Squareone Villages

Safe, non-congregate shelters: squareone villages partnered with the city of eugene and lane county to provide safe, non-congregate shelter for individuals and families that were experiencing homelessness. Opportunity village eugene (ove) opened in 2013 and provided an alternative shelter option of 30 detached units for adults experiencing homelessness. In 2023 the original site for ove on city-owned land was closed and ove 2.0 was opened on land purchased by squareone villages. Ove 2.0 consists of 40 detached sleeping shelters and shared common facilities including bathrooms, showers, laundry facilities, cooking facilities, and a yurt with meeting space and computers for community use. Ove 2.0 offers a first step for people experiencing homelessness where they can stabilize their lives and access community services as they work toward securing housing. Sov staff assists clients with obtaining identification documents, enrolling in the oregon health plan, conducting housing searches, and advocating with landlords and property managers, with the goal of securing permanent housing. Sov also provides direct financial assistance to ove residents to assist in paying rental application fees, security deposits, and other move-in expenses. Additionally, squareone has provided operating support to non-congregate shelters operated by other organizations in the eugene-springfield area.

Sleeping pod construction: in mid-2022, squareone entered into an agreement for 1 with st. Vincent de paul to lease a shop for two years to build "sleeping pods" for use at ove 2.0 and other locations in eugene. These sleeping pods are 96 square feet with a 4-foot porch using 2x4 framing and a shed roof. They are a significant upgrade from the "bungalows" used at the original site and the pallet shelters provided by lane county for use at the previous "safe sleep site" at the same location. The pods come with a ceramic wall heater, lighting, a built-in bunk and shelving. Squareone's construction staff also began working with construction trade programs at five high schools to build sleeping pods for ove 2.0. Squareone's construction staff completed construction of 40 sleeping pods for use at opportunity village. In addition, squareone has completed several additional sleeping pods for use in various other shelters in lane county.