By DICK MASON • The Observer

LA GRANDE — Housing provides a foundation for hope, something Madelaine Koller understands better than most. “It is hard to do anything if you do not have a home,” the Union County Housing Matters coordinator for Northeast Oregon Network said.

For example, Koller said, it is difficult to hold down a job unless one has housing.

Koller can cite many other examples of the hardships people without housing face. Since May 2022, she has met with people at Cook Memorial Library two days a week to help them find housing or retain the living quarters they have.

Although the sessions are scheduled for three hours, she said she often stays longer to offer additional people the chance to meet with her.

“There are a lot of people with housing insecurity issues,” she said, noting that locally this is particularly true today because of the housing shortage in Northeastern Oregon.

Koller is at the library, 2006 Fourth St., on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2-5 p.m.

Much of her time during her library sessions is spent introducing people to the services available to them.

“We want to connect people to resources they may not be aware of,” Koller, a 2019 Eastern Oregon University graduate, said.

The resources she highlights with clients include those offered by Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, Northeast Oregon Housing Authority, Department of Human Services and United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Many have services that can help those confronting housing issues.

Koller has worked for NEON, a nonprofit focused on boosting health outcomes in Northeastern Oregon, for two years. Robert Kleng, chair of NEON’s board, credits Koller with doing an excellent job in her role as housing matters coordinator and assisting people through the sessions at the library.

“She has a lot of empathy and has a good understanding of the complexity of the housing situation,” he said.

Koller uses her knowledge to quickly get people with housing issues moving in the right direction.

“She can connect people to the best services available immediately,” Kleng said.

He noted that Koller assists not only those with chronic housing issues but also those in a temporary bind, like individuals new to town and without a place to stay.

Kleng added that Koller understands people and can connect in a wide range of circumstances.

“She meets people where they are at,” he said.

Koller is grateful to have the chance to help people by directing them to social services offered locally. She said the Housing Matters website is filled with testimonials from people in Union County who have landed on their feet after overcoming struggles with the help of local services. The testimonies are not from people Koller knows but she finds their stories inspiring.

“I am forever grateful for the social services, especially housing that kept my family safe while we worked towards success,” one testimonial on the website says. “My community helped me when I was at my lowest and I could have never come back from the place of degradation I was at, without their support.”

Such testimonies are moving but others also reveal insecurities that can continue to haunt.

“It is paralyzing to a person to know that at any time they may be without a home for themselves or their family,” writes another Union County resident who has overcome homelessness.

Koller works closely with Doug Whipple, the Union County Warming Station’s housing services coordinator. Whipple said he encourages people staying at the warming station to visit Koller at Cook Memorial Library during the afternoons she is there. He said Koller fills an important role because she is in a better position to provide services to people who need help after the warming station closes each morning.

Whipple credits Koller with being adept at connecting with people who come to her seeking help.

“She is amazing,” he said.