by if they want to.

Emmet: It’s just a wonderful thing, from beginning to end. It’s pretty amazing. It’s interesting that you get Erik and Fay [de Buhr, CSS fundraising director] and the people who are building the Huts working in conjunction with whoever owns the property, whether it’s an individual or a church, and they’re working with St. Vinny’s, who provide the latrines so that all of a sudden the residents aren’t searching for a bathroom or a bush. It really is community-supported shelter and there’s a spot for anybody who wants to help.

Henry Schmald

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:55:30 GMT

Henry Schmald

“From when I was a little kid, my dad had a wood shop, so I’ve always been involved with wood shops. When I was in the Peace Corps in Gabon, I helped build schools. In the ’70s, I worked with Hoedads tree planning cooperative and after that helped start a woodworking and building cooperative called Boardfoot, that was a great group of people to work with and a big influence on my life.

“Erik and the people working on these huts are what the Dalai Lama meant when, in his talk in Eugene, he talked about younger people who will make good things happen in the 21st century. We’re the folks—like the Dalai Lama—getting ready to say, ‘bye-bye.’ But it’s great to give these young folks a helping hand while we’re still around.

“The huts serve an important community purpose because they make it possible for people who might otherwise be homeless to experience how wonderful it is to have your own place. You can go to the Mission or other shelters but that’s very different from going to your own place. I know how important it is if you are trying to go back to school or get a job to have a place to lock up your stuff, and to just be able to shut a door and be in your own home.

“The quick answer to why I’m involved is that it makes me happy. I don’t feel good unless I’m doing something to help somehow. I love making those windows.”

Hank Dizney

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:52:55 GMT

Hank Dizney

Oct. 31, 2014

Then the first Huts I got involved with that went from the trailer to completion were at the Wesley United Methodist Church. Well, here comes the trailer, and you think at first, man, we’re going to have to unload all that and make sense of it. But it’s put in there in the order it needs to come off in. They put a lot of thought into this.

I think the real glue for volunteers like myself is the attitude that permeates the whole project. It starts with Erik, probably, because you kind of look at him as the boss, but everybody’s got it: The other volunteers are helpful. Nobody asks you to do something you can’t do. What they do ask you to do has to be done—it’s not make-work stuff. And it’s upbeat all the way. Erik and Fay have a wonderful sense of what they are doing. They make it easy. We can’t do what they do, but we can help them do it—and that’s our role.

I don’t think there is anything that replaces that kind of hands-on tangible work: there it is, the Hut, it’s accomplished and everybody sees it. The providers see it, the people allowing space for it see it, the residents see it. How can you beat that? Often, we just write a check and send it off—cold. You don’t have that human connection.

You’re probably literally saving some lives with this kind of housing. I’ve been involved with the Egan Warming Centers a lot and know that, literally, people die from getting cold and wet. So I’m thinking these guys in the Huts are going to be dry and warm—at least warm enough to survive.

Hopefully, there’ll be something outside their door that could be helpful in addition to that. Through the agency connections, the host connections, there could be some seeds for some further opportunity. But at a minimum, they’re not on the ground; they’re not getting wet. So, it’s very basic.

That design is brilliant. By keeping it simple, they’ve made it so useful. Don’t screw around with plumbing. Don’t screw around with wiring. Keep it fast. Keep it simple. The prefabbing in the shop environment further simplifies the process. What really impresses me about the design is how weather-worthy they are—that sucker will provide shelter, I think, in a hurricane.

I knew some of the people at Wesley Methodist who offered the space for the Huts. One of them is John Porter, who was planning manager for the city of Eugene for many years. In my mind, that almost completes a picture: you have to have the host, that’s essential—in fact I understand that can be a pinch point. These guys commit as a congregation to quite something when they do this.

So you’ve got the commitment from the hosts and you’ve got the people that do it like Erik and Fay and the volunteers, and then when you get involved with it, you get to meet the recipient. That’s fantastic.

Craig Satein

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:47:25 GMT

Craig Satein

Oct. 31, 2014

“Shame on us if we cannot succeed in this effort.”

Craig Satein, 63, is treasurer of Community Supported Shelters’ board of directors. He retired a year ago from the position of director of the Housing Community Services Agency of Lane County, where he worked for 29 years. In addition to serving on the board, Satein constructs the floor components of the Conestoga Huts at his home in Jasper.

My youngest daughter Hannah and I went to the Holiday Market last December and we noticed this interesting structure parked out in front. We saw this young woman standing underneath an umbrella ready to engage folks. It piqued our curiosity and we started chatting with her. I exchanged some information and one thing led to another and I started having some contact with Erik [de Buhr, CSS executive director] and went to a couple of the build workshops.

It was very easy for me to get excited about what CSS is doing, the approach, the tactics, the purpose, and the fact that we are getting this through volunteers, there is nothing stronger than that in my opinion. And it’s probably the most appropriate constructive response to homelessness in the last 20 years within the Lane County community because it’s not lip service; it’s direct action.

Erik invited me to join the CSS board, which I readily accepted. The board was agreeable to that and then I was nominated for treasurer because I’ve had a lot of experience with numbers and planning and such. The board primarily offers guidance, some vision, and support to Erik. Then there is some direct hands-on work, in terms of fundraising and coordinating activities.

Working on three different build projects and seeing a large group of folks who all wanted to participate in putting these Huts together, I sensed that often we got in each other’s way, through no one’s fault but just from the congregation of so many folks who don’t have a specific role. So I thought if I was to prefab the floors at my home, have that project completely done, then the rest of the assembly could just take place from that point.

I love being out here. This is a nice environment. I can take my time, work at my pace and just maximize the efficiency. I usually get a volunteer to join me. It’s been my brother Mark on three different occurrences and Jim [Schmidt] has helped me as well.

What I’m really enjoying is seeing the evolution of this Hut. We’re soon to take this next stage, which is we’re going to go with the rigid insulation over the Hut and a 30-year fabric over that, so that means the effort that’s going into these units is going to be longstanding and serve the community for many years. And that just makes everyone involved feel better that these things are not just going to be up one year and down the next but they are going to be longstanding—and we need them.

The Huts psychologically benefit the community by directly serving folks that are currently suffering hugely, feeling disconnected, dispossessed, not part of the community. That inclusiveness serves all of us wonderfully. Secondly, the Huts take pressure off other community resources because they are now recognized as a tangible alternative to permanent structures. And the resource requirements are so minimal compared to conventional housing. I’m not saying the Huts are the end-all. They’re transitional. But they’ll help stabilize our community long enough to give consideration to other forms of micro-housing, which will become more permanent and will encourage more of the village type mindset.

Shame on us if we cannot succeed in this effort. Because living in a tent is okay for a week of camping but thereafter that’s not acceptable.

What I would like to see is to have CSS get to a point where we have sustained funding that allows us to forecast developing a number of units throughout Lane County. There are so many underserved communities. It’s wonderful that this initial energy is all happening in Eugene but I’d like to see that serve as a template to keep on producing similar efforts throughout Lane County. That would be a delight and then to have enough sustained funding that you don’t have to be holding your breath every month wondering if you can pay your bills.

I just really hope that the success that’s already being enjoyed from this effort will be realized not only in Lane County but other communities will look at this and get inspired and want to do more. It is the veritable pebble that drops in the water and I hope those ripples just radiate out. And I think they are.

It truly is amazing how far we have come in seven months. It underscores the initiative and the drive and the passion with everyone who’s involved. There is strong, strong energy to make this happen.

Opportunity Village is in sight

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:02:15 GMT

Opportunity Village is in sight

Oct. 31, 2014

If all goes as expected at an anticipated mid-July hearing, on-site work for Opportunity Village Eugene will begin in early August, according to Dan Bryant, pastor of First Christian Church and OVE’s chair.

OVE will be located at a site on North Garfield Street. Because the property is currently zoned for expansion of the city’s public works department, OVE must be granted a conditional use permit before the process of building the village can begin. The July public hearing will allow anyone in the community to respond to OVE’s permit application and the hearing official will decide if anything must be done to address any concerns that are raised.

“We don’t anticipate there will be any problem,” Bryant says. “The city staff has told us that the application looks good. They’re happy with it. So it’s just a matter if there is anything in the neighborhood that arises.”

Once the permit is approved, OVE can take possession of the site within two weeks. The first step is prepare the site to accommodate the plan for the village.

“Then it’s just a matter of bringing in the volunteers and the material and building,” Bryant. “We’ll probably have a couple of different days of doing some blitz building, where we get 50, 60, 70 volunteers and build a whole bunch of units in one day.”

OVE’s vetting committee has selected the first 14 residents to move onto the property, possibly using some of the Conestoga Huts built by Community Supported Shelters. Some of those people are already living in Huts, so their Huts may be moved onto the village site or new ones may be constructed. The goal is to move those people on-site as quickly as possible while building is still going on, Bryant says.

The initial residents have begun to organize themselves and elect leadership. That group will conduct the application process for additional residents, which includes background checks and interviews. The criteria is pretty basic, Bryant says, “We’re looking for people who are team players and are going to work well in a group, people who do not have any serious mental health or addiction issues, people who have the ability to do for themselves and to contribute to the overall well-being of the village.“ More than 70 applications had been received by mid-June.

The plan calls for 30 living units—10 Conestoga Huts and 20 Backyard Bungalows—for either single people or couples. Bryant says it may take a month or two to get to full capacity.

The biggest initial challenges will be bath and kitchen facilities, Bryant says. Code restrictions make a commercial kitchen unlikely, so a food cart or outdoor grills are among the alternatives being considered. In the early stages of the village, Bryant hopes churches or community groups can provide prepared food for the residents, “especially those that can say, ‘we’ll bring in a meal for 30 or 40’ to help us get going as we get everything organized.”

