Human service programs across Eugene have worked to provide some level of care for houseless individuals, whether it’s through food donations or
homeless shelters. These organizations are driven by volunteers and employees who are dedicated to providing essential services to those in need.
In the past year, the houseless population has increased in Lane County, particularly in the city of Eugene. As a result, houseless individuals may
depend on human service programs designed to provide them with resources that they couldn’t receive otherwise.
Alice Yeager, a case manager at ShelterCare, has worked with the program for a little over two years. ShelterCare primarily focuses on housing
programs, with both short-term and long-term housing opportunities available to those in need in Eugene and Lane County.
In an annual Point in Time survey, Lane County recorded a total of 3,085 unhoused people on Jan. 31, 2024, a 9.2% increase from the previous year.
Out of that number, 2,096 individuals are currently unsheltered, and 1,500 are chronically homeless.
Currently 432 out of 100,000 people in Eugene are experiencing homelessness, according to the City Club of Eugene.
The term “chronic homelessness” refers to individuals who have been homeless for over a year and suffer from chronic illness, which may include
heart disease, arthritis, asthma and diabetes.
Yeager works with ShelterCare’s Birch program, which provides temporary housing for individuals affected by mental illness or recently released from jail. The Birch program is a six-month transition period and is an option for people to live in a stable environment before finding a permanent living space.
“Since I’m primarily helping people into some sort of housing, it’s very difficult to find people housing, especially people with criminal histories,”
Yeager said. “I think personally, the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with is having people exit the program with no transition plan either. They weren’t
able to access housing in six months for whatever reason or just life happens. ”
Another program, Burrito Brigade, was started in 2014 by Jennifer Denison, C.G. Meyers and Heather Beck. It provides vegan meals to hungry individuals in both Eugene and Springfield. After seeing a need for meals in Eugene, the program was made with the mission to “feed every hungry person.”
Denison, the executive director of Burrito Brigade since 2019, said that at the beginning of the program, it was “very hard to function out of a church” on Sundays, when the church was in session, along with packing and delivering food to locations across Lane County.
Every weekend, volunteers gather at Bethesda Lutheran Church on Saturdays and First Christian Church on Sundays. According to Denison, the program now has approximately 100 volunteers all helping to provide meals.
Burrito Brigade, as well as their additional program the Little Free Pantries, provides over 300,000 vegan meals, according to its website. The LFPs are boxes located in residential neighborhoods that are stocked with food from volunteers and community members.
“There’s a lot of need, and I don’t even think we’re really grasping even the minimum. It’s hard to see on a daily basis how much is in need,” Denison said. “Otherwise, it’s a very rewarding job.”
