In this December 2022 file photo, Shellie Macvane, 38, shivers in her tent on NE Hunnell Road in Bend, where temperatures hovered at 6 degrees.

Cheyenne Purrington, who was hired in September to lead a countywide effort to battle homelessness, resigned Tuesday, citing a lack of coordination and support as her reasons for leaving.

Upcoming efforts in Redmond, Bend and rural Deschutes County to remove roughly 800 people living in tents, cars and makeshift shelters left Purrington feeling personally and professionally conflicted, she said in a five-page memo detailing her resignation as director of the Coordinated Houselessness Response Office. She wrote those efforts lacked “sufficient planning, resource allocations or service provision.”

“The entanglement of encampment removals with the strategies and solutions promoted by this office has strained our staff, partnerships, and mission,” Purrington wrote.

Purrington outlined a series of challenges facing the office, accompanied by recommendations to improve its efforts to address homelessness. Among the challenges are a lack of consensus from public agencies, including the Deschutes County Commission, on the mission of the office, and an overall friction between Deschutes County and its incorporated cities, Purrington wrote.

“As the sole Office employee for many months, I gained important insights into the Office’s functions — and dysfunctions — as it moved from concept to reality,” Purrington wrote.

The office, and Purrington’s position, were created by the Legislature in 2022 as a pilot project for eight Oregon counties under House Bill 4123. It was an attempt to address homelessness. Purrington was hired to serve Deschutes County, Bend, La Pine, Redmond and Sisters.

The office recently helped secure roughly $15 million in funding that arose out of Gov. Tina Kotek’s Executive Order 23-02, which declared a homelessness state of emergency. However, Purrington said there are numerous challenges within the structure and scope of the office that impede meaningful progress.

In her memo, Purrington recommended expanding the office’s geographic footprint to include Crook and Jefferson counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and, in turn, shifting oversight of the office from Deschutes County to the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council. This would help the office’s role to be clearer and more in line with regional efforts.

Purrington offered to stay on for up to three weeks to assist with any transition. However, Purrington recommended that her position be eliminated entirely, and, instead, replaced with three full time staff members.

“The current director role does not seem to have authority to allocate resources, set policy or direct work activities, so this will enable the board (of county commissioners) to oversee staff as they choose,” Purrington said. “This will also reduce the public pressure on a single leader which carries much of the perceived responsibility but very little actual authority.”

Deschutes County Commission chair Tony DeBone said it’s a shame the office is losing its first director, and he wants to keep moving forward. But the office hasn’t been a success in seven months, he said.

“We know it hasn’t provided a lot of results, so let’s figure out what the next step is,” DeBone told The Bulletin Tuesday.

The county’s annual budget process is currently underway, and commissioners are expected to discuss the future of the coordinated office at their budget meeting Wednesday.