An even bigger challenge, Bryant says, is a bath facility. “We’d like to have hot showers, flush toilets rather than port-a-potties, but realistically, we’ll probably have to have port-a-potties initially.” Adding to the challenge is that the bath facility has to be movable because the village can only use this site for fifteen months, when the hope is that another location will become available.

Bryant estimates the sort of units OVE would like will cost from $40,000–$50,000 or up to as much as $100,000 for a unit that is “trailerable.” He hopes that the buzz created by OVE becoming a functioning village will stimulate fundraising the way the first Conestoga Huts did. “When we first started building our Conestogas, a lot of people just came out of the woodwork and just wrote us checks for anywhere from $500 to $5000, and a lot of smaller contributions, too,” he says. “Our feeling is that once we start building this, we’ll see a similar kind of thing.”

Several community groups have already committed money and volunteer time to build the dwelling units.

Once the village is operational, Bryant says, the next challenge is working with the individual residents to help them transition into more secure, permanent housing. “That’s a long-term programmatic thing,” he says, “putting together everything we need to give them the tools and resources that they’ll need to become self sufficient.”

There will be lots of opportunities for community volunteers to help, he says, including the early “blitz-building” days and with ongoing tasks, such as security issues, workshops and training to develop skills, help in community building, safety and first aid instructions, and mentoring residents in dealing with bureaucracies and other transitional issues.

“This is a place of solitude and transition.”

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:22:10 GMT

“This is a place of solitude and transition.”

Oct. 31, 2014

This camp reminds me of fire camp. It’s organized. It’s clean. The majority of us are veterans in here so we have a common bond amongst each other and the majority of us in here have PTSD. And we won’t tolerate a Whoville kind of scene. We were never involved in it. We don’t want that kind of reputation. We don’t want squatters.

We have 13 people now and we’re bringing in another five sites so we’re expanding. It’s not an open camp. We vote people in. There’s an application, a background check, and an interview with Erik [de Buhr, executive director of CSS], and then we vote.

The camp got started by Ricardo, the camp manager. He was at Whoville and helped get it built, and then they started pushing out veterans, so he took it upon himself and got connected with Erik and created the campsite for veterans. God bless him for it.

Veterans need a place of our own because we are our own. We have the common bond because of what we’ve done. We have a brotherhood that is special and can’t be broken and the best therapy for a veteran is another veteran whether their story is the same or close to the same or not even related. We still have the understanding to sit there with compassion and listen, and offer advice or just a good word. The general public has no idea what we go we through for our nation, the abuses that we take on, the cramming of education that we have to endure.

I see a therapist on a regular basis. I take medication and that’s another thing that people need to realize about veterans is that sometimes their medication will make them work in a manner that is not recognizable to the untrained. And people don’t realize that all it takes is just a wrong word and it sparks all kinds of havoc for a veteran. We’ve got a campmate here who started talking about 9/11, how he thought it was an inside job, it was all government-run and sponsored. And me and a couple other vets got agitated and it sparked our PTSD because we know what the government is capable of because of our training. It was an offensive conversation, so we had to shut it down fast.

I’d like a special notation to go out to the public that if you see a vet, thank a vet. We all put ourselves at risk for our nation and we should be thanked for our service.

This is a place of solitude and transition not aggression. We have common sense rules, but there’s not many. It’s basically no substance abuse, no alcohol abuse. It’s not tolerated. We don’t allow it here. Be respectful to other campers. There are safety minded guidelines. We’re supposed to do a shift of gatekeeping to keep the general public from coming in and getting our things, our belongings. We’re supposed to leave the camp from 9 to 4.

This is a foundation so that we can spread our wings. Right now, I’m trying to get a chapter 31 grant through the VA, which covers college costs. I have the power to bring back to life a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low income and disadvantaged veterans. I’m trying to get schooling so I can go to the UO and get the nonprofit business management program under my belt so that I can lift that organization off the ground and help other veterans like myself, try to meet needs such as housing, eye glasses, a warming center dedicated for them from November to March, a safe warm place to be at night, and also a community center where they can come in and grab a bite to eat, sit down at a computer, get on a phone, or play a game of backgammon or cribbage or whatever their deal is, to give them a safe haven.

We’re not just sitting here squatting. Some are waiting for their HUD-backed vouchers [for housing] and others are seeking employment. We all have our different things that we’re doing to get ourselves out of the situations we’re in—and that’s our goal.

We are active with the Hope Center at the Westside Apostolic Church, a veterans service program that welcomes all veterans every Friday from 10 to 12. Lots of organizations are involved, like the VA, St. Vinny’s, Sponsors, Oregon Health Plan, and Vet Lift.

Whoville was a bad scene and it created a bad reputation, and that’s why a lot of people are against the camp sites. We get hecklers coming by here, yelling, “Get a job” and things like that. They don’t realize exactly what we are trying to do. We’re not looking for a handout, we’re looking for a helping hand up. That’s important that the public know that. We would like the public to welcome us, not hamper us.

Living in the Conestoga Hut was very comfortable but it was temporary. This is a very comforting setting. There’s a comradery here, so it’s easy to relax at a camp like this.

Hut Residents: Praise

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:21:27 GMT

Hut Residents: Praise

Oct. 31, 2014

Any time you get this many people together, 19 people, you have to understand that people have quirks and different sets of standards for things like privacy and deciding when to probe into somebody’s situation. That gets a little unnerving sometimes. But each of us has to be responsible for speaking up when we don’t feel comfortable or when we feel that someone is stepping over the line. It doesn’t happen as much as it should. There aren’t many people here who do it, but the ones who do are really good at it.

It helps that everybody who was here in the beginning had a key to the gate and has continued to be a key holder. That gave us time to sort of work out the kinks in our relationships and get to know and like each other. I believe there are five other people who have and there’s a pool of 10 or 11 people who work together to watch the gate.

For the camp as a whole, we got to a stable point in early April. I don’t think anybody has been kicked out since then. Our average before that was one person getting kicked out every three weeks.

For homeless people, to be disenfranchised means that society sort of unconsciously trains you to not be very involved in the economic system. It trains you to be part of a group of people who are used as a stereotype, who are unemployed, who don’t participate in the housing market, who are not a productive tax-paying part of the economic system. That stereotype gets used as a weapon of sorts that keeps people of every other socio-economic background participating in the economic system, keeping them in line, not questioning things because they don’t want to end up like you.

But now that society is allowing some improvements in our lives, a homeless person almost inevitably has to become a little bit of an activist, at least for our own survival and some of us can’t. For some of us, our lives are being destroyed as we speak, so the main challenge in this camp for me has been and will continue to be, how can we as a group and as individuals begin to participate in the economic system in a way that makes sense for us and is going to be good enough in the eyes of the city to justify allowing this to exist.

The vision for this project is to give people the opportunity to stabilize our ability to meet our own needs—to take a shower, do laundry, etcetera—and that’s going to be an ongoing struggle for a lot of people here. Part of what needs to be put forward is the idea of developing our own support network. It’s going to take a lot of us trying to explain to people what that might look like—me and Erik [de Buhr, CSS executive director] and Fay [de Buhr, CSS fundraising director] and other people here who have some experience with that, have developed some sort of network for ourselves. That includes things like learning how to access social services, the library, food stamps, and the food bank.

There’s a spectrum between social services on the one hand, which carry the potential for dependency, and connecting with the wider community. What I see in-between is the full spectrum of things you have to develop through your own connections with people, not just social workers and people you go to church with, but with your family or friends and people you meet out in the community. Part of that also is being involved in other organizations or projects.

The volunteer work that people from this camp are doing in the community is very important, not just for building skills and connections between people in the camp, but also for the public to be educated about how much we care about them, how much we care about ourselves. That’s the sort of image that we would like to present to the public and anything that we can do to connect with the positive aspects of society, of the community around us, is good.

Ultimately, we have to address the causes of homelessness, but we can also use projects like this as a safety net even if we don’t do much at all to address the causes.

What I would like to see in terms of the impact this project can have on the wider society is to legitimize the existence of homeless people, as individuals and as a group, to give us an opportunity to present a human face to the world, which will help people begin to see us the way they are starting to see other people who weren’t accepted by society in the past, who were either murdered or exiled. My hope is that we will become so ordinary in people’s minds, they’ll begin to see us as their neighbors, regardless of where we live.

This is the 18th time I’ve been homeless that I know of. I’ve gotten pretty discouraged over the years having had to live outdoors so much. In particular, the location where I was before I came to this camp was physically the hardest to access that I’d ever experienced or on a par with the worst. Getting out of that situation and getting into town makes it much, much easier for me to connect to the wider community, to stay in touch with people.

I have been mildly active in what I would call the mental health system, consumer, survivor, ex-inmate movement and so I’m really trying to put forward the idea that the model that we’re trying to organize is peer support and to prevent the development of a mainstream mental health approach to things. I don’t want to be people’s counselor. They come to me when they need somebody to talk to, but I’m not the only person, everybody here talks to everybody else, and I see my role as primarily just listening.

We’re trying little things. I started having people talk about something good that’s happened to them recently or something good they did themselves. Other options are if they did something good for other people and it made them feel good, or if so much bad stuff has happened to them that they just need to talk about that for a little bit then that’s fine, too.

I’m really big on taking baby steps or maybe bigger steps but just taking step-by-step approaches to things, trying things out. If something doesn’t work, you don’t just forget about it and ignore it forever, you can still keep it in your mind as a possible tool.

