“Not doing anything, sticking our head in the sand, wouldn’t have been the right answer,” Fremont Mayor Lily Mei said.
FREMONT — In its first year, Fremont’s navigation center has had a 66% success rate at taking in people who are homeless and placing them into permanent housing, according to a new report issued by the city this month.
The center — a series of portable buildings surrounded by wooden fencing with colorful artwork — took in 66 people who were homeless in total from October 2020 through October 2021, all of whom were living in Fremont, Newark or Union City before moving into the center.
“It’s a voluntary program, so folks have their own decision-making as to whether they want to receive the services,” said Jonathan Russell, the head strategy officer for Bay Area Community Services, the nonprofit that runs the center. For many of those placed into housing, the nonprofit gives them a short-term rental subsidy to help support them during the transition. They also are provided another six months of services based on their needs, aimed at preventing them from returning to homelessness after being housed.
Bay Area Community Services, an Oakland nonprofit that focuses on ending homelessness, also runs navigation centers in Hayward and Berkeley.