Seattle Navigation Center For Homeless Will Open In International District

SEATTLE, WA - Modeled off of a similar shelter in San Francisco, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Wednesday announced the creation of a new 24-hour homeless shelter and the formation of an outreach team to find un-sheltered people.

The shelter, called the Navigation Center, will be located in the International District inside the Pearl Warren building along 12th Avenue South. Outreach workers from the Navigation Team and Seattle police will contact homeless people and help them find shelter and other resources.

The Navigation Center was scheduled to open at the beginning of 2017, but it took the city longer to find a location. The center will open by spring, the city said in a press release, but a temporary shelter will be established until then. Once completed, the shelter will serve 75 people at a time.

The city has to renovate the Pearl Warren building to add showers, living spaces, and storage areas.

The Navigation Center differs from other area shelters. It will be a "low barrier" shelter, which means that it will accept a wider range of individuals, including people with pets or a lot of belongings. The shelter will not force guests to leave each morning.

“To best serve those living unsheltered in our community, our services must recognize the individuals currently left outside of our current system,” Murray said in a press release. “Some of our most vulnerable face mental health and addiction challenges, or have other individualized needs, such as partners, pets or possessions, that the Navigation Center is designed to address."

The Navigation Center will also allow individuals addicted to drugs. The center will not allow drug use on site, but will connect users with addiction services.

The model is based off of San Francisco's Episcopal Community Services Navigation Center.

Image via Flickr user David Lee