Lane County, OR is experiencing a crisis of affordability and housing. This means that there is not enough housing stock for people living in Lane County, OR in proportion to its population density and the housing stock that is available. Of the 80,000 units of available housing stock, most are inaccessible to low-income and fixed-income people unless they have government subsidies. This stark demand and cost, undisputedly, perpetuates trends in households entering into episodes of homelessness each month resulting in approximately 3500 people who experience homelessness. We can safely assume that approximately 2% of people living in the City of Eugene are experiencing homelessness on any given night. So for the thousands of people living without homes or rentals, shelter programs have become invaluable resources to prevent episodes of unsheltered homelessness while waiting an approximated average of 796 days on a public sector housing waitlist. 

As increased demand drives up the cost of rent and scarcity of units managed by the private rental sector, so does the demand for affordable housing managed by local non-profit property managers and the metropolitan housing authority. The cost of operating and access to housing has increased for owners and renters. This means long waits and ever increasing barriers to housing. Even with a state cap on a 10% allowable increase on rent, many renters have uncertainty about their ability to earn income or find jobs that offer wage increases that will offset the ever increasing costs of their rent. 

We remain optimistic about local commitments, as our local municipality continues to identify homelessness and housing within its “Top 5 Issues for the City to Address to Improve Quality of Life.” As it relates to housing, the City has created partnerships and tangible strategies for increasing housing stock through localized efforts, inclusionary ordinances, and regional plans such as the Housing Implementation Pipeline. This is a plan which has emphasized strategic acquisition of properties and use of public lands to increase affordable housing for renters in the City of Eugene. Renters make up 52% of our local population of people and 61% of those renters are “cost burdened.”

Even if you are not a renter, you are feeling this too. This burden also extends to homeowners, as they express the cost of living increase has caused 27% of homeowners to be cost burdened and market indicators point to a reduced rate of first time home buyers. 

Whether you are quick study or have a deep interest in supporting issues impacting renters, there are ample opportunities for the public to learn and engage materials which explain comprehensive housing strategies, code changes that have promoted Middle Housing, and protections that will help preserve rights of consumers during rental transactions.

The Springfield Eugene Tenant Association is a great resource for information and a proponent of local and state policies which perpetuate protections for people who rent, as well as, rights for people experiencing homelessness. If you are not a policy researcher, but want to learn more, I recommend following their efforts or even, considering attending their meet-ups.

Even if you learn more on a local level, the wild card, as it relates to housing, is whether the market conditions will alleviate cost burden on renters and homeowners, and if a lack of comprehensive strategy to preserve housing or alignment with local goals at a federal level will result in reduced funding allocations to municipalities and their subrecipients to manage, produce, and maintain housing in our region. 

Without diving too deep into micro and macro economic indicators nor curveballs thrown by our recent political arena, it is safe to assume that the situation that we are in is not going away soon, and it will be essential to support thoughtful local efforts providing housing supports and shelter services. Even if you agree with the notion, “housing first” has increasingly emerged as an aspiration instead of an attainable goal. Unlike premiere models for “Housing First” exemplified by our nordic neighbors, places like Finland, have a more stable and long-term strategy for housing which does not waiver with political tides and the government owns approximately 10-15% of the national housing stock and operates it as state-subsidized housing. In contrast, the United States owns less than 1-2% of its housing stock on average and instead has 10-15% of its housing stock owned by private equity firms — a trend which has implications on consumer purchasing power, cost, and local business interest. 

Our team believes shelter to be a successful means to approach our mission to “help people rebuild their lives.” Non-congregate alternative shelter programs hosted at Rest Stops, such as the Nightingale Community, are identified as an invaluable dimension of the local Housing Continuum.

This is why Community Supported Shelters has supported local efforts, aligned with ‘housing first,’ to divert people from the street and shelter network into housing options through Lane County’s coordinated entry process into eligible housing stock, all the while, participating in the operation of ‘housing focused’ shelter communities which ensure a stable place to live while people experiencing homelessness navigate an increasingly inaccessible housing landscape.

After assuming operations of the Nightingale Community, our organization’s navigation program and resources have, now, extended services to the people experiencing homelessness who reside in the South Eugene shelter program.

Mellinda Poor, Associate Director of Navigation and Outreach Services, has led our organization’s service navigation and outreach programs, working hand in hand with frontline staff and leadership personnel to develop a holistic approach to navigation services. The model adopted and developed by CSS has integrated traditional navigation service delivery models while centering on individual ‘voice and choice,’ a value held by the organization.

People who come to our organization for support are encouraged to sign up with the Access Center Program, a program built out by Anna Alkin, Programs Manager, and Blake Burrell, Co-Executive Director, in 2024. The aim of the center is to increase accessibility to basic physiological needs while promoting a sense of safety and belonging. Services include, but are not limited to, hygiene supports, shower, laundry, food, water, clothing, and climate controlled areas for respite.

While at the center, people are encouraged to sign-up for the shelter waiting list, access to arts and culture programming, medical and benefits outreach clinics, and speak with an outreach navigator.

This service delivery model has been developed over time through efforts of multiple staff and volunteers at our organization and received a significant amount of improvements in 2025 through a grant partnership managed by Dustin Foskett, Operations Director, and the Lowes Home Town Improvements Program.

The center is a stepping stone to stability and has been a successful model supporting nearly 1,000 unsheltered people who come to our organization seeking support and shelter annually. When you think about this number this means that nearly 20% of people experiencing homelessness in the City of Eugene are coming to see what resources are available at Community Supported Shelters. 

This program helps hundreds of people navigate their experience of homelessness each year. Some are diverted into other shelters and some directly into housing through our Street Outreach efforts. However, most people are signing up, accessing services, and waiting for shelter.

