COF Housing Navigation Center Project
SAFETY
Many people think a Housing Navigation Center will be more dangerous than what exists now. Actual experience in Niles and the Tri Cities is different. Niles Congregational Church, one of the congregations that merged to become Niles Discovery Church, and Corpus Christie took part in the Winter Relief Program for over five years. Homeless families slept for a month in each of these churches for a total of two months each winter. The initial concern of the community regarding trash and folks hanging around in the daytime proved unfounded.
The Saint Vincent De Paul group at Corpus Christi continues to outreach to people who are homeless and provide food in the heart Niles. Tri-City housing Assistance Programs operate safely for all at Sunrise Village, the Second Chance shelter, SAVE’s shelter, and Bay Area Community Services’ Wellness Center.
Niles has a large group of people living in places where people don’t normally live, and they do so without re-housing services. They do not have the basic amenities (e.g. bathrooms or sleeping quarters) that most housed people take for granted. A temporary housing program nearby that is designed to provide such amenities while helping some of the homeless find permanent housing. In doing so, the Navigation Center provides a safer enviroment in the areas where people are currently living in tents and doorways. T
- Be operated by an experienced non-profit provider.
- Have trained staff on site 24/7
- Use outreach workers to screen participants off site and would not accept drop-ins
- Have a special fund to cover costs like first & last month rent plus security deposits required
- Employ specialists to assist those with credit repair needs
- Provides housing navigators with the expertise to
- link participants to supported housing programs for veterans and for those with mental health problems or recovery needs
- match people to each other so that they can share a place with others
- operates a re-housing component that is working with property owners and development companies to increase the supply of low-income and moderate-income rentals.
This page will be updated as new information is gathered. It was last updated on 5/22/2019.