Hut Residents: Phil Bragg

Oct. 30, 2014 - Written by: Guy Maynard


“The Hut has just been a huge launching pad for me.”


Phil Bregg, 33, lives in one of three Huts in the parking lot of the Westside Apostolic Church, next to Community Supported Shelters’ Tine Hive workshop. His Hut was the third one built and he’s been there since February. With a permanent job and a newfound sense of confidence, he will be married in mid-August and moving out of the Hut to live with his wife.


I was renting a room where I thought I could save money. I needed to start saving money to fight for my kids in a custody battle. But it turns out they were charging me more than I thought, and I just couldn’t afford it. I was working just here and there, scrapping metal, returning pop cans, doing some landscaping on a piece-by-piece basis. It was rough.


I had attended the Westside Apostolic Church for about two years, so I knew they let people stay in their parking lot. The people there made me feel comfortable enough to ask for permission to stay in the parking lot. So in October of last year, I ended up out there, living in the back of my car, a little two-door hatchback Subaru, trying to save up money.

The church parking lot is right next to the Tine Hive, where the Huts are built. Neighbors talk, and I volunteered and said I was willing to do anything. I helped put up the first two Huts and Erik [de Buhr, CSS executive director] petitioned the Opportunity Village on my behalf to see if he could build a Hut for me and got permission from the pastor, so I got the first Hut in that parking lot last February.

I went from my car into the Hut, so I was just ecstatic, still am. It’s really a livable accommodation. It gave me a place where I felt like I belonged. It gave me an established home, some place that I could come back to.


When you have a place you can call your own, you can store things there, you can make yourself comfortable and presentable. You can live at a higher standard, and once I started living at that higher standard it gave me confidence, and that confidence made it to where I was able to go out and start looking for better jobs. I got placed at a couple of remodels at Jo-Ann Fabric and just recently I got a permanent job with C&L Automotive.


The Hut has just been a huge launching pad for me, to get my feet under me and just go.

I’m going to be married next month. Part of the reason that I’m still staying in the Hut is that my faith doesn’t let me live with my fiancé before marriage, but when August 17 comes up, I’m going to be living with her.

It has all worked together really well for me and it was because there were people out there who were willing to open their hearts and open their minds to “You know what, this is a good guy, he’s just down on his luck.”

I am a success story at this point in my life and I know that what made me a success was the ability to have a place to use and improve while I needed it. Now that I don’t need it anymore, I hope it helps somebody else in the same way.


I’m going to leave whatever improvements I’ve made. I put a peep hole on the door. I painted the outside of the front. I plugged a few of the holes. I put in a shelf. I still need to paint the trim but I’m going to do that before I leave. I’m leaving behind the bed frame, a food pantry, a little table, and a hang-up mirror.


I just hope that somebody uses it for the same purpose—as a place to launch from, not just a place to settle but as a place to get their feet under them and really go, “Hey, I can start here but look at the last guy who was here, look what he did,” and move forward. Maybe it will be the blessed Hut.


Photos by: Kate Harnedy http://katehphoto.com

News & Events

To stay connected to CSS, subscribe to our quarterly newsletter. If you are a member of the media who is seeking info, contact community@cssoregon.org.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Hope in a Difficult Time

October 31, 2025
As we move deeper into fall and prepare for the cold months ahead, we want to share an update on our work and a reflection on what this season means for our community. Recent policy changes and funding reductions across Oregon are already having consequences for people experiencing homelessness. New SNAP rules are e

Turning Art Into Income

October 30, 2025
Since the inception of the CSS workforce development program in 2024, it has become clear that not everyone is interested or able to work in a traditional workplace. It can be quite the challenge to locate jobs that are part time, supportive, accessible to folks with disabilities or criminal history, to name but a few

Warming Hearts with Welcome Totes

October 29, 2025
When someone moves, they may receive housewarming gifts to celebrate their new beginning, which can help a new house or apartment start to feel like a real home. Each person who moves into a Conestoga Hut receives something akin to a "Hut-warming" gift. “A welcome tote is given to new clients when they move into a Hu

Class aims to help unhoused people learn to make and sell their own art

October 27, 2025
Linda Southwood’s handmade jewelry, she said, is a part of her. Making her beaded bracelets and necklaces from reclaimed wood has been a relaxing constant for Southwood, 52, especially after her home burned down three years ago and she struggled to find housing. She’s a graduate of a new arts entrepreneurship progra

The Future: A New Building For CSS!

July 26, 2025
Because of your support, we’re growing into something bigger—two new spaces designed to better serve our unhoused neighbors. Community Supported Shelters is in the middle of an exciting transformation. After over a decade at our Grant Street location, we’ve purchased a new building that will allow us to bring our in

The Present: CSS to Make a Big Move

July 25, 2025
“Everyone will have desks,” declares Blake Burrell, CSS Director of Community Impact, anticipating the move of most of the CSS staff and programs from 1160 Grant Street to 2870 West 10th Place, a former Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles facility. The move will take place between now and the end of 2025.

The Past: A History of Heart at 1160 Grant

July 24, 2025
Erik de Buhr fell in love with the building at 1160 Grant long before there was a Community Supported Shelters. He was involved with a group that built things out of salvaged materials (Resurrected Refuse Action Team), including huts that would turn out to be precursors to the CSS Conestoga Huts. “I’d been eyeballing t

CSS is Now Operating the Nightingale Safe Spot

July 23, 2025
In partnership with the Nightingale Board of Directors and the City of Eugene, CSS is ensuring the Nightingale Safe Spot continues to operate in South Eugene. In the month of July, CSS officially began to operate the Nightingale Safe Spot Community in South Eugene. As the organization moves its home to our new building

Donor Spotlight: Eugene REALTORS® YPN

July 22, 2025
The Eugene REALTORS® Young Professionals Network had their yearly ‘Sip of Summer’ event to raise money for Community Supported Shelters. A good time was had by all with games, a raffle, BBQ, and great networking at Alton Baker Park. This was their 5th fundraiser for CSS, and they raised $3,300 this year to Adopt-a-Hut.

Volunteer Spotlight: UO Duck Corps

July 21, 2025
This summer, we've been collaborating with UO Duck Corps, who have been giving Hut exteriors some good scrubbing. Dustin (the staff member taking the selfie), says, "It's so encouraging to see a younger generation work against stereotypes about the unhoused and have such an interest in helping their community."
Show More