QuickTake:

Looking Glass is expanding a homeless youth shelter through a renovation that will add six beds to a Eugene facility, expanding its capacity to 20 beds. 

A Eugene youth homeless shelter is planning a renovation that will allow it to add another six beds for adolescents in crisis.  

Looking Glass Community Services, a Lane County nonprofit organization, is planning to renovate the lower level of its Station 7 facility, located at 931 W. Seventh Ave., Eugene. 

When the project is finished, Station 7 will have the capacity to serve up to 20 youth. Currently, the shelter can house up to 14, though two of those beds are only for emergencies, such as inclement weather or other natural disasters.

The project is scheduled to start Monday and could finish by the end of June. The project will cost about $430,000, and $300,000 of that is Measure 110 funding from the state. The Oregon Health Authority, through a committee, awards Measure 110 grants to organizations for treatment and support services like housing for people facing drug addiction challenges. The organization is still raising money for the rest of the project’s cost. 

(In 2020, Oregon voters approved Measure 110, which, in part, earmarked a portion of cannabis revenues for recovery programs.)

“Over time, we’ve seen that the population is much more challenged than in the past,” said Chad Westphal, president and CEO of Looking Glass Community Services, in an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

The shelter usually serves youth ages 11 to 17, but staff can make exceptions for young adults up to age 20. Funding from Lane County and a state grant helps pay for its operations.

When the renovation is complete, Station 7 will let youth enter with their pets. That’s one less obstacle that sometimes discourages people from seeking shelter when they don’t want to separate from their pets. 

Youth with substance abuse challenges can enter and Looking Glass will help them access outpatient treatment, whether through the nonprofit’s services or other providers in the community. 

“If you reduce those barriers, the outcomes match what you’re doing,” Westphal said. “The kids are coming, they’re getting the work done and have a much more successful future ahead of them.”

Looking Glass Community Services serves children, youth and families with needs that include mental health, addiction, homelessness and education. 

At Station 7, youth can live in a comfortable, home-like environment off the streets. A kitchen serves three meals a day and youth can prepare food if they miss a meal. 

The youth cook dinners with staff and help clean dishes, said Ashley Kirkhart, director of homeless youth services at Looking Glass. Through that work, they are making a contribution, she said.

The organization also serves 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds at its PEER Shelter, which stands for persevere, enlighten, empower and renew. That shelter facility accepts youth 16 to 24 years old. 

Westphal said the PEER shelter will continue to serve people 16 and 17 years old, though the expansion will allow people in that age group to live in Station 7. 

Demand at that shelter, which serves up to 26 people at once, remains high. It is full every night, and most guests are not minors.

With the expansion at the youth shelter, it helps to have capacity at the PEER shelter during emergencies, Westphal said. 

“If we’re at capacity at Station 7 and we’re 18 and up only at the PEER shelter, I think we’re doing a disservice to that 17-year-old that can’t get in when we could easily have them over at the PEER shelter, which is highly supervised,” Westphal said. 

For an initial two-week period during the renovation, youth will be housed in apartments staffed by Looking Glass employees at New Roads, a program the nonprofit runs. The rest of the time, the renovation work can proceed while youth live on site, Westphal said.

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.