My role at the camp definitely made me step out of my comfort zone. It’s made me keep my own struggles in check. It’s probably the most responsibility I’ve ever had and it’s extremely time-consuming and it becomes more and more important to me to prioritize my own health. It also reminds me of my short-comings and current struggles and the areas where I’m not satisfied with how things are going. And in the back of my mind is anything that I’m not even aware of to think about yet.

At the same time, I do feel pleased that I’ve gotten some appreciation from people in just the last few days, which has helped me to relax more.

Hut Residents: Patrick Shipley

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:07:26 GMT

Hut Residents: Patrick Shipley

Oct. 31, 2014

Compared to Whoville, the camp has more structure, more rules, better cleanup. Over at Whoville, it was like if you got there in the nick of time to get a cup of coffee, you’d have coffee. Here, if you need a cup of coffee, there’s about two of three pots being brewed at one time and people taking care of it.

At first in the camp, I lived in a tent and even that was fine. Then I moved into one of the Conestoga Huts. I worked with the volunteers putting the Hut together. That was very interesting, putting the roof on, putting the beams in, and everything like that.

The Hut changed my life dramatically. Got a roof over my head, more security. In a tent, if it’s raining, everything gets wet. In a hut everything stays dry.

Everybody in the camp is required to donate time. I am the liaison for Safe Spot to NextStep, which recycles, dismantles, and rebuilds computer. People in the camp come to me and I set up the meeting and take them over to NextStep to fill out the application. If they need help on figuring out how to separate things and stuff like that, I stay there and help them out.

Other rules are no drugs in the camp, which is great. Don’t smoke inside your hut, don’t smoke in the common living area. Leave the camp from 10 o’clock to 4 in the afternoon. And just generally, to help out. We just decided this week to start trying for the whole camp to go out and clean up an area outside of the camp.

We meet every Thursday as a group to see how everybody is doing and sit down and listen to what we call “discussions” or what I call “complaints” and try to solve all them.

Winter wise, it got a little cold so we did use the Egan warming centers, but, hopefully, eventually we’ll get electricity or get a solar panel and see how that works. We didn’t have enough water so we’ve got a guy who comes in and fills up a five-gallon drum full of water but we used that up so they’re going to get a water spigot and do that. We just dug the hole for the water pipe to come through the fence so we can have running water from the city.

We have community workdays. We put sawdust down for a pathway to each and every hut. We’ve put planks down to walk into huts so we wouldn’t get them dirty and things like that.

We’ve had a few minor personal complaints but nothing you can’t overcome, work out.

We share things. If we’ve got a little bit of extra food we share the food. If someone gets hurt, we help. We put our arms around the person and give a shoulder to lean on. Everything like that.

We get to use the fire pit now other than for just cooking, can sit around it to keep warm. The city gave us permission about a month ago. The nice thing about that is that a few of the people who are in there have family who have wood that needs to be cut, so one of the fathers gave a cord-and-a-half of wood to the camp. We’re thinking about getting a tent for a community place to cook food.

I’m hoping for a different set up in a few months. I’m hoping for Grandmasters Cleaning Company Inc. and Associates to pick their business up a little more. I’m their employee. I work one day a week over at Environmental and Oregon Air as a janitor. Hoping there will be more work there soon. I do a little bit of everything.

At the camp, even with the liaison work I do, it’s more like they are teaching you to go from a Conestoga Hut to an apartment or something like that.

The camp has just been a beautiful step for me and the next one is going to be even wonderfuller. New Paragraph

Hut Residents: Patrick Blaine

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:04:04 GMT

Hut Residents: Patrick Blaine

I volunteered at the St. Vincent De Paul Service Station, when they had all volunteers doing the cooking and washing dishes, and I did a lot of washing dishes and mopping. I’ve been around these guys at the Service Station, Keith [Heath, program manager for the Service Station and Overnight Parking Program] and Judy [Greig] and the rest of the staff. They have been a godsend, too. They do a wonderful job.

Keith knows that I don’t abuse alcohol or drugs or any of that kind of stuff. A Hut became open. He knew I was living out of my car and I had been in the car camping program, so he asked if I was interested and I said, “absolutely” and then he and I went over to the Methodist Church and did the interview and they accepted me. They are giving me six months in the Hut.

I had heard about the Huts, had seen them from a distance but I had never been in one. Once I got it, I was like, “Wow, this is like a castle.” It really is. Just to be able to stand up in the morning, simple things like that, it really is a godsend. As simple as it’s built, I thought, “Wow, this could really go a long way, to help a lot of people.”

You have some place to park, some place to get out of your car and go to, so you can make that mental image of, “OK, I’m not stuck in my car at all times.” Because when I get out of the shower, I go to my car, go to work, then get back in my car. With the hut, it feels like you’re going to an apartment and that’s great.

I’ve kind of kept it like my car is because I know I have to leave. If I had it for a longer more extended time, I would do more, like my neighbor [in another Hut], a very good man. He has his totally decked out like it’s an apartment, got his full propane burner, got his computer up and running with a little RV battery. It’s cool and we laugh because he sees mine and I’m totally barebones and he’s living in luxury. I’m only there basically to sleep and get out of my car. I try to stay busy and go, go, go.

But it’s been fine in the snow and it’s rained hard enough that it’s been tested and done well. The last couple of days have been as cold as it’s been in Eugene and it was fine. It gets a little cold inside because I don’t bring any heat in, but I have a good sleeping bag, good blankets. It’s a little chilly in the morning, but it’s fine.

We have a port-a-potty provided by St. Vinny’s and also the church gave us a key to their outside bathroom if you need to shave. That’s the one and only connection to the church. They said I don’t need to come to church, “we’d love to have you but there’s no pressure to do that.” I had two interviews with the elders of the church, and they just said, “keep it simple and we’re glad to have you.” They were very kind and very welcoming.

Hut Residents Mel and Don

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:00:01 GMT

Hut Residents Mel and Don

Oct. 31, 2014

Melissa: The reason that I ended up homeless is that I left a 15-year abusive relationship and went into treatment for drug addiction after I had my child in 2011. My mom and I reconciled at the hospital and she supported me through treatment and then I went to Womenspace. Mom went to the Mission and I still couldn’t find housing. But for the first time, I never went back to my abuser. I ended up at the Mission with my mom. Then I rented a room from a girl that I met through my meetings, and my mom stayed at the Mission and then ended up moving in with me.

Donna: I was living at the Mission. I was a volunteer there, working with mothers and children, and I sort of had an emotional breakdown. I went to where my daughter was. We shared a twin bed. I was there about six months and she was there a year, and the lady decided she didn’t want to rent anymore so we had to find some place else to stay.

Melissa: Our main source of income was donating plasma and we were doing odd jobs for a friend of ours. Then we both couldn’t even donate plasma anymore, for health reasons. We just were having a hard time coming up with the rent money and she wasn’t budging on it. She actually raised it.

Donna: An old friend from the past offered to let us to stay at his apartment. But he was looking at me as a girl friend and he didn’t want my daughter there, so that lasted about a month and then he asked us to leave.

Melissa: We were going to go to the Mission but I am on methadone maintenance and I’ve got almost two years clean but at that time . . .

Donna: . . . We had both been smoking pot and you had to be drug-free to go there.

Melissa: They pulled us into the office when we got there because they knew us from before, the woman there said if I was to get a positive on a random test, I would be kicked out for 180 days and she didn’t want that for me. So we walked to Opportunity Village [OVE] and heard it was a two-week application period, and we were pretty devastated. They directed us here and we walked here straight from there.

At that point, I was ready to tell God that I was done. I was out of ideas and exhausted. But we did the application here, and we were on our way to Springfield to crash with a friend for the night, and, for me by the grace of God, we got a call saying that we could move in that day or the next day.

Donna: Art and Charlene were the camp managers when we came here. They’re the ones who called Erik [de Buhr, executive director of CSS] and pushed it through the same day even though he’s got tons of applications. It was just such a blessing.

Melissa: We had no other alternative. When I lived with that lady, I was so miserable that I used to say if I could just pitch a tent somewhere, it would be all I needed. It’s funny because that’s actually where I ended up. The first month, we had a hard time settling in, living outside in a community of people who had mostly been here for a while. So we stayed at a friend’s for a couple of nights a week. We had more offers to stay other places once people knew we were living in a tent.

But everybody was so welcoming here, helping us learn how to live outdoors like this. I’ve slept outside under a bridge or by a river, terrified of what can happen. But I feel safe here. Eventually I learned everybody’s name and I started feeling more comfortable. We haven’t stayed away for a few days for over two months now.

It’s different for my mom because she really didn’t like it at first.

Donna: I’m almost 60 and it was still chilly when we moved in, and in my head, I’m thinking “I’m 60 years old and I’m in a tent camp.” We both believe strongly in God, but I was very disappointed in myself, very unhappy with how my life turned out. I also lived with an abusive partner and when Melissa’s daughter was born, I went to the hospital and stayed with her there, and we both left our abusers. We were also both drug addicts. Since that time, we’ve both been clean and sober, which is amazing and wonderful. It just took me a little while to overcome the negative feelings, looking at myself as a failure, even though I don’t believe that. We’ve made bad choices but everything we do is a new journey that God wants us to go through. It took me a month, month and a half, to finally realize that this is okay.

The Mission is great but there are very strict rules. This is more independent. There are rules here, of course, but they are common courtesy rules: be kind to your neighbor, don’t steal, honor the gate hours, keep your place clean, which we do. It’s more like our own home. We don’t have to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning like at the Mission. We don’t have to go to bed at 10 o’clock. We can eat when we want. We have a lot more choices.

