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New Rest Stop Near Westmoreland Park Opens In Eugene

Melorie Begay/KLCC News

 

The city of Eugene and Community Supported Shelters unveiled a new rest stop for the unhoused on Thursday. The Westmoreland Park site is one of five locations that will go up around the city.

At Westmoreland Safe Spot there are 16 conestoga huts, and the community can shelter up to 18 people. Victoria Austin and her husband are among seven who’ve moved in so far. She said they’ll stay at the site while they wait to get housing through Homes for Good with hopes of reuniting with their children.

 

Credit Melorie Begay/KLCC News
Victoria Austin

“This is a stepping stone and being able to work with the staff and stay safe and warm and have a roof over our head and be able to get the things done, to further my education and what we want to have as jobs,” Austin said.

Community Supported Shelters will manage the site. Development Director Annie Herz said they provide participants with individual support, camp facilitators, and service navigators.

“They can live in these communities for up to a year," Herz said, "and so that's enough time and enough support that individuals can really stabilize their lives, identify what their goals are and start to create steps to move towards more permanent housing, employment and things that are going to really create some more positive next steps for them.”

All together the five rest stops in Eugene, funded by the city, with additional social service support from Lane County, are expected to shelter 100 people. Residents can stay onsite for up to a year while they receive an array of services and find permanent housing.

 

The five sites include:

 

  • Skinner City Farm (Washington St. and W. 1st, Ward 7) - Operational
  • Empire Pond (Hwy. 99 and Empire Park Dr., Ward 6) - Coming soon
  • Westmoreland Park (North side of 18th Ave., Ward 1) - Operational
  • Parking Lot 9 off Leo Harris Pkwy (Leo Harris Pkwy. and Walnut Dr., Ward 4) - Operational
  • Bertelsen Road & W. 7th Ave. (Ward 8) - Coming soon

 
This post has been updated. Correction: The city of Eugene funded the infrastructure for rest stops, while Lane County provided funding for social support.

 

 
Copyright 2021 KLCC

Melorie Begay is a multimedia journalist for KLCC News. She was the Inaugural KLCC Public Radio Foundation Journalism Fellow. She has a bachelors in Multimedia Journalism from the University of New Mexico. She previously interned at KUNM public radio in Albuquerque, NM and served as a fellow for the online news publication New Mexico In Depth.