QuickTake:

Sponsors Inc. hopes to begin construction next year on a 52-unit affordable housing development at Roosevelt and Highway 99. The home will be for people with convictions that can make it hard to rent a traditional apartment. 

A Lane County nonprofit that serves people who flow through the criminal justice system is planning an affordable housing project to help people avoid homelessness after a conviction.

Sponsors Inc. is planning to start construction in 2026 on The Coleman, a 52-unit affordable housing development for people with histories of convictions. The nonprofit organization is partnering on the project with Homes for Good, Lane County’s affordable housing agency. Lane County provided the land for the project.

The project will be located along Highway 99 in Eugene across from the Roosevelt Crossing campus, a transitional housing development that Sponsors operates. The Coleman will be built in what is now the parking lot of Lane County Parole & Probation, at the intersection of Highway 99 and Roosevelt Boulevard.

The plans come amid a wider housing shortage in Eugene and Lane County — one that complicates efforts for people who have criminal convictions on their records. 

In January, Lane County’s annual Point In Time count for the homeless found 3,509 people living either in shelters or unsheltered on the streets. That number includes people with and without convictions. Criminal records are one factor among others that can push people into homelessness. Others include low income and limited or poor credit.

“The foundational issue is we just don’t have enough housing, and then having a conviction history just creates additional barriers to finding housing to the point where many people end up without any housing,” said Annie Herz, executive director of Sponsors Inc. “In fact, our target population are people who are coming out of prison who would otherwise be homeless.”

The project’s approximate timeline would have construction begin in 2026, and see the project completed in 2027, Herz said in an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. 

Officials estimate the project’s cost will be close to $22 million, though the financial details are still in the works. Funding sources include nearly $13.7 million from Oregon Housing and Community Services’ Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) program; a $1 million grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank and $250,000 from Sponsors Inc.

The Coleman builds on the nonprofit’s work in the region. Oregonians exiting prison who return to Lane County can access housing through Sponsors Inc. 

The development will serve people who leave Sponsors’ transitional housing program, which aids those rebuilding their lives after a conviction in the criminal justice system.

The organization’s transitional housing generally lasts 60 to 120 days and Sponsors already has about 120 units of long-term housing that include single family homes where people share space and apartments. 

The Coleman is named after the late Dr. Edwin and Charmaine Coleman. The Eugene couple were active members in the Black community and civil rights leaders who advocated for justice reform and for ways that formerly incarcerated people could reintegrate into society and be productive.

“The late Dr. Coleman was a founding Sponsors board member, community activist and longtime Sponsors supporter,” Paul Solomon, the former executive director of Sponsors said in a statement. “He and his wife, Charmaine, whose support of Sponsors spanned over five decades, left an indelible mark on the organization. They donated their time, energy and resources whenever there was an opportunity.”

Tenants who earn 60% or less of the average median income will be eligible. That threshold is currently $38,520 annually for a single person. The price of the rentals is not yet set.

People will have access to staff who can provide support with finding employment, accessing health care, addiction treatment and other needs. The units will be open to any gender and each one will be for a single individual. Children will not live in the units.

At this point, no convictions, including sex offenses, would be a disqualifier, Herz said. 

Sponsors and Homes for Good have worked together in the past, including the Oaks at 14th, a 54-unit affordable housing project for formerly incarcerated people.

Clarification: This story has been updated with more details about income eligibility of participants.

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.