Vallejo opens Navigation Center to provide wraparound services for people experiencing homelessness

Vallejo on Sept. 6 held a ribbon-cutting for the Vallejo Navigation Center, a joint effort by the city, Solano County and regional partners to provide a centralized site for shelter, case management and connections to permanent housing.

Assistant City Manager Gillian Hayne told attendees the center reflects years of collaboration with public and private partners and acknowledged staff and community leaders who helped move the project forward. "This is such a momentous event," Hayne said, describing the center as the product of nearly five years of work and cross-agency coordination.

Council Member JR Matulak, whose district borders the navigation center, highlighted the site's architecture, garden spaces and the long history of the project. He said the center is "the epitome of 'it takes a village'" and thanked funders and staff who kept the project moving through multiple council terms.

Council Member Helen Marie Gordon described a personal connection to the center: she said she once experienced homelessness and praised the services and the garden, adding that after a tour "my son said it felt like home." Gordon said the center will offer "24 hour 7 support, case management, health care, access" and called the site a "bridge to permanent housing."

Regional partners and health systems that the city acknowledged at the event included Cap Solano JPA, HUD, Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente and North Bay Health; the on-site operator will be the nonprofit 5 Keys. Deshaun Waters, executive director of the regional joint-powers authority, framed the center as part of a coordinated regional response: "This center marks real progress in our regional effort to address homelessness," he said.

Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente executives emphasized health-system support for the center and linked housing access to community health. The city said funding partners include the city of Vallejo, Solano County, Cap Solano JPA and federal and state partners; specific line-item funding sources and operating budgets were described generally at the event but not enumerated in the report.

The center is intended as an interim, 24/7 service hub that offers on-site case management and care with the goal of helping guests transition into permanent housing and connect with providers and benefit programs. The ceremony closed with community remarks and a tour of facilities.

The council later returned from a separate closed session and adjourned for the night.