QuickTake:

But a funding shortfall could force the nonprofit agency to make cuts later this summer at its 26-bed PEER Shelter.

Looking Glass Community Services has a couple of additional months to find a way to keep its 26-bed shelter for homeless youth at full capacity.

The nonprofit operates the PEER Shelter in Eugene (the letters stand for persevere, enlighten, empower and renew). The shelter, which is full every night, serves homeless youth 16 to 24 years old. 

Youth come from a variety of backgrounds: They might be victims of trafficking or abuse, or they might have simply aged out of the state’s foster care system. The shelter helps them connect with other services that provide health care, counseling, job assistance and long-term housing.

But Looking Glass faces a funding shortfall that could force it to eventually cut the number of beds at PEER Shelter by half. Looking Glass is facing the prospect of cutting back as state funding from Measure 110 has fallen drastically. Measure 110 funding, which helps support the organization, has dropped statewide as cannabis revenues have declined.

The nonprofit will keep its PEER Shelter operating at full capacity through the end of August at least, said Chad Westphal, president and CEO of Looking Glass. To do that, the nonprofit is tapping in, ahead of time, to Measure 110 funding the state granted for the next four years.

The PEER Shelter has 47 employees and costs $3.5 million a year to run at full capacity.  

The Measure 110 allocation is limited, requiring Looking Glass to find additional funding to run the shelter. For the next four years, Looking Glass was awarded $7.6 million in Measure 110 funding. That amounts to $1.9 million annually and it goes not just to the shelter but also to other services at Looking Glass, including Station 7, a separate shelter in Eugene for adolescents.

In the weeks ahead, Looking Glass is waiting to see how much state funding it may receive from nearly $205 million the Legislature allocated for homeless shelters statewide. That’s separate from Measure 110 funding.

“I still have a lot of hope,” Westphal said in an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. 

He’s also looking for other potential funding opportunities, he said.  

Lane County officials will receive the allocation of state funding and disperse the money to homeless service providers. Westphal said the county and nonprofit work well together.

“I know that whatever we get from them is exactly what they’re able to do,” he said. 

County officials are still waiting to find out what Lane County’s share of homelessness funding will be. Jason Davis, a spokesperson for Lane County Health and Human Services, said the county expects to get a figure the week of July 7.

By early to mid-August, local service providers who applied will know what they’re receiving, Davis said, but he added that funding is less than it’s been in the past. The amount will be for the next two years.

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.