NEWS & UPDATES
Central Oregon Villages celebrates first Desert Stream graduate
Central Oregon Daily – July 27, 2023
Central Oregon Villages is transitioning those out of homelessness into stable housing. The organization is celebrating its first graduate from the new Desert Stream location in southeast Bend.
“A leap of faith just to move out and know I am safe,” said April Lester about moving into the villages.
Students are building a mobile kitchen trailer for a Bend homeless village
Bend Bulletin – May 20, 2023
Five students who attend Forge School, a small private school in Bend, are leading the build of a mobile kitchen trailer for the Central Oregon Villages homeless village, and plan to be finished within a few weeks.
To help solve homelessness, Central Oregon Villages thinks big with tiny homes
Bend Bulletin – May 18, 2023
Central Oregon Villages is approaching homelessness differently. Instead of large homeless shelters where everyone gathers in a single place, the local nonprofit organization is building individual units in east Bend that are roughly the size of a garden shed.
City approves new shelter with 20 small, individual units, amenities
Bend Bulletin – October 5, 2022
Small, individual shelters that can be set up in less than an hour and offer safe, temporary housing will soon be on the corner of 27th Street and Bear Creek Road after the Bend City Council approved an innovative solution to shelter Bend’s unhoused population.
Women, children prioritized for new Bend 20-unit outdoor shelter
Central Oregon Daily – October 6, 2022
The Bend City Council has approved a three-year agreement with Central Oregon Villages to develop and operate a 20-unit temporary outdoor pallet shelter on Bend’s eastside. The City announced the move late Wednesday night on Twitter.
The shelter will be located at the corner of Bear Creek Road and NE 27th Street. It’s in the lot that’s adjacent to the Surf Thru Express Car Wash and the Home2 Suites by Hilton.
Editorial: Take strong steps toward solutions for houselessness
The Bulletin – June 27, 2022
Month by month, it can feel like there are more homeless living in and around Bend. Until the community takes strong steps toward solutions, we can’t expect the numbers will do anything but grow.
Want more Hunnell Road? Want more Second Street encampments? Want more people living on public land around town?
Yes, that is what we face unless we do more.
New outdoor homeless shelter envisioned in east Bend
The Bulletin – June 2, 2022
Non profit Central Oregon Villages signs contract with Bend to start public outreach process.
An outdoor homeless (unhoused) shelter may be in the works in east Bend after the Bend City Council approved a contract with the nonprofit Central Oregon Villages.
On Wednesday, the council unanimously voted to enter into a $45,300 contract with Central Oregon Villages to start the process of establishing an outdoor homeless shelter at Desert Streams Church.
New Year, New Unhoused (Homeless) Villages
The Source – January 11, 2022
Central Oregon Villages submitted two proposed models for a managed campsite to the City of Bend, and are the only organization to do so by the end of the City’s request for proposal period ending Dec. 9.
The region saw its first village-style shelter open on November 11, 2021, when Central Oregon Veteran’s Village welcomed five veterans to their shelters with plans to expand to as many as 15 residents.
City of Bend receives proposals for managed outdoor homeless camps
The Bulletin – January 1st, 2022
Two proposals have been submitted to the city of Bend to create managed outdoor homeless shelters on publicly-owned property.
Earlier this year, the city announced three possible locations for managed outdoor homeless shelters: One property off Ninth Street and another at Juniper Ridge in northeast Bend, which are both owned by the city, as well as a property located off Murphy Road and S. Third Street owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation.
More small homeless units arrive…
Central Oregon Daily – December 16, 2021
More tiny homes to be used for managed homeless camps in Bend have arrived.
The only one problem with these units, they are sitting in a warehouse until Bend City Council decides where and if these small homes are to be put in place.
Eugene’s ‘Opportunity Village’ offers insights to plans in Bend – Part 1
Central Oregon Daily – October 25, 2021
A newly formed local non-profit, Central Oregon Villages, plans to set up small, managed communities to house the homeless.
They’ve chosen a Eugene community called “Opportunity Village” as their model, telling us the Eugene operation has a track record of proven success.
Conceptual 3D renderings released for 2 proposed Bend homeless villages
KTVZ News 21 – September 17, 2021
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — New 3D renderings have been released by a group that hopes to be chosen to manage two proposed managed homeless villages in northeast and southern Bend.
“Managed villages for Oregon are proven that they are a solution,” said Jim Porter, former Bend police chief.
Porter is now with Central Oregon Villages, a nonprofit that helps find shelter for the unsheltered, and is a potential vendor to manage the proposed villages.