The idea of having to leave the camp from 10 to 4 is really good because it makes us get out into the community where we can look for resources and do the things we need to do with our lives to make them better. Melissa is applying for social security disability, and I’m going to explore that myself. I’m two years from retirement.

I tried to go back to work. I worked for seven weeks at a call center. But there are like seven or eight different programs you have to go into. I tried my hardest and I just couldn’t get it. That was a real blow for me, too, because I’ve always worked and never had a job I couldn’t do. I’ve managed a motel. I’ve done all kinds of stuff. That kind of devastated me when I tried that job and couldn’t do it.

The camp is a really nice community of people. We have different relationships with different people here. It’s amazing how easy it is to get along. We connect with each other cooking around the campfire. We do community projects where we have a community meal. One couple has a porch set up and people just seem to congregate over there and drink coffee in the morning. We have certain people who come to our tent and sit and speak with us.

Melissa: We always help each other out with coffee in the morning. . .

Donna: . . . or whatever somebody might need. Letting people talk to you when they have problems, that’s really helpful sometimes because people need to talk.

Melissa: We’re all in the same boat, so we all kind of get it. We all have a story but we’re all here because we want our story to change.

Donna: We hadn’t been here very long and they said they needed a gatekeeper and we volunteered right away.

Melissa: We have work parties where we’ll stay in camp and we’ll clean up, mowing and weeding and sweeping. When we have our camp meetings, Erik will bring up something that needs to be done and ask for volunteers. Then there are the days we go work in the park for the city, and I feel like that’s paying rent. Having the gate duty is part of making this place stay the way it is. Everybody’s got to do a little part.

Donna: I really enjoy it here now. It’s our independence. It’s not anybody else’s house or rules or opinions. We all have opinions here but all of us know that we need to get along and most people are very good about it. There’s a few blips every once in a while but that’s true anywhere you live.

Melissa: Sometimes somebody opens their mouth and then they’re arguing. Because I have PTSD from the violence I went through, I can’t handle hearing that kind of stuff. I am usually upfront. I’ll go to somebody to express my reservations about their behavior. I feel like I’m socially

underdeveloped, to use a nice word, but here I’m learning how to talk to people to express my feelings a little differently, to take it down a notch.

Donna: We have our camp meetings and we talk about whatever might be wrong. And there are things like L. and his drinking. Last night, he fell twice and busted his nose open and did his arm up and he was belligerent and angry and just awful. We discussed kicking him out, but instead we changed our minds and decided to talk with him, to be advocates for him, to encourage him to go to a detox place, which we haven’t approached him about yet. But he called me today and I’m going to talk to him about that when he sobers up.

Melissa: Living in this camp has helped me to be able to find myself. I didn’t have choices in my last relationship. I didn’t know my favorite color, what foods I liked, anything like that because it was always decided by my ex. Here I feel no imminent fear that when I get home, if somebody’s in a bad mood, they are going to decide that I can’t be here anymore. I never fear not having a place to come home to.

And I call it home. It’s a big change for me and it’s been really scary because I’m 36 and I met my ex when I was 15. We were together for so many years and I couldn’t get away from him. I always went back to him and I think that if we had not gotten into this camp that I might have given up and went backwards. I was at my end. What I value most here is that I have a freedom that I never had to find out who I am.

Donna: We’ve both been in controlling relationships a lot in our lives, so independent living is pretty nice, the independence of not living underneath someone who dictates how you live your life. It’s the first place that we’ve had in I-don’t-know-how-long where it’s just ours.

It’s also a drug- and alcohol-free place, which is really important to us in staying sober and not doing drugs. I’m not tempted at all anymore. I’m so glad to be done.

We’ve got some co-dependency going on but we’re working on it.

Melissa: Yeah, because we only had each other once we left our abusers, and we’re both addicts and used together. So to be clean together is a blessing. And in rebuilding myself, I have to rebuild a healthy relationship with my mom. We both chose each other and freedom and . . .

Donna: . . . no more drugs, no more abuse.

Melissa: There is codependence, but I think it’s a lot more healthy then when we first got here. I think that we’ve made a lot of progress,

Donna: When we leave here, we’re planning to rent a place together and take a step at a time and then eventually to live independently.

Melissa: I don’t want to live alone yet. I’m not prepared to live alone. My daughter who is three now lives with her dad’s grandmother. She’s doing guardianship right now. So by getting a place with my mom and then learning how to live healthily in my own home and pay my bills and do these things I’ve never had to do because . . .

Donna: . . . you’ve never lived alone . . .

Melissa: . . . my ex did everything. If I can do that with my mom, both of us practicing the skills that we didn’t have the choice of doing because that choice was taken from us. Then in a couple of years, I will feel better about living alone and having my daughter more than I do now.

When I tell people I live in a tent, they’re like, “Oh, I’m so sorry,” and I’m like, “No you don’t get it. It’s great. It’s a locked facility. It’s city-approved. We’re on platforms. We have a big piece of foam to sleep on. And all the tent areas are covered during the winter.” So I’m very happy about it. The camp is very helpful, and I think there should be more of them

Donna: Yeah, there are a lot of people out there who have nowhere safe to sleep.

Melissa: I’m very grateful to the city of Eugene for this. I never knew this was a possibility, never, so I was amazed. I feel it’s a blessing.

If you are homeless and you’re really ready to make a change in your life and can accept communal living—because even though it’s outside, it’s still communal living—this is a great opportunity for anybody to get back on their feet because there’s no length of stay here. It’s all about your attitude and following the simple rules of just living peacefully and doing something positive with your life. It’s not a place for people to come and just say, “Okay, I’m here and I’m going to stay here until the wheels fall off and then I’ll go to the next place.” It’s beneficial for people who are ready to make a change and just need that one element, which is safety. That’s the biggest thing here, is it’s safe, the name [Safe Spot] speaks it all. It is completely safe and there are enough people here that if one person becomes unsafe, there’s a team of people that can handle it.

Sometimes, I can’t wait to get back here.

Donna: I don’t want to live here forever. I’m not looking forward to the winter. But an income is important and if we have to do the social security thing then that’s what we’re going to have to wait for. And I’m ready to accept that. I can survive this and I have come to really appreciate it. At first, I thought, “I wished I had a home where my daughter can come to where she doesn’t have to sleep outside.” But you know, things are what they are. This is a really good, growing and learning experience. And everyone here is very good and generous. If they have it, they will share it and we do the same, whatever we have. Just yesterday a guy wanted some books, he’s lost without something to read, so he found three that he likes by going through our books.

You know we all do what we can for each other, which is really wonderful. If we need something, all we have to do is ask.

Redistribute Wealth Now

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 09:04:46 GMT

Redistribute Wealth Now

Oct. 30, 2014 - Written By: Erik de Buhr, Edited By: Guy Maynard

Most readers of this little newsletter are quite familiar with the broadening economic gap between the rich and the poor. At this point it seems like an inevitable reality that we must live with until the natural resources that make it possible for individuals and corporations to hoard gobs of money finally dry up and leave behind a world barely habitable. Of course, this is the grimmest scenario possible, and if anyone has a more positive outlook, please enlighten me.

Despite all that seems wrong in the world, CSS is gearing up for our 2nd annual month-long fundraising campaign. Last year we raised a bit over $15,000 to, primarily, construct more Conestoga Huts. This year our lofty goal has doubled to $30,000. This amount will enable us to build more Conestoga Huts and to continue to serve the individuals in our Safe Spot camps. These people living so close to the very bottom of society come from many different circumstances. Some have been camping illegally for years and now have a place where they can reach levels of stability not obtainable when sleeping illegally. Many of the folks in CSS camps are waiting on desperately needed social services and financial assistance and many have had several life crises combine to culminate in a perfect storm to bring them down lower than they ever thought possible. It is eye opening to get in touch with these stories because it shows the overall fragility of the American way of life.

So how is it that our American life creates so much poverty? Not only material poverty for a few (though even the poorest of our population has access to more food and material goods than most other ‘poor’ people around the world), but also spiritual poverty, which must be at an all-time high in America today! The latter form of poverty spreads across many demographic groups, from people who have houses to those who do not. Could it be that all our abundance blinds us to other forms of happiness that we could strive for?

Many years ago I worked in the stockroom of a Sears department store. After about ten months I needed a change of task so I moved to the sales floor, not exactly knowing my own values at the time. One day, after two weeks of training, I unintentionally sold a guy a treadmill. I say “unintentionally” because during the sale I did try to talk him out of buying it. He actually sold himself on the idea that it would make him happier and that he needed it. He purchased the treadmill with a credit card. I left with a heavy conscience that day for being partly responsible for putting more debt into a person’s life. The next day I put in my notice because I had learned I was unfit for the task of meeting a quota based on selling people material things they really don’t need.

A multitude of forces in a capitalistic society pressure people into consuming more and more, so I will spend this time pressuring you, the few who read this, into giving away things that you think you cannot live without or maybe just the things that you don’t use anymore. I have no hesitation now to pressure you to downsize your life to help your fellows. Here’s what I am aiming to “sell” you: that you—yes you—probably don’t need everything you have. Donating something to CSS not only helps us continue providing others in our community a stable place to be and some basic structure to their lives, it will help you feel better and lighter because it’s one less material item you have to be concerned with. And the item that you give up may bring somebody else joy for a day or two, or hopefully longer—and prevent them from having to get the quick fix of consumerism from Walmart or Target, therefore not giving just a little bit more to some of the greediest in the world.

