A Note to Our Readers — And What Comes Next

First, an apology.

Our website was down for nearly a year, and during that time this space went quiet. That gap is on us. We appreciate everyone who checked back, reached out, or wondered what was happening while the site was offline.

The site is now back up and updated, and with it comes a renewed commitment to sharing our work more consistently.

Over the past year, our primary consulting focus has been on Del Norte Mission Possible (DNMP). Much of our time and energy has gone into supporting DNMP as it strengthened operations, expanded staff capacity, and prepared for a major milestone: the opening of its shelter campus. This work has been hands-on and ongoing — focused not just on planning, but on implementation, training, systems alignment, and long-term sustainability as DNMP moves into active operations.

At the same time, parallel work has been unfolding on Oregon’s South Coast through my role with public housing authorities and the development of the SPARC Network. While that work is separate from Homeless Solutions Consultants, it has deeply informed our consulting approach. On the South Coast, communities are moving from plans into implementation: aligning shelter with housing, integrating permanent supportive housing services, coordinating regional partners, and making large-scale housing investments for the first time in decades.

Together, these experiences — DNMP’s transition into a shelter campus and the South Coast’s shift toward system-wide implementation — have sharpened our understanding of what it actually takes to move homelessness response systems forward. They’ve reinforced the importance of listening first, staying engaged after the plan is written, investing in staff capacity, and building pathways that don’t stop at shelter, but lead toward long-term stability.

We’re sharing this not because every community should replicate these efforts exactly, but because the lessons travel. Communities everywhere are navigating similar challenges, and we believe there is value in being transparent about what’s working, what’s been hard, and what we’re learning along the way.

Going forward, this blog will be a place where we share updates from our work with Del Norte Mission Possible, reflections informed by South Coast implementation, and insights that may be useful to other communities working to strengthen their homelessness response systems.

Thank you for your patience, and for staying connected to this work. We’re glad the site is back — and we look forward to sharing what comes next.

By,

Matthew Vorderstrasse, M.A., PHM