City Council approves funds for X Street Navigation Center to begin housing people this summer
In another step toward carrying out a multi-pronged strategy to reduce homelessness, members of the City Council Tuesday unanimously approved spending $6.9 million to operate a new Navigation Center at 29th and X streets for the next two years.
The bulk of the money, $5 million, is a grant from the Kaiser Foundation that was donated at the request of Mayor Darrell Steinberg. The rest is a combination of state funds and $1.13 million from Measure U.
The Navigation Center is under construction and is scheduled to open this summer under the oversight of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. It will house up to 100 people at a time, depending on Covid restrictions, with priority given to those experiencing homelessness in Oak Park, Curtis Park and on the Broadway/Alhambra. corridor.
Maria Perez describes how she obtained permanent housing through the Meadowview Navigation Center
Navigation Centers offer living skills classes, recovery assistance, medical care, financial counseling, help retrieving key documents and housing placement services to help people transition from homelessness into permanent housing within four to six months. People are accepted as they are, with their pets, partners and possessions. The X Street Navigation Center will be open to adults by referral — it will not take walk ups.
Like the City’s Meadowview Navigation Center, the X Street Navigation Center will have round-the-clock security and will adopt a robust good neighbor policy to provide relief to the surrounding neighborhood, which has been heavily affected by homeless encampments.
“We have been holding community meetings on this site for a little over two years,” said Vice Mayor Jay Schenirer, who represents the district where the center is being built. “We really want to do something a little different with this Navigation Center where it is really owned by the community. There are so many community-based organizations within walking distance of this site that can really participate in the life of the Navigation Center.”
Maria Perez, a former guest at the City’s Meadowview Navigation Center, appeared before the Council via Zoom on Tuesday to tell the story of how she regained her life through a stay there. Perez was placed in a senior housing complex in Carmichael after more than 10 years of off-and-on homelessness following a divorce and a subsequent domestic violence situation.
Sleeping dorm in the Meadowview Navigation Center
The Navigation Center, she said, “is a one-stop shop” for exiting homelessness, which she said she considers crucial for people trying to regain their lives but facing a host of issues, including, in her case, an immune disorder.
“I have a couch and a bed,” she said. “My children have come out, and we’ve had family time. I haven’t had family time in 10 years. I’m just thankful to have a normal life again.”
Mayor Steinberg thanked her and said it’s important for people in Sacramento to hear stories like hers. “What we need more of, especially around homelessness, is hope,” he said. “Everybody is a human being and has a story. You’re worth it; everybody’s worth it.”