It’s such a little step, I know. It’s not going to save the world or the environment or bring justice to all the poor. But it is redistributing wealth in the form of material goods to assist some of the poorest people in our own community. And remember, I am not talking only about getting rid of the things you don’t need and were going to donate anyway. I am also talking about letting go of things that you feel an attachment to. That’s key because sometimes attachments to material things can restrict, rather than bring, the happiness and satisfaction that we seek in our own lives. That’s one thing that we can control in the troubling situation around us: our own attachments to things and the habits we’ve collected through living in a consumer society. This is a great opportunity for you to find some personal satisfaction and to help out people in need with some of the basic necessities of life.

Erik and Fay de Buhr on life in a Hut: “We love small spaces.”

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:38:51 GMT

Erik and Fay de Buhr on life in a Hut: “We love small spaces.”

Oct. 30, 2014

Erik is executive director of Community Supported Shelters and Fay is fundraising director. They and their almost five-year-old son Abram moved into a Conestoga Hut behind CSS’s Tine Hive shop in September.

Loving Life at the Vets’ Camp

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:30:42 GMT

Loving Life at the Vets’ Camp

Eventually I was promoted to field superintendent, a position of leadership and authority. My responsibilities included the safe transport, efficient operation, and constant inspection and maintenance of highly specialized gear worth millions of dollars. I was also charged with making critical decisions, the supervision and safety of my crew, conforming to rules and regulations set by various state and federal regulatory agencies, the keeping of clear and concise records, and finally coordinating with and satisfying the needs of customers. At the same time, I had to maintain a tactful and diplomatic manner towards my superiors, the media, my crew, and especially customers. Under great pressure, I was the quintessential middle manager. I often thought about the similarities of my civilian career and my time as a non-commissioned officer in the Marine Corps, training with my troops, preparing to defend my country. Both jobs were dangerous and unpredictable, requiring teamwork, cooperation, competent leadership, and a situational awareness that taught us how a split second of complacency or carelessness could be extremely dangerous or possibly even life threatening. But I never dreaded going to work at either job.

I was completely immersed in my job, but my drinking and a citation for driving under the influence ended my career as a hazardous materials specialist ended after 24 years. Then my marriage of 15 years came to an end. After I lost my job, I went to work for a temp agency on a series of short-term factory jobs.

Shortly after these events, my father succumbed to cancer. I was in a daze, a conscious state of shock with total recall accompanied by total confusion. I became convinced that I needed a fresh start. I sold my car, and with my meager savings I left Illinois and relocated to Oregon. I had housing pre-arranged and pre-paid upon arrival but my housing arrangement ran its course and I soon found myself homeless.

I had been in Oregon for about two months and I knew almost no one and trusted none. For the first and only time, I was completely and utterly alone. I was tempted to give up and turn tail and run. But after a little soul searching, I convinced myself that I was a survivor. I chose fight instead of flight and was determined to face and conquer any and all challenges ahead of me. I sometimes relied on friends for shelter. I often slept on the streets. I even took refuge at the mission from time to time. But my last residence was an apartment granted to me by a temporary and transitional six-months vets’ program. When that ended, I was on the streets again.

But soon after that, I was accepted into the Community Supported Shelters vets’ camp. I prefer the vets’ camp to the Christian-based and other charity’s shelter programs for several reasons. The vets’ camp gives us safety, security, and stability. It provides a camaraderie and trust unknown at the other programs. I have witnessed the behavior of some of the employees at other programs, and they can be very condescending and judgmental, actions that are hardly Christ-like. I’ve seen how impersonal, biased, and even menacing these places can be. But one must remember, even the vets’ camp, like other shelter programs, may not be for everyone. For, as with mainstream society, the vets’ camp applies and enforces rules. All those accepted here must also accept the consequences for breaking the rules. Most of us vets realize that it is a privilege to be a part of all this.

We also enjoy the chance to make our camp more efficient and user friendly with consistent maintenance and improvements. We have a lot of laughs brainstorming, putting our heads together, comparing and combining ideas and working cooperatively to see our efforts result in a simple improvement or even a major enhancement borne of a simple idea. The volunteer work we do for the community is also a lot of fun. Our community project contact is always pleasant and appreciative of our efforts on her projects and it’s rewarding to know that we can make a difference. But I’ve been on several of these and it appears to me that we have been ill prepared.

This brings me to my camp improvement idea. I suggested that we design a simple form that we call “Community Projects logistics checklist”—and we are going to implement that. Since each community project has different requirements, this will be a formal system of communication to prepare us for each project and will allow us to ask specific questions about each job, ensuring that the proper tools and materials are supplied and ready. This approach will help us to complete each project in a safe, timely, and efficient manner while minimizing the amount of time, energy, and resources wasted. This system can also be used for record keeping. I believe that this simple form will greatly improve our preparation and performance on future community service projects.

I have also been inspired by a friend and campmate to go back to school. I have neither sought nor received any type of formal education since graduating high school in 1981, 33 years ago. I am now enrolled at LCC for the fall session. I plan to study journalism and broadcasting. Naturally I am apprehensive, anxious, and even a little fearful of such a drastic change. But I am also excited about the new adventure ahead of me. With a lot of determination, diligence, and a little luck, I hope to someday get on the air. This is my goal. With the vets’ camp and the other Eugene Safe Spots, long-term goals are attainable and the opportunities are almost limitless, but without these safe havens, none of this would be possible.

After two and a half years in Oregon, I’ve made several new trusted and lifelong friends along with countless allies and acquaintances. I’ve made a point of personalizing relationships by remembering names and faces. Also, I have been told by many of my peers that I am almost too polite and courteous to all without bias. I try to be generous and helpful whenever possible, and I am truly grateful for the chance to start again with a clean slate. I was a very angry and easily provoked man, often instigating altercations. I am still the same man but with a new and improved attitude. I now know that I have gained a reputation of being kind, impartial, and benevolent. I try to smile at everyone and I’m always willing to treat every person I meet with respect and dignity, addressing everyone as sir, ma’am, or miss. I feel that this combination of speech and behavior has earned me the street credibility that is hard won and easily lost. It is so easy to destroy the trust that takes one so long to build. But now for the first time in my life, I feel that I have earned the trust of most people I encounter. I have no enemies here and know of no one here seeking retribution or pay back as I have wronged none. I enjoy not needing to look over my shoulder and not having to be constantly ready for a revenge-fueled confrontation. I truly love life now and I’m on the road to self-forgiveness. I’m finally even starting to like myself again, and I’m truly thankful for every day God grants me. I would not trade any of this for all of King Midas’s gold.

I am not homeless. That is a word, a label created by the establishment. I am houseless, lacking shelter, or if you prefer political correctness, I am residentially challenged. But the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, and specifically Eugene is my home—and I’m here to stay.

Hut Residents: Vickie

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:29:55 GMT

Hut Residents: Vickie

“A friend of mine at the Mission heard about the huts through St. Vinny De Paul, and I thought it would be a good idea since I was going through this chemotherapy. It’s really hard to find the peace and the serenity over at the Mission.

“I was lucky to be one of the early ones to sign up, so I got one of these when they became available. As Erik [de Buhr, Community Supported Shelter’s program director] says, the biggest challenge is not the matter of building them, it’s trying to find places for them. They built these here the same day I moved in. It was amazing. I did cut a couple of stiles for my window and I cut a couple of stiles for the one next door. I’m not a major builder, but I did a little part of it. It was awesome.

“My first impression living in the hut was, I didn’t have to wake up to 60 women snoring all night long like at the Mission. I was going through this therapy, and it was really hard to get rest and to maintain my composure. The hut was a godsend. I could go to sleep. I didn’t have to wake up at six in the morning. I didn’t have to listen to anybody gripe about the window being open. The hut allows me a lot of space for my healing. It’s been wonderful.

“I’ve met a lot of people at the church. I’ve been working with Sara and Gretchen [volunteer landscapers], and I got a lawn mower from the Mission, so I can maintain my own plot of land here and do lawn mowing all along the roadway. I’ve been laying brick over at the church and other things when I feel up to it. I’ve enjoyed my time working at the church. It’s brought me a little closer to the outreach I’ve always liked to do.

“A lot of people at the church ask: ‘Do you need anything?’ ‘Are you okay?’ And I don’t need for anything. Thanks to the good Lord, I have what I need, which is a blessing. I have a hut. I don’t need anything for my hut.

“If someone was to offer me a million dollars right now, I’d probably give a lot away. Keep some of it. but I would not change the course or direction of where my life is, because of what’s been given to me. I’m happy and content. I’m dry. I’m really safe here. I’ve had no problems being here.

“It is a miracle, to be able to have this. This hut absolutely has made a difference for me. It is my home right now. I’m very, very grateful.”

Hut Residents: Robin Bloomgarden

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:27:28 GMT

Hut Residents: Robin Bloomgarden

My mom was living in Arizona then and my sister was living about 100 miles away from her. My mom was not doing well. My sister and I decided, with mom’s okay, to have everyone move back to Oregon. We found an assisted living place for my mom in Eugene, and my sister moved in to one of my mom’s properties. About a month later, I moved in with her, but it didn’t work out. She kicked me out of my mom’s property. And that’s when I became homeless. And I’ve been homeless ever since. I just can’t make enough money to do anything. Every time I get a few hundred bucks together and think maybe I can find a roommate, rent a small little inexpensive place, all of a sudden, there’s a $200 bill for something. And I’m right back to square one.

