The cities of Garden Grove, Westminster and Fountain Valley have broken ground on a new shelter that will offer emergency housing and services to people experiencing homelessness.
On a warm Tuesday afternoon, June 13, leaders from the central Orange County cities and Supervisor Andrew Do came together in an industrial area in Garden Grove to take the first step in the construction of the Central Cities Navigation Center.
“What’s nice about the Navigation Center is that it immediately gets (people) off the streets. There’s mental health, physical health, there’s job training, job placement. There are all kinds of programs available,” said Garden Grove Councilmember George S. Brietigam III. “It’s not like a typical homeless shelter; it’s all-encompassing.”
The unhoused, Brietigam said, will be more inclined to come to a navigation center versus a homeless shelter because of the different types of services the latter offers.
The Central Cities Navigation Center, located on West Street in Garden Grove, will have 85 beds with separate dorms for men, women and couples. Fifty beds will be allocated for Garden Grove residents, 22 for Westminster residents and 13 for Fountain Valley, said Lisa Kim, Garden Grove’s city manager.
The center, which came about through a tri-city agreement in 2022, will provide shelter for only adults for up to six months, Kim said.
The 85 bed facility will be located on West Street in Garden Grove and is set to open Spring 2024. @ocregister pic.twitter.com/OI4hdhrjkh
— Yusra Farzan (@ByYusra) June 14, 2023
The projected opening date for the center is in 2024.
“If I had my wish, it would be opened in six months. But the reality of the supply chain and construction activity, we’re looking closer to spring of 2024 for this project to open,” Kim said.
In addition to the dorm rooms, the facility will include a full kitchen and laundry room, dining and outdoor lounge areas and lockers.
Unhoused community members will also have access to mental health resources, substance use counseling, outpatient health and education services at the center. Homeless people will also be able to meet one-on-one with a case manager to find solutions for permanent housing, develop certain life skills and gain employment.
At the navigation center, Brietigam said, homeless people will be connected to county and state programs that can assist them as well.
As of May 2022, the point-in-time count — a survey on a single night of people experiencing homelessness whether they are in a shelter or on the streets — found that 5,718 people in Orange County are homeless. Of that number, 391 were in Garden Grove, 159 in Westminster and 38 in Fountain Valley,
Late last year, Garden Grove city leaders approved a memorandum of understanding with the county, which committed $11.55 million toward the center with $5.3 million allocated for construction and another $625,000 annually in the first 10 years to operate it.
Garden Grove will be using approximately $4.9 million from its general fund for the navigation center, Kim said.
And in September 2022, Westminster put up $4 million toward the purchase of the site for the Central Cities Navigation Center.
Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen said he is “excited” about the navigation center. In addition to shelter, the navigation center will also be a safe haven for homeless people, Nguyen said, giving them an opportunity to rebuild.
Unhoused community members will be accepted to the navigation center through a referral system, Kim said, to ensure they are residents of the three cities. The Garden Grove Police Department’s street outreach team as well as the Be Well mobile mental health resource team already works with homeless individuals and have developed relationships, making it easier for them to refer these individuals to the center, she said.
Garden Grove also rolled out a street medicine program in April to bring medical assistance to homeless people in the city, allowing for referrals through the program, too. The navigation center will collaborate with the police departments in Westminster and Fountain Valley as well to ensure unhoused residents have a safe space to come to, Kim said.