Bathrooms during the opening of the City of Los Angeles’ first Homeless Navigation Center in North Hollywood, Thursday, February 20, 2020. The center will offer 120 storage bins, showers, and access to service providers to assist with housing for homeless people. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Considered the first step in a journey to becoming housed again, a new center that includes showers, bathrooms and storage bins will be available for homeless people in North Hollywood early next month.
As the city inches closer to opening more shelters and affordable housing in the San Fernando Valley, the new $5.7 million facility at 11839 Sherman Way, near Lankershim Boulevard, will serve as a “navigation center,” a starting point to getting sheltered, employed and eventually housed.
The facility is being billed by elected officials as the first of its kind in the city. But it took significant convincing over the past few years to get it built.
“Over the years I’ve had people tell me that this isn’t a solution, that the problem is much bigger than this, and that this is just a band-aid,” said Laurie Craft of Hope of Valley, the operator of the facility. But Craft said that even a band-aid serves a purpose — to “facilitate and promote healing” and to prevent people from deteriorating into even worse condition.
NoHo Neighborhood Council: Homeless Navigation Center Opens for Community
Published by the North Hollywood North East Neighborhood Council on February 26, 2020.
February 20, 2020 on Sherman Way near Lankershim, we achieved another milestone in the effort to reduce homelessness across the northeast San Fernando Valley.
Councilmember Krekorian is proud to announce his work to procure a homeless navigation center in CD2 has come to fruition. A place where people experiencing homelessness could store their belongings, use the facilities, take a shower, and have immediate access to housing placement professionals.
Funding was obtained from three sources, including Measure HHH, to cover costs of the center.
Greater Valley Glen Council: Homeless Navigation Center Needs Donations
Published by the Greater Valley Glen Council on April 17, 2020
North Hollywood – When the Homeless Navigation Center on Sherman Way near Lankershim had its formal launch in late February, few would have imagined how the world would change just a few weeks later. Still, for the people it serves, the Center, first of its kind in Los Angeles, could not have opened at a more opportune time.
The Center, which has 120 storage bins, shower facilities, restrooms, and onsite staff to assist clients with various services, is operated by Hope of the Valley. Laurie Craft, the organization’s Director of Access and Engagement, said the North Hollywood facility is on a daily basis receiving 40 to 50 people from across the San Fernando Valley. This group includes recently displaced students who are now experiencing homelessness.