I’ve been clear from the beginning that when the weather gets cold and wet and horrible, that I am not going to be in it anymore, and what the homeowner and I talked about was that maybe a homeless mom with a kid could live back there and share the house

I do housesitting and I now have a gig set up for mid-January to mid-March in a house watching some cats. Now what I’m trying to do is get some other gigs set up to do that through the winter and then hopefully maybe I’ll have enough money to get a place to live. That’s kind of the plan.

Photos by: Kate Harnedy http://katehphoto.com

Hut Residents – Site Needed

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:26:40 GMT

Hut Residents – Site Needed

Oct. 30, 2014

Doug: “When it was snowing . . . we would have died. This Hut saved our lives.”

Chris: “I feel absolutely blessed and thankful to have a place like this.”

Chris and Doug Smith are 37-year-old twins who are frequently seen pushing carts and collecting bottles and cans around more than 700 square blocks of south and west Eugene. Doug has been in Eugene about seven years and Chris about five. They moved into the demonstration Conestoga Hut in front of Community Supported Shelter’s shop in late fall. CSS is trying to find a location for two Huts for them to move into.

Q. What kind of work did you do before you started collecting cans and bottles?

Doug: I worked for Market of Choice for three years, and then I went to Safeway and it was about two years there. I was a manager at Safeway. Unfortunately, I think they kind of downsized. It was a slower Safeway.

Chris: It’s funny, there’s been like 10 different people who drove up to me and said, “Why is your brother not at Safeway? He was their best guy. I only came there for him.” They were like, “Why him?” Me and my brother hear that all the time. I’ve worked about everywhere pretty much in this town. I’ve been laid off a lot of times. I’ve worked at Old Navy, T.J. Maxx, a gas station, J.C. Penny, Jerry’s, Goodwill.

Doug: The funny thing is he did he not get fired at one of them.

Chris: I was never written up one time.

Doug: Not a single write-up.

Chris: Never missed a day of work. I was never late.

Doug: Wasn’t late one time.

Q: How long have you been collecting bottles and cans?

Chris: Too long.

Doug: Gosh, it’s been a little over two years, I’d say. At first, we started just sparingly.

Chris: Yeah, we kind of found that by accident. We were turning in our bottles one day. Walking down the road, we found a bunch on the way. A couple people saw us, and they said, “You can take mine, and every week if you want them, you can have them.” By the time we got done, we’re like, “Jeez we just made almost $20. We don’t have work right now, we may as well give it a shot.”

Doug: Yeah, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

Chris: We’d look for jobs and then no one calls you.

Doug: No one calls for the job, so we’re like, “All right, we’ll try to do something to make it.”

Chris: We didn’t really want to do it. It’s not like the most . . .

Doug: Yeah, it’s not really glamorous.

Chris: It’s definitely kind of embarrassing.

Doug: Sometimes it’s humiliating and embarrassing.

Chris: But to make ends meet and to have things, you’ll do anything.

Doug: We’re not lazy, though. We don’t want to not have stuff.

Chris: I don’t care how hard the work is.

Doug: I don’t care what I’ve got to do to work. It shows what kind of work ethic we have—we got laid off and we’ve taken like two days off collecting cans in two years. We still went out in all that snow.

Chris: Not the first day because that was just too much.

Doug: But after that, we grabbed some carts and pushed them through the snow. So obviously, we wouldn’t call in sick to a place where you do a lot easier work. That just kind of shows what happened to us in our jobs because we have the choice now, and we go out every single day. You can’t get laid off from doing bottles. So no one can ever tell me I can’t do that— not work. So, if I can do that and make some money for some food—and we like energy drinks and a pizza every day—then I’m going to do it.

Q: How do people react to you when you’re collecting bottles and cans?

Chris: Most of it’s good, but there are the occasional people who will look at you funny. I had one who was, like, “I wouldn’t push a cart, I’d be embarrassed.” And he’s on a truck with a job, and I was like, “You have a job, right? Did you get laid off? No. Well that’s why you’re not doing it. If you really wanted something, and you didn’t want to not have stuff, if you were driven enough . . .”

Doug: Yeah, if you wanted to still have stuff even though you weren’t working at the time.

Chris: I’d like to see how many jobs he kept over the last 10 years. If he’s been working there his whole life, well, I’ve been laid off eight times and for no reason. I can see why I’ve continued to do this because at least I’m not going to lose this.

Q: Some people admire how hard you work and how persistent you are. Does that surprise you?

Chris: Yeah, kind of.

Doug: It’s actually nice.

Chris: It’s nice but at the same time . . .

Doug: It’s not like we’re proud of it.

Chris: I wouldn’t call it shame, but it’s still . . .We’ve always worked our whole lives so we’re not used to doing this. We’re not used to this life. I was wearing a $1000 suit and making $30 an hour in Fresno. I worked at Macy’s.

Doug: I was a claims adjuster and had my own office and everything.

Chris: Yeah, he made really good money, too . . . Go from wearing a suit and a tie . . .

Doug: A suit and a tie and your own office to pushing a cart with cans, so you’re not super proud of it, but it’s still nice to know that we totally inspire people, that still makes you feel good because at least you know that there are still good people in this town who aren’t judging you. I’ve never judged anybody myself. If I see people trying, I don’t judge anybody no matter what.

Chris: I’m not going to look down on anybody.

Q: Where were you sleeping before you moved into the demo Hut?

Chris: We stayed at the Mission for a while. In the summertime, they changed the rules there. They made it where you have to stick around there half the day and work and do stuff, which we didn’t mind doing but it was easier to pay the two dollars. We even stayed at the park in the summer time. We’d just camp out there.

Doug: Yeah, we’d sleep out there for a few hours.

Chris: It was warm outside and we’d only sleep for five or six hours, we’d lie down, then wake up and go do our thing.

Doug: Erik [de Buhr, executive director of CSS] ran into us and let us know that they had Huts and he was going to try to get us a Hut. There wasn’t anything available right away, so he let us stay at the demo one temporarily.

Chris: We wouldn’t have made it. If we couldn’t go to the Mission for some reason, because they even have a lottery thing during that cold weather spell. I don’t know what we would have done.

Q. How did sleeping in the Hut change your lives?

Doug: Oh gosh, it’s completely different. When it was snowing the other week, we would have died. This hut saved our lives.

Chris: Yeah, we have no body fat. Cold is the only thing we can’t handle. We grew up in LA, in warm weather. I mean we were cold even in the summer time. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what we would have done. I have no clue. It was snowing and negative 15, what would we have done?

Doug: We were in here when it was snowing—and we were like, “What would we have done, there’s a foot of snow on the ground, and we can’t go to the Mission if they were full or whatever.” Where would we go?

Chris: Just to have shelter and not be cold at night, to have somewhere to go. The first night that we were in here, it’s funny. . .

Doug: We were thrilled to death.

Chris: . . . I lived in a really nice condo in Fresno. Now I feel absolutely blessed and thankful to have a little place this like this. This is awesome. It definitely humbles you, a lot, but it’s still great.

Q: Do you think getting more Huts out in the community can make a difference?

Chris: I think that would be awesome. There was a little article in the opinion section in yesterday’s paper and they were talking about homelessness, and they said they should try to do something about it, and I think the Huts are an excellent idea.

Doug: Especially with the weather here. It’s wet and it’s cold.

Chris: And we’ve heard about people dying. A couple of people at the Mission have died. I think one of the guys down there froze to death.

Doug: By Albertson’s, there’s a tree where this homeless guy used to always sit and there’s a cross there now and we’re thinking, “Did he freeze to death?”

Chris: He was a drinker but it’s still one of those things.

Doug: But think about it, there’s Huts now that people could have and those people would be alive right now if they had a Hut. Just imagine how important that is.

Chris: Just to save one life would be unbelievable, and who knows maybe they would have turned their life around and moved on. But now they’re gone.

Doug: Exactly, if they had a Hut, maybe they could turn their life around and make it better, if they had a place and they had some optimism.

Q: What are your long-term plans or hopes?

Doug: Still looking for jobs, looking for anything that says full-time because when somebody says 12 hours a week, 12 hours a week after federal, state, Medicare—all those taxes . . .

Chris: Even if it’s 20 or 30 hours, unless you’re making a good wage, it’s not enough to survive

Doug: If you’re making minimum wage and working 12 hours a week, how much are you really getting? Like $50? We can each make that in a couple of days collecting.

Chris: I think my job history has also got me to not put 100% into looking for work, which I should. But I’ve had a lot of ups and downs—to get a job, get into a place, get a vehicle, you’re set and then you lose it and then do it again and lose it. To have to go through that again, it bothers me so much, I don’t want it to happen to me again. But probably some time we have to get on to something more . . . we can’t do this the rest of our lives.

Doug: We’re also planning to go to college because we’ve talked to some people who say that you can get financial aid and take some classes. We used to work out a lot, and we like nutrition, some field like that—I know a lot of those fields like physical therapy are overfilled but maybe something like that. We’ve got some college in our background.

Chris: I’m pretty much open to anything. There’s a couple of different areas, but a lot of times, you’ll go to college and then you’ll find something that you’re really interested in or you’re really good at.

Doug: You can find out while you’re there. Definitely we’re needing to do that and wanting to, also.

Chris: Like I say, every day it’s usually been like we look for a couple of jobs and stuff but we’re still going to need money to get stuff now, so we think let’s at least go out for a couple of hours. Everyday, we’re just, like, “There’s money out there. We can at least do something for right now.”

Hut Residents: Phil Bragg

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 08:17:53 GMT

Hut Residents: Phil Bragg

The church parking lot is right next to the Tine Hive, where the Huts are built. Neighbors talk, and I volunteered and said I was willing to do anything. I helped put up the first two Huts and Erik [de Buhr, CSS executive director] petitioned the Opportunity Village on my behalf to see if he could build a Hut for me and got permission from the pastor, so I got the first Hut in that parking lot last February.

