Exploring the creation of a Homelessness Day Center was one of the top ten priorities identified by City Council at its 2022 retreat. The goal of the center is to serve as a navigation center, a space that creates a welcoming and inclusive environment where individuals experiencing homelessness can engage with service providers in a single location. The center will aim to build a sense of healthy community, meet people where they are on their housing journey, replace unproductive habits with productive habits and provide participants with path to housing.Earlier this fall, the city’s Housing and Human Services Department hired Trestle Strategy Group to conduct a community and stakeholder consultation to determine the location and program priorities for the Homelessness Day Center.The community engagement conducted aimed to answer two questions:What programming and services should be offered at the day center to create self-sufficiency and provide a path to housing?What would be the ideal physical characteristics of the day center (size, function, affinities with other land uses, etc.)?The report summarizes feedback that was collected from community members, service providers and individuals with lived experience. In addition to input on these two questions, we received general feedback on the project.
View the full report.
Key feedback themes include:The top services that should be provided at the day center include bathroom and shower facilities, laundry, safe storage, meal services and access to social workers, case managers, coordinated entry and medically trained staff. Other ideas included mental health support and addiction counseling.To measure success, community members identified the following as the most important metrics to track: reduction in encampments, number of people entering housing solutions, reduced emergency room visits and quality of life improvements.Access to bus and transportation networks, accessibility for people with disabilities and adjacency to other services (social, medical) were identified as the most important physical for the day center.“The community input that we gathered highlighted the importance of creating a welcoming space where unhoused community members can access the resources they need in one location,” shared Megan Newton, Homelessness Policy Advisor. “This feedback was incorporated in our Request for Proposals and will be reflected in the services available at the Homelessness Day Center. Staff is looking forward to choosing a service provider and moving this project forward so we can begin to serve our community in a new and impactful way.”
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