DHHS gives update on long-anticipated Eureka Navigation Center

EUREKA, Calif. — With more than 1,300 homeless residents, Humboldt County is constantly searching for ways to get people housed.

"We have shelters now that are said to be low barrier which are not. So, any service that puts hoops on people that they have to meet or qualify for things could be difficult," Affordable Housing Homeless Alternatives (AHHA) Co-founder and President Nezzie Wade said.

Now, the county hopes a new approach will break down some of these barriers by providing more than just physical shelter itself, and all in one central location.

"The more [unhoused people] can get into these areas where we're [providing] those services, it'll get them at a point in their life where they may want to receive those services," Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said.

The Navigation Center will be modeled after Friendship Park in Sacramento, a similar center for adults experiencing homelessness.

On the list of resources the Eureka site would have are hygiene services, community classrooms, storage lockers, a pet kennel and more.

"For folks who are houseless, it's extremely difficult to get from one place to another and to keep appointments and to keep track of a lot of things," Wade said. "So, being able to get multiple resources in one spot is very helpful."

But despite the photos, it's not all sunshine and rainbows for some Eureka residents who are opposed to initiatives that could draw more homeless people from outside the city.

"The drawback is having a central facility that is the sort of end all be all will sort of create the same kind of problem we've had in the past with people coming to Eureka to get services from the outlying areas," Wade said.

The proposed location of the center—on West Third Street in Eureka—is already heavily populated by unhoused people as Saint Vincent de Paul's Free Meal Dining Facility is just across the street.

"If people do come here and we have the resources to provide for them, I think that we should do so," Slattery said.

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