The first full-time, year-round, low-barrier shelter for residents experiencing homelessness is coming to Redmond.

Shepherd’s House Ministries is currently in the middle of a nearly $2.2 million renovation of a building located at 1350 S. Highway 97.

According to Andrew Hoeksema, Redmond director for Shepherd’s House Ministries, the campus will be a comprehensive center that offers beds, showers, three free meals a day, case management and other opportunities.

“By being open year-round, we create a sense of stability that people need (so they can) consider what steps forward might look like,” Hoeksema said.

Shepherd’s House is a Christian ministry that works to feed the hungry and shelter those struggling with homelessness. It already operates a large shelter in Bend. The new building will replace the organization’s current winter warming shelter at Mountain View Fellowship Church in Redmond, which runs from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Nov. 15 through March 15.

For people like John and Tamara Breen, who have lived out of their car for two years, the winter shelter provides a respite from the cold and an opportunity to eat.

“(It) gets so cold in our car in the wintertime,” John Breen said. “They feed you here so it helps the bill. Can’t cook much in the car.”

John Breen, 80, moved from Michigan to Oregon when he was 19 years old and worked in logging and construction until he retired roughly 20 years ago.

“(The) cost of rent got too high. They just kept raising it and raising it and raising it,” he said. “It’s supposed to have been a low-income apartment building. Not anymore.”

When the warming shelter closes in March, John Breen said he isn’t sure what they are going to do. The new year-round location, which Hoeksema expects will open in the fall 2023, can give them a foundation to build a more secure future.

“I hope to be living in a place by then,” he said. “If we’re still living (out of our car) we’ll take advantage of it.”

While the new Redmond campus will provide 44 beds on a first-come, first-serve basis, Hoeksema said they’ve never turned anyone away at the current shelter and would add additional sleeping mats to house more people during extreme weather. They don’t allow alcohol or substance use on site, but will welcome anyone in for the night.

Additionally, Hoeksema said anyone on site will be able to access meals, clothes and showers and participate in other services they’ll offer — even if they’re not spending the night.

“In between meals we’ll also offer addiction recovery services (and) employment preparedness services,” Hoeksema said. “We’ll probably partner with Mosaic and St. Charles to offer appropriate health services and then with the county to offer mental health and behavioral health services.”

A hub in Hub City

Deschutes County will use $300,000 to fund renovation work at the property, while the Newhouse Charitable Fund pledged $100,000 and private donations have helped Shepherd’s House move forward with work. Hoeksema said they hope to secure more donations this year.

“A big challenge for people experiencing homelessness is (that) to get much help they need to go to Bend for a lot of things,” Hoeksema said. “It’s … tough to walk long distances around Redmond.”

Many of those experiencing homelessness live on the east side of Redmond, said Linda Cline, housing program analyst for the city of Redmond. The location of the new shelter — between Verizon and the St. Vincent De Paul thrift store — will bring services closer to where many people live.

“We’re happy to see that need being filled,” said Cline.

Hoeksema said if those experiencing homelessness are able to sleep, eat, access health services and connect with providers in one spot, it’ll make it easier for them to take steps forward.

“By being open during the daytime, we could actually connect with other service providers and actually provide a hub of homeless services that’s never previously existed in Redmond,” he said.

Additionally, some participants of Shepherd’s House recovery program in Bend are interested in working at the Redmond campus and can lend a personal lens into homelessness and addiction.

Having volunteers and staff with lived experience, Hoeksema said, can help individuals continue to move their careers forward with Shepherd’s House.

The Redmond operation will employ a shelter manager, kitchen manager and a case manager, as well as hire hourly staff and volunteers who work on each of those teams.

The focus, at first, will be on creating a welcoming and safe shelter environment and making connections through food.

“Meals provide a chance for a relational connection in (the) community,” Hoeksema said. “And so we’ll put a lot of energy and volunteer focus on the meals, and then the case management will really come alongside the individuals.”

A growing need

Shepherd’s House has run their winter warming shelter in Redmond for the past nine years and has seen an increase in guests every year. In the winter of 2021-2022, they sheltered 186 individuals at multiple churches throughout the region. They are already approaching that number this winter.

According to the Homeless Leadership Coalition’s 2015 point-in-time count, there were 594 unhoused adults and children in Central Oregon. By 2022 that number had grown to 1,286 — an increase of more than 111 percent.

And the true number is likely much larger. Cline said there’s a large push this year to make sure those counts accurately capture the number of people experiencing homelessness. She thinks there will likely be a large jump in numbers in 2023, partially due to more accurate methods and partially because there are simply more people experiencing homelessness. Cline added that it’s difficult to figure out just how many beds and housing units Redmond needs to address the issue.

According to the 2022 PIT count, 65 percent of those counted had lived in Central Oregon for more than three years.

Many of those served at the winter shelter have experienced chronic homelessness in Redmond for several years — people like John and Tamara Breen.

“In Redmond, my hope is that we’re breaking down some of the social barriers that exist between the average Redmond resident and the person experiencing homelessness to understand that these people are not that much different than us,” Hoeksema said.