In the Works - Community Newsletter In the Works July 2017 | Page 36

people who had been living in
sidewalk encampments in the
surrounding neighborhood.
Public Works designers,
carpenters, electricians and
plumbers transformed a former
electric company property at
1515 South Van Ness Ave. into
the City’s fourth and newest
Navigation Center focused on
moving chronically homeless
people and their pets from
encampments into a more stable
living environment. The shelter
is layered with intensive case
management and on-site services,
such as counseling and medical
care.
The campus has inviting outdoor
space, dorm sleeping quarters,
common rooms bathed in
natural light, counseling offices,
bathrooms and showers and on-
site meals.
Once the South Van Ness
Avenue shelter opened – the
first people moved in June 29 –
the City had the ability to offer
encampment dwellers a safe and
clean alternative. As a result, the
surrounding neighborhood is
being made into a tent-free zone,
and Public Works crews are in
the area daily keeping it clean.
The innovative Navigation
Center model was spearheaded
by Mayor Ed Lee with the aim
of transitioning people from the
streets into supportive housing
or reuniting them with family.
The Navigation Centers are
overseen by the Department of
Homelessness and Supportive
Housing.
The South Van Ness Avenue
Navigation Center has room for
120 men and women and,
as beds open up, new people will
move in.
The Mission District facility
has the backing of District 9
Supervisor Hillary Ronen and
specifically caters to individuals
who have been living in
neighborhood encampments in
the area bounded by Valencia,
Potrero, Cesar Chavez and
Division streets. Clients must be
referred to the shelter by City
outreach teams or the police.
The facility is scheduled to
be demolished next year and
replaced with an affordable
housing development.
Navigation Centers are intended
to be temporary, and are designed
and built with that in mind:
The furnishings and, in some
cases, modular housing units can
be picked up and moved to a
new location. More Navigation
Centers are in the works.