A new collaborative project to create transitional shelters for unhoused people has been underway since August. The “Constructing a Brighter Future” project has students from Lane Community College and high schools in Lane County working with community partners to create homes.

The students will be building shelters for the housing non-profits, SquareOne Villages and Everyone Village, trying to contribute to the goal of bringing transitional housing units to unhoused people in Eugene.

The project’s partners include Lane Education Service District, Lane Community College, local school districts, SquareOne Villages and Everyone Village. The homes will include a bed, a desk, electricity, heat and other standard housing appliances. 

Kounovsky said these are “transitional” homes because most of the residents’ homes like these return to traditional housing within a year. “It’s really just a hand up, rather than a place to house you forever,” he said. 
Lee Kounovsky,the construction trades sector specialist at LESD, goes to high schools and middle schools to work with construction teachers at each school.

According to Kounovsky, the homes will be an area that includes communal bathrooms and showers with the help of two partners in the project, SquareOne Villages and Everyone Village.

In addition to providing some of the land, SquareOne Villages has contributed materials and plans for the transitional homes.

The project aims to create 30 transitional homes by June 2023. But Kounovsky said this is a “forever project,” meaning they are hoping to keep this project in the schools’ curriculums.

“We’re not here to fix the problem, we are here to help,” Kounovsky said. “30 shelters seems like a lot, but it’s really just a drop in the bucket for all the people who need help right now.”

Kounovsky said the students involved in the project learn about problem solving, the basics of construction, math, safety and work ethics. However, they are required to have someone else do the electrical work in the homes.

“All of these things are what industry advisors tell us that we need to teach students, so they are successful in the workplace,” Kounovsky said.

Wheylin Niehus is a construction teacher at the 4J school district in Eugene and has been helping students create the homes. Niehus said the students are learning how to work in a team.
“It’s cool to see because I’ll overhear during my class that people have made friends, even though they don’t go to high school together,” Niehus said.

Currently, seven of Lane County’s 15 high schools, including four schools in the 4J District — South Eugene, North Eugene, Churchill and Sheldon High School, as well as Lane County Community College are involved in the project, Kounosky said.

Kounovsky said all the construction teachers got together and built four shelters in three days during the summer. However, since the project is focuses on teaching and each school has different schedules on how long classes are, the time it takes for building the homes can range between two to six months, Kounovsky said.

Niehus said the shelter he built with his instructing staff is already being used to house someone. The shelter being built with the 4J school district students is about halfway done, he said. 

Kounovsky said the total cost to make a temporary home is around $8,000. But there isn’t enough funding from the state toward construction classes to fully support the project, so its funding has to come from elsewhere.

The Roundhouse Foundation donated $25,000 dollars towards the project, according to Kounovsky. He said it is a matching fund, meaning they are still looking for additional funding on the project. Donations to the project can be made on the Lane CTE website. 
“Every dollar stays right here in Lane County,” Kounovsky said. “We’re not taking any administrative cost. It goes straight into the project.”

Kounovsky hopes this project could eventually go coast to coast. He said that if another county wanted to do the same thing, partners of the “Constructing a Brighter Future” project have plans and experiences they could share.  
“There isn’t a single community, I don’t believe, that doesn’t have somebody that they can help,” he said.