Hayward awarded $1 million from state for Housing Navigation Center for homeless

HAYWARD, Calif., June 21, 2019—The City of Hayward has been awarded nearly $1 million in state Proposition 47 funding to support operation of a new Housing Navigation Center intended to move people living on the streets into permanent housing.

The Navigation Center, expected to open this fall at Whitesell and Depot roads in the City’s industrial zone, will serve as transitional short-term housing for up to 45 people at a time, providing dorm-style accommodations in ADA-complaint modular units, individualized case management, an array of support services, bathroom, laundry and storage facilities, and one meal a day, all in a setting with round-the-clock on-site staffing.

The $999,881 state grant for the Hayward Navigation Center is part of $96 million in awards to cities and counties statewide that were announced June 13 by the California Board of State and Community Corrections for programs primarily focused on mental health and substance-use disorder treatment, as well as housing and job-training.

The source of the funds is estimated savings on state prison spending pursuant to Prop. 47, the 2014 voter initiative that reduces the charging of certain lower-level crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

Earlier this month, the City of Hayward also began inviting people and organizations to make monetary or in-kind contributions of materials, supplies and professional services to help develop, outfit and run the Navigation Center.

To learn more about the Navigation Center project and ways to contribute, check out the City website at www.hayward-ca.gov/navigation-center  or contactAmy Cole at (510) 583-4252, or by email at amy.cole@hayward-ca.gov.

The state Prop. 47 funding for the Hayward Navigation Center is in addition to $1.7 million the City is receiving from the State’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program.  Additionally, $800,000 in operating revenue from the City’s General Fund has been allocated to get the Center up in running.

The City Council authorized the Navigation Center in January after declaring an emergency homeless shelter crisis in The City.  Currently, there are two permanent homeless shelters in all of Hayward, and they are limited to families and women with children.

In May, the City selected nonprofit Bay Area Community Services (BACS) to operate the Center, which is a modeled on a BACS-run City of Berkeley program called STAIR and provides service-rich transitional housing for homeless people for generally up to six months and is reporting success moving participants into permanent housing.