The Record | M Street Navigation Center one part of solution to homelessness

Excerpt from The Record by David Couch.
See full article here.

“Homelessness is on everyone’s mind these days as the problem seems so intractable, but the good news is that work is being done to correct this.

The three facilities we visited were the M Street Navigation Center, the Brundage Lane Navigation Center and the Recycling Lives facility. All of these are relatively new and are part of the community strategy to combat homelessness and get people back on their own two feet.

The beauty of these programs is how focused they are in providing humane and smart solutions to homelessness. For those of us who want to see solutions that solve the problem for businesses and the community while also recognizing the humanity of those afflicted, you should know that solutions with that focus are on the forefront and are having success.

This week, I wanted to focus on the county’s M Street Navigation Center. Community Action Partnership Kern Program Manager Laurie Hughey showed us their facility complete with sleeping areas, beds, cafeteria and meeting rooms. Some 128 beds out of 150 are being utilized there — beds that only two years ago weren’t available to get people off the street.

Since the opening in May 2020, M Street has served over 1300 individuals experiencing homelessness and placed 134 into permanent housing. Several programs are in place at M Street to help those staying there get off the street permanently, including Project Hire Up, which teaches basic office and life skills in addition to welding compete with certification…”