I’m going to be married next month. Part of the reason that I’m still staying in the Hut is that my faith doesn’t let me live with my fiancé before marriage, but when August 17 comes up, I’m going to be living with her.

It has all worked together really well for me and it was because there were people out there who were willing to open their hearts and open their minds to “You know what, this is a good guy, he’s just down on his luck.”

Not Here, Nor There…But Where?

Mon, 01 Sep 2014 09:33:17 GMT

Not Here, Nor There…But Where?

Sept. 1, 2014 - Written By: Erik de Buhr, Edited By: Guy Maynard

Last month I found myself at the Lane County Transfer Station (aka, the dump) with a truckload of remnants left over from pre-cutting carpets for Conestoga Huts. Being a chronic salvager, I struggled some throwing these bits into the pit never to be seen again. “If only I had the time to sit and really get to know this material I could come up with a swell meaningful use for it,” I thought. But the practical side of me argued against it, prioritizing the best use of space and keeping the shop clutter free. Reluctantly I dropped the scraps into the smelly pit and drove away with some residue of guilt.

Upon a little reflection while driving away, I recognized that this same situation, of needing to discard materials before they get in the way, occurs continually in our daily life right before our eyes, to material . . . and people. People who do not serve a purpose according to the priorities of the day are in some way or another tossed into a pit to be out of the way of more important things. For example, under many overpasses, cages have been installed to prevent homeless people from finding temporary shelter or setting up camp there. Maybe those wanting to create an image of prosperity thought it was an eyesore to have to look at the most vulnerable of our society. I admit that under a bridge is not the best place to sleep, but putting a cage up to prevent somebody from finding shelter doesn’t seem like a solution to this particular problem.

Just in the short time that we’ve been making Huts, I’ve met dozens of people who lack and want daily purpose. A fellow who just moved into a Hut at the church next door to the CSS shop begged me recently to give him something to do. He said, “I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off.” I relate with him immensely. It’s part of the reason we keep so busy making Huts. We want to stay busy for our own sanity, and we want to stay busy doing something that is beneficial to people. Through this, we’ve learned that people need more than shelter. Though shelter is the most logical first step to self-recovery, they may next need a good purpose to fulfill.

In August, we put a Hut at Tamarack Wellness Center. Surprisingly, it was the Eugene Police Department who suggested a Hut to Tamarack managers as a possible solution to the increase in burglary that has plagued the center recently. Due to the lack of resources, Tamarack could not hire a full-time security company to cover the graveyard shift. It turned out to be a no-brainer for Tamarack. Now they want to get two more Huts, which we hope to do after our October fundraiser.

The Tamarack managers chose a resident from several people on the Hut waiting list and found somebody willing to take on the role as a watchdog for their facility. In exchange, the person gets a safe place to sleep and a cell phone to call the authorities in case he senses some suspicious activities. This was the first Hut placement to come along with such a strong purpose, and we are looking forward to seeing the long-term results of it and others like it.

It’s all very much an experiment at this point. In my opinion, that’s what we need to be doing right now, as a community and as a society, experimenting with other ways to bring simple prosperity to our community. The Opportunity Village Eugene project is a good example of this kind of experimentation. Sure, there will be failures along the way, but failures will help us succeed as long as we are learning from them. Last week, a Hut got broken into and, because of that experience, we realized that we need to pay attention to how we place the backside of Huts and make sure they maintain a certain level of visibility. So, in theory, the more we fail now, the more we will be able to get things right in the future. The only true failure is to fail to try new things. If all we do is keep trying to push the problem aside and hide it from view, we all know, that the problem will only grow bigger. When failure forces us to set something aside, we must be sure we are also exploring viable alternatives. This is our dream for the Conestoga Huts: to become one of those alternative paths people in need can take to pick themselves up and find self-value and purpose within the community.

Will We Find the Courage to Face the Housing Reality?

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 09:20:21 GMT

Will We Find the Courage to Face the Housing Reality?

Aug. 1, 2014 - Written and Cartoon By: Erik de Buhr, Edited By: Guy Maynard

In late June, Community Supported Shelters set up two Huts at the Wesley United Methodist Church on Oakway Road. These two Huts only took about four hours to set up with our trained volunteers and lots of help from our community partners.

We felt great about that, but I think the more notable achievement in this project was the level of intention shown by the organizers within the congregation of the church. They wanted to make the Huts comfortable and, at the same time, not so comfortable that the people using the Huts would stagnate in their efforts toward finding personal stability. The church folks knew from the start that they wanted the Huts to be transitional housing, and that intention can be communicated to the guests as soon as they walk in the door. Setting the tone in the beginning is key to a successful project. This Hut placement was successful because everyone took the time to consider the long-term well being of people affected.

Witnessing such thoughtfulness makes it harder to face the fact that transitional housing is such a dire need and that our society as a whole is so scared of it. This fear seems to arise because people want to believe that we have a perfect society already and are afraid that recognizing the need for micro-shelters for people in transition means acknowledging our imperfection. On our shop door we have painted some words of the social and political activist Jane Adams: “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” Many are at an immediate disadvantage in our society. Micro-housing to provide them safety and some protection from the elements is one small piece of the solution puzzle. Still, this approach will take some getting used to by people who are, at the moment, secure and stable.

Finding locations for Huts has proven to be the most difficult task that we’ve had to face in getting Huts up. There are a lot of preconceived ideas about the type of people being served by the Huts and what kind of trouble they may bring to a neighborhood. A couple points are important to recognize here. First, people in need of transitional housing are more diverse than the colors in the rainbow. In the past three years, even our family has needed a program like this during a transition from one place to another that took about ten months due to limited financial resources. Second, most people hold onto distorted ideas about this diverse group of people because they generalize based on a small percentage known as the “chronically homeless.” This distortion mixed with the fear of admitting our imperfection makes it rather difficult to make any real progress for these people—and creates the climate that makes it challenging to find places for the Huts.

In mid-July we put up two Conestoga Huts for our family of three behind our shop and office on Grant Street in Eugene. We were able to afford the huts by getting a low-interest community loan from some supporters. We believe that we need to do whatever we can to restore the balance to our own communities to make it better for the children of tomorrow. We must let go of self-interests unless they serve the whole. Otherwise, all of us will pay the consequences in the long run. Downsizing our personal life into Huts is a life-style choice for us and a testimony to the fact that without transition nothing will ever get better.

Made Possible by Community Engagement

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 09:24:07 GMT

Made Possible by Community Engagement

July 1, 2014

“Community Supported Shelters makes the Conestoga Huts” is sort of a false statement. The truth is that the local community makes the Conestoga Huts. CSS simply connects concerned individuals and businesses to a tangible solution to the problem of people not having shelter. Even after Hut number 11, which we put up in early June in Springfield, the hut design is still being modified and perfected by people who see another piece of how to make it safer.

In about seven months, countless people have given in some way to this project. By the end of June we will have placed 13 Huts, giving 15 people a safe place to get their lives together. With OVE opening up this summer and Springfield passing an ordinance to add the Hut to their car camping program, the number of Huts may increase to 25. These numbers are good considering they have come from a grassroots-style community effort to make shelters that we might consider adequate to live in ourselves. The community sharing the responsibility of providing shelter to people in need illustrates the unique social environment that is developing in our urban area. This kind of cooperation is extremely bold in our modern environment of competition.

What we are doing as a community with the Huts may seem like an anomaly, but we would say it is the norm when considering the larger timeline of human experience. I’ve never heard of any indigenous tribes that had a division of labor that excluded some people from building homes for their community members. It seems it was generally part of life for most people to play a part in the creation of shelters. This system worked for thousands of years for sheltering people from the elements and giving them a sense of belonging. The Conestoga Hut project is showing that the values behind these strategies are still alive in us now and that we can retrofit them to our modern day circumstances. This is why we call it a “Hut”.

People can participate in the construction and installation of the Conestoga Huts in many ways. One of the most important ways is to talk about it with people who may be in a position to host a Conestoga Hut at a church or business. Churches are great sights for Conestoga Huts because most of the time they have a community of people who adopt the resident. From my experience, providing access to a supportive community is just as important as building the Hut because it influences the resident’s behavior and attitude. Being immersed in a faith-based community helps to set a different tone for an individual in hardship. I also believe that there are benefits to the Hut host as a way of living out one’s beliefs in service and sharing, instead of just subscribing to them in theory.

Thirteen Huts isn’t that many in the big picture of things. The bigger accomplishment here is the method of delivery and the intention. The Huts are coming from the community and from the urge to lend a hand to one another with the overall goal of giving everyone a chance to participate in our society and earn a livelihood from it.

Community Supported Shelters June 2014 Update

Sun, 01 Jun 2014 09:28:49 GMT

Community Supported Shelters June 2014 Update

June 1, 2014

CSS is a newly formed organization, but we have been involved for four years in developing and cooperating with others to build micro-housing for individuals seeking a downsized lifestyle. (Click Here to See the Icosa Hut). We were very focused on using as much reused materials for our shelters. Over time, we saw the need to also build for efficiency, simplicity, and movability if we were going to build a structure that would serve as a form of relief housing.

