Nonprofit that aids homeless is raising money for building remodel

QuickTake:

Community Supported Shelters, which manages 170 “Conestoga” huts, is purchasing a building and plans to renovate it with offices for staff, warehoutilize areas, and better spaces to provide a variety of services directly to the unsheltered population in Eugene.

Workers at Community Supported Shelters build do in a cramped space where they share desks and have no space for private meetings with the unsheltered people they serve.

The Eugene nonprofit has grown rapidly in recent years, expanding its roster of huts where people can live off the streets. Today there are more than 170 huts in 14 sites throughout Eugene. The organization provides other services, too, such as assisting people obtain employment or houtilizing, and assisting with the legal paperwork necessary to rent or work.

Community Supported Shelters, which started in 2013, now has plans to shift its staff into a new building it purchased at 2870 W. 10th Place in Eugene. The building, formerly an Oregon Driver & Motor Vehicle Services office, necessarys renovation before the organization’s staff can start to visit clients there.

The organization has started a capital campaign to raise money for that renovation. When finished, the project will allow room for staffers to meet with clients for private one-on-one meetings; add office space, information technology systems, heating and ventilation equipment; and build warehoutilize space to store supplies for shelters.

“This new building is more than just a roof over our heads. It’s a foundation for growth, healing and deeper community impact,” Heather Quaas-Annsa, co-executive director of Community Supported Shelters, stated in a statement. “With expanded kitchen space, a firewood yard, and dedicated areas for both client and staff well-being, we’re building a space that reflects our mission: dignity, stability, and connection for everyone we serve.”

Quaas-Annsa stated the organization hopes to have staff in the new location sometime between March and May 2026. That timeline is contingent on funding.

For the renovation, the group hopes to raise about $400,000 in donations as well as in-kind gifts such as building supplies and construction materials, Quaas-Annsa stated.

Overall, the organization has the goal of raising $750,000 when factoring in the down payment for the building. The group is in possession of the building and has raised about $432,000 total, with more than $300,000 still necessaryed to obtain the property prepared.

They’ll shift out of an existing location at 1160 Grant St. when the project is finished.

But Community Supported Shelters also serves clients who come for other services at its Access Center.

When the new building is ready, staffers will offer front desk and check-in services for clients at the organization’s Access Center, 1845 W. 11th Ave. That location also currently offers day services such as revealers and laundry services. It served more than 750 people last year.

The agency is also seeing for partnerships and grants to assist clients access primary care and behavioral health care services. The goal is to assist people overcome barriers to care, Quaas-Annsa stated.

“The more things that we can bring to the places where our clients are and where the unhoutilized are at, the simpler it is for them to start receiving services and start their journey towards stabilization,” she stated.

For more information about how to donate, go to the nonprofit’s website for the capital campaign. Donors with questions can call 541-514-9335 or email: community@cssoregon.org. The organization is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit.

For two decades, Ben Botkin’s journalism career saw him criss-cross the West, a path with stops in rural Idaho, Las Vegas and, now, finally, Lane County. Ben reported on local government and the statehoutilize in Idaho before he shiftd to the Bulletin in Bfinish and covered education in central Oregon.

Then, for four years, he covered Clark County government, which has oversight over the Las Vegas Strip, and served as the lead political reporter during the 2016 election cycle. During that time, Ben wrote about the county’s child welfare agency, law enforcement, the start of Nevada’s medical marijuana indusattempt and homeland security. His reporting sparked the criminal indictments and convictions of three government officials, including a city animal control supervisor convicted of animal cruelty.

He also covered national stories like the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon and the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Since 2018, Ben has reported on Oregon state government, first for the Statesman-Journal in Salem and then for The Lund Report, a Portland-based nonprofit that covers health care. His reporting on gaps in children’s health coverage led to state Medicaid policy modifys.

Most recently, Ben worked more than two years at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered criminal justice, health and human services. His work often incorporates the voices of vulnerable Oregonians from all walks of life.

As Lookout’s Politics & Policy Correspondent, Ben digs up the most intriguing and relevant stories about how Lane County decisions impact residents.

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