In the Works - Community Newsletter In the Works May 2017 | Page 23

The colorful 64-bed campus is
located on the eastern foot of
25th Street, at Michigan Street.
It consists of modular buildings
with dorms for sleeping, a dining
hall and lounge, bathrooms, a
counseling center, storage facilities
and a welcoming outdoor space
with gardens, seating and picnic
tables. The Navigation Center model
allows people to bring their
pets and belongings with them,
and they can move in with
others from their encampments.
Once in the Navigation Center,
they are offered intensive case
management and connections to
health care, drug treatment and
government benefits programs.
Public Works architects and
landscape architects designed the
center; our carpenters, plumbers,
electricians, sheet metal workers,
general laborers, landscapers and
cement masons made it move-in
ready. The mayor hosted a ribbon-
cutting ceremony at the site on
May 24; the first residents started
to move in on May 30. This is the
City’s third Navigation Center;
the others are in the Mission,
at 1950 Mission St., and Mid-
Market area, at Market and 12th
streets. The City plans to open
four more in the coming year.
The project was a team effort:
Mayor Ed Lee drove the funding;
the Port of San Francisco lent
the land and the Department of
Homelessness and Supportive
Housing is overseeing operations.
The nonprofit Episcopal
Community Services and
Providence Foundation provide
on-site operations and services.
District 10 Supervisor Malia
Cohen and Dogpatch neighbors
offered critical support.
“This Navigation Center sets a
great example of how we can use
creative solutions to address the
challenge of homelessness in our
city,” said San Francisco Public
Works Director Mohammed
Nuru. “We turned a stretch of
the public right of way into a
safe and welcoming village where
people who have been living on
the streets in often dangerous
situations can sleep, eat, shower,
avail themselves to services and
get back on more solid ground.”
Dogpatch Navigation Center
Design Statement
The design of the center is
intended to provide a healing,
restorative environment, and is
based upon modular building
components, creating courtyards
and outdoor spaces where
residents can interact, socialize,
and create a community off
of the streets in preparation
for their transition to more
permanent housing. The ample
outdoor spaces and amenities,
such as gardens and outdoor
dining and lounging areas,
mean that residents can truly
live at the center, not just sleep
there at night as is the case in
traditional shelters. This desirable
environment is crucial if we are to
succeed in creating a pathway out
of street life for the residents.
The Dogpatch Navigation
Center is scheduled to operate
at the location for three years;
then, it will be disassembled and
reopened at another site.
Public Works spends a lot of time
and resources cleaning up around
tent encampments, which are
often dirty, unhealthy and unsafe
for the people who live in them
and those who live and work
nearby. Encampment cleaning is
a job we will continue to do until
the need no longer exists.
Meanwhile, the Navigation
Centers offer a critical path
for individuals to move off the
streets and into a more tenable
environment. Public Works is
proud to be part of the Navigation
Center team.
Building this navigation center
on an active street right of way
was a complex collaborative
effort, and involved various
City agencies working together,
including Public Works, the Port,
Planning, MTA, the Police and
Fire Departments, as well as the
Dogpatch community, which
was very active in the planning
and design process. As we only
have this site for three years, we
minimized the impact to the
street by using modular trailers
that can be easily relocated. The
wood deck structure not only
provides ample outdoor space, but
also houses all of the piping and
electrical utilities connecting the
trailers above ground, minimizing
our excavation of the street and
being easily dismantled at the end
of our stay.
May 2017 - San Francisco Public Works Newsletter