Sincerely,

Erik de Buhr
Program Director

Homelessness Can Begin in the Home

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 09:06:49 GMT

Homelessness Can Begin in the Home

April 1, 2014

For the upcoming event titled “Finding Home,” the panelists were given this question in advance, “What do you feel are the main causes of homelessness in our community?” When working with people who are struggling to find adequate shelter, I like to always conduct a quick personal interview to learn more about their unique situation. Nearly every time the person’s experience has included a form of abuse beginning in the home where they grew up. Even before I was a parent, I understood that the first four years of a human life have the strongest effect on how a person develops later in life. If that period of time is full of unstable behavior (like binge drinking, verbal arguments, physical abuse of anyone in the family), the home is an unsafe place. Most likely that person is going to grow up with more psychological baggage to overcome than other people. I don’t mean to oversimplify the reasons behind homelessness to say it is one particular thing. My intention is actually the opposite. This issue is more complicated than many people think.

At the Eugene Safe Spot, 12 out of 15 people smoke cigarettes. Big deal, right? Cigarettes are a common stress reduction mechanism that is, in many circles, a socially acceptable practice. During a meeting at the camp, I was curious about when people began smoking. One of the residents who I really depend on as a camp supervisor said he had his first cigarette when he was five years old. At that time he wasn’t homeless, and you might be thinking, “What does smoking cigarettes have to do with being homeless?”

In my opinion, smoking cigarettes is irresponsible behavior. It’s a sign of weakness, not of strength or coolness, as it was portrayed in our society for decades. The fact that we allow messages to be transmitted through advertising that encourage irresponsible behavior is an example of the main point I am trying to make: our society is irresponsible because activities that weaken people are encouraged and promoted. These messages are brought into the home and perpetuate damaging behaviors (smoking is just one of many examples) that sometimes lead to people finding themselves without a stable home. So, homelessness, in my opinion, is a symptom of a much larger disease…it is not the disease.

I believe that hyper-focusing on the issue of homelessness sort of distracts us from finding solutions to more fundamental problems. Getting people into homes is only part of the solution, especially if there is not a responsible community around an individual to help shift destructive behaviors that will send the person back into a ”hole.“ That challenge is made more difficult with all the corporate drug stores (just think of any mini-mart) readily available on every stinking corner in the city, providing easy access to legal drugs of choice. How are people supposed to really kick any addiction? There is a couple of young campers at the Safe Spot, one of them is pregnant and her partner is commonly sick. During a meeting, she was munching on a package of Skittle candy and talking about how often they hang around Voodoo Doughnuts in downtown Eugene.

Do I have to explain why this is irresponsible behavior?

I am not saying that these actions alone cause homelessness. I am saying that these behaviors, and many others, are irresponsible and weakening to human health and happiness. I am saying that corporate greed is part of this problem because these behaviors are encouraged to feed profits. When somebody comes to me preaching how corporations are ruining the world smoking a cigarette, I will never take it seriously. I will spare you my rant on how much cheap beer is sold everyday in our community.

Overall, our whole community is in need of some deep healing. It’s not just those struggling with adequate shelter. It’s many other people who have shelter as well. I live next to a gob of low-income housing apartments. The disease, of which homelessness is a symptom, is inside many of those homes as well, but within those walls it’s just harder to see.

Some people believe that solving the problem of homelessness is as simple as putting people in houses (like the housing first model). Housing, or legal shelter is, of course, very important to helping somebody back on his or her feet. Though, we have larger work ahead of us if our end goal is to strengthen our communities. This work includes putting the health of the entire community before our own individual comforts or desires, experimenting with new creative ways to create paying jobs for people, coming up with a truly sustainable American standard of living, making things happen as citizens and not waiting for the great machine of the government to be the change that we want to see in this world, cracking down on manipulative advertising that influences bad behavior, learning again how to be an upright people. No it’s not just putting people in housing…it’s actually changing things for the better and we got a lot of work ahead of us.

Providing a Place to Rest is Only Part of Helping Others Up

Sat, 01 Mar 2014 10:29:56 GMT

Providing a Place to Rest is Only Part of Helping Others Up

March 1, 2014

The Eugene Safe Spot, Community Supported Shelters’ first of two legal “rest-stops,” has been in operation since mid-December. The second CSS-managed “rest-stop,” primarily for homeless veterans, is in the process of opening as we get an onsite management team in place. We call this “rest-stop” the Vet Spot for now, but haven’t committed to that name. Both are providing safe, legal, and stable places for people to “camp” within the city.

The term rest-stop doesn’t work for me. When talking about these projects internally, we don’t use that term, we call them “camps.” The city can’t use this term because it legally can only designate two sites within city boundaries as camps. One of these designated sites is Opportunity Village Eugene, which doesn’t have any tents, it has micro-houses. I don’t remember what the other site is, but I do know that the city isn’t allowed to put any more camps in the urban boundaries. So we manage “rest-stops”…wink, wink.

Mayor Kitty Piercy has said several times that we only have people in these camps from “dusk until dawn,” which, in fact, is not really how we operate the camp. The camp gates are open from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. for folks to leave and from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. for folks to return. In the morning, this gives people time to get up and get moving, get things together, and then get on their way to do whatever it is they need to get done that day. Every once in a while, a manager calls me and says that “so and so doesn’t want to leave, for whatever reason.” Only one time have I had to drive to the site and make somebody leave. But, there is a problem with making everyone leave every day. People get sick, especially in Willamette Valley winters. I have too much heart to ask somebody with degraded health to get up and go wonder the streets or go to the library and infect a bunch of others, instead of resting in the warmth of his or her sleeping bag. In these cases—when “rest” is exactly what a person needs—we have an onsite manager stay at the site during the closed hours with the folks who are sick.

But what we are finding more often is that, instead of rest, people need activity. Some of the people that we’ve been serving don’t know what to do with themselves. They get caught up in hanging out with others who are “hanging out” around the social service handouts of this town. This town has a big heart, but I’ve seen too many people get enabled to the point of being disabled and whiny. We include the campers in the work at the sites, like setting them up and keeping them clean. During set up of the Vet Spot, a guy was working with us for maybe two hours and said, “Damn, I haven’t worked this much in a while!” I’ve heard this several times from several people at our camps. Most of the time this requires people being at the site during the day.

The CSS style of camp, which requires a level of self-responsibility, has not worked for everyone that we’ve given a spot to. We’ve seen a few people with drug addictions not be able to assimilate into the culture of our camps. We’ve seen some folks with drug issues get Supplemental Security Income from Social Security at the first of the month and then disappear for about four or five days. When they return, they are coming off of something. This is a troubling situation, especially because in some cases it is being fueled by government handouts—though it’s important to note that it is not just the unhoused who misuse government assistance and only a few of them do.

During a meeting with the River Road Neighborhood Association I was pleased to hear that they also want to be involved with the Vet Spot camp at the corner of Northwest Expressway and Chambers. They asked, “What can we do? Can we bring them anything?” I said, “Don’t bring them anything. The best thing you can do for this new camp is give them something to do, give them a purpose, make them useful.” I will constantly drive this point home. A person with a healthy purpose in life will pursue the things necessary to help them fulfill that purpose.

A different “War on Poverty”

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 10:22:47 GMT

A different “War on Poverty”

Jan. 1, 2014

Growing up in Eugene, I’ve always observed people holding signs on corners and living under bridges. In my teenage years I painted spray can murals, often underneath the Four Corners Bridge on Highway 99. On each side of the tracks there are large concrete walls that we’d paint on, sometimes from morning until evening. At that time, just on the other sides of the walls were several cube-shaped makeshift dwellings where people lived. We never had any trouble with those people. They were always pleasant to converse with. I even remember one time when a guy offered me some barbecued chicken that he was preparing. Here was somebody that had very little offering me some of the only food he had because he lived his life everyday sharing what he had.

Let’s juxtapose that scene with a more recent experience. Not too long ago, I was working at the front gate of the Eugene Safe Spot Camp, a legal camp for the unhoused, and a woman in her late 50s pulled up in a spotless SUV. She wanted to hire somebody to help her out with house cleaning. She said she likes the idea of the camp better than hosting people at churches. I talked with her about how the Eugene Safe Spot Camp works. And then I almost fell over when she began talking about herself in an unexpected way. “I am poor,” she said. “I don’t even give much support to my church.” Her words—“I am poor”—were ringing in my ear while she went on to talk about her snow skiing hobby. Eventually I just said, “Pardon me, I have to get back to work” and politely excused myself from the conversation.

Often we hear about the War on Poverty. Usually what comes to mind when defining poverty is someone’s economic status and income. But there is another sort of poverty that has to do with “never having enough.” In some ways, people who suffer from this sort of poverty are poorer than people who have very little but are content. This isn’t a revolutionary or new way of thinking, but it’s becoming more relevant as our mainstream societal environment becomes increasingly diseased from the spread of false concepts of what a wealthy life is! This disease has taken such deep roots that many people cannot recognize it anymore; it has become a norm of our shared experience. This way of thinking and acting in the world is at the root of unsustainable culture. So, poverty can also mean “not being able to see the abundance that we already have, therefore perpetually consuming more.”

The bulk of my experience has shown me that poor people—people without lots of money—typically give more of themselves to the common good than people with lots of money. This is not true of all poor people; it’s only the poor people NOT living in poverty. This is also not true of all people who have more money than they know what to do with, but it probably applies to the bulk of them. This too is not a new phenomenon. Consider Jesus’s words in Mark 12:42–44, which tells of a poor widow who gave all her resources to the church:

“Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, ’Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.’”

There is another fitting saying concerning poverty: “You can take people out of poverty, but it is more challenging to take poverty out of people.”

With this new definition of poverty as something that afflicts those with and without money, this saying is still true. You can give the rich more and more, and they will still feel like they need more. This is the most devastating form of poverty afflicting our society.

Maybe the ”War on Poverty” should be recast as “Making Peace with Having Enough.”

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