When those individuals are at the top of the list, they are enrolled in our shelter program and encouraged to access service navigation resources; this includes completing a coordinated entry assessment, setting goals, and addressing immediate needs associated with income, benefits, healthcare, identification, or legal and economic barriers to housing.

This is where our navigation team becomes the guides of each individual’s housing journeys. These staff are accessed for support on what goals that person identifies. This holistic approach has afforded opportunities for teams at our organization to engage in comprehensive and collaborative problem solving and last year, helped us place 50 people into housing from our shelter programs while serving some of the highest acuity and most vulnerable demographics in the City of Eugene.

CSS consistently received referrals from the Community Court High Risk program and completed lateral transfers receiving individuals leaving from the River Avenue Navigation Center, Opportunity Village, Everyone Village, and Carry it Forward through a countywide lateral referral network we piloted in 2024-25 and formalized with the City of Eugene Shelter Consortium in 2025-26 with one goal; preventing episodes of unsheltered homelessness when possible regardless of program outcomes.

People who access CSS’s Service Navigation and Outreach Program have come from all walks of life and had a range of backgrounds and life experiences. This program was made possible through the coordination of localized funding through city contracts, one-time grants, and donations, and for the first time in nearly five years, was not funded through Lane County.

The story is unfortunately too common, and most Eugenians do not understand the implications of current funding availability and trends emerging at the State and Federal levels.

Most of the public has no understanding of what has happened at the local level and the immediate ramifications this will have on all of our community wide housing goals for years to come, local efforts to get people off the streets, and our organizations’ ability to sustain the workforce of qualified staff who have signed up to help local shelter organizations navigate, support, and house the nearly 1000 people enrolled in shelter programs across our jurisdiction. 

In October 2025, and, at the dismay of county staff, nearly all shelter programs funded through Lane County reduced their shelter funding by margins up to 30%. The county laid off qualified government personnel and organizations lost case managers. In an effort to preserve beds, the shelter system lost case management professionals, dramatically impacting people experiencing homelessness’s access to qualified professionals who could help them navigate our housing systems and the rapidly changing benefits landscape.

This means more people are stuck on the streets and in shelters without the support they need to get out.

With these changes in funding, also came changes in expectations. Shelter organizations went from having to house 30% of leavers to just 5% of leavers, because without the ability to pay case management professionals, how could Lane County impose contracts with strict performance standards on shelters who have long been allies in helping people shelter and get housed?

At such a significant reduction, most organizations entered into conversations to determine if they could continue to operate, and we have seen project reductions, strategic mergers, and dissolution of programs all year. The reduction of resources means diminished efficacy for positive outcomes, but have been essential for organizations to maintain contractual compliance. Last fiscal year, we were insulated by restricted grants we acquired before the major community wide funding losses. This fiscal year, CSS revenue decreased and the budget has been reduced by 25%.

We have not seen the full impact yet, the funding has not returned to the picture, and there are predictable implications of shelter closures and a reduced amount of resources for housing services. More people will suffer, the local municipalities will likely not meet their targets for housing production, and slowing down rate of people entering into homelessness, and people who work in homeless services will have a less secure job market, likely deterring qualified professionals because of the sheer instability and their own risk of homelessness or loss of healthcare.

If you have not seen the current plan, you should review the litigation about the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s CoC Notice of Funding Opportunities and take a look at the Federal Government’s Executive Order 14321 Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets. These artifacts will provide you insight on how people experiencing homelessness are being viewed and the trajectory of funding priorities in the United States.

If you would like me to save you the read, it can be summarized as “less funding for shelter and housing and less rights for people who do not have a home.”

At a presentation at the annual Housing Oregon Conference, our local CCO participated in a presentation titled, “Shredding the Safety Net - HR1, Medicaid, and Housing Providers,” and major the take away was the guidance to CCOs about benefits access is unclear, the funding is not coming, and people will lose benefits because of the HR1, the “Big Beautiful Bill.” This same CCO has been the administrator of grants, contracts, and capacity building projects which have built our local safety net, and with the closure of Pacific Source, loss of charitable foundations, and the reduced resources to support providers whose members are experiencing homelessness, the term “shred” was not used as an abstract metaphor but instead an astute observation about the damage to our community based service provider ecosystem and what is coming. It is real, it is happening, and our community needs to stay focused on its goals to help and house people experiencing homelessness. 

So, I apologize that was not sunshine and rainbows, as much as, a public service announcement that we have hit the “possible disruptions” section of the Housing Implementation Pipeline plan, shelter is being defunded, and the safety nets we have for low-income people experiencing homelessness in our community are going away. So, it is important for members of the public who care about their unhoused neighbors living in shelters or want people to move into housing projects instead of being relegated to tents in parks or unsanctioned cars on public ways, to get involved. If you can, get involved politically, get involved as a volunteer, and get involved financially. We need to focus and support local solutions, and we need to preserve programs that help people get housed. 

Community Supported Shelters’ grants for housing navigation programs will soon end, and we will lose essential funds. We will likely be the next organization to reduce our capacity to serve while consolidating operations to the best of our ability to preserve beds, basic needs programs, and essential supports to sustain people experiencing homelessness in our community.

In spite of it all, we will preserve joy, celebrate the everyday victories of our efforts, and work diligently to stay focused and steadfast towards an ever distant future, where no one is living on our streets here in the City of Eugene. 

Thank you to our donors and the people who have supported us to sustain and strengthen our organizations’ capacity to serve. You are making a difference, and your support has helped us host tens of thousands of nights of shelter, give thousands of showers, and get hundreds of people off the streets and into housing.

Keep paying attention, look for good trouble, and help us keep doing the work. 

- Blake Burrell, CSS Co-Executive Director