Plumas crisis center describes North Star navigation center, tiny‑home plans and workforce training

The Plumas County Behavioral Health Commission heard a presentation from Kate Romire, executive director of the Plumas Crisis Intervention and Resource Center, about services at the North Star Navigation Center in Quincy and related programs including Dragonfly Cafe and Ohana Village.

Romire said North Star is a “navigation center” rather than a shelter: residents participate in individualized case plans that typically run several months, receive three meals a day and on‑site support, and have access to staff 24 hours a day. The center has separate male and female bunk rooms plus three family rooms and can house 27 people at a time. Since opening in November, the center has taken 31 residents and reports a roughly 52% success rate for exits to stable situations.

Why it matters: County commissioners and staff are using North Star as a model for an onsite, hands‑on program designed to move people from unsheltered settings into employment and housing. Romire said transitional units and the planned tiny‑home community behind the center will create longer‑term options, while an onsite culinary training program supports workforce development.

According to Romire, the center provides case management, life skills classes, connections to substance‑use and mental‑health care, and relationships with landlords to help residents find housing after exit. The group also operates food pantries in Quincy and Portola; Romire said the Portola pantry distributes about twice the food by weight as the Quincy site and that Northern Nevada Food Bank delivers supplies twice a month.

Romire described Ohana Village, a planned 26‑unit permanent transitional housing project on land owned behind the navigation center. She said infrastructure work is mostly complete, and the first cluster of accessible units is being held for winter occupancy pending final utility equipment from the electric utility. The majority of the tiny homes will be studio units; a few will be one‑ and two‑bedroom designs. North Star staff said every resident would still enter the navigation center first and complete the program before transitioning to the tiny homes.

The center runs a workforce development program housed at Dragonfly Cafe, where residents can take a six‑week culinary certificate. Romire said residents sometimes self‑refer and that referrals also come from behavioral health, probation and alternative sentencing programs. She added that roughly half of people who complete an intake decline the program’s structured model and prefer to remain unsheltered.

Commissioners asked how clinical services are provided. Romire said the center employs licensed counselors and a substance‑use counselor and coordinates with county behavioral health when residents need services that exceed the center’s scope. She emphasized that North Star is low‑barrier (it does not require sobriety for entry) but is not a medical detox or inpatient rehabilitation facility.

Ending: Commission members praised the program’s approach and asked for future site tours. Romire said she is exploring additional grant funding and potential sites in Portola and other towns to expand services.