The Navigation Center, seen in an architect rendering above, will soon provide transitional tiny home housing, and a project is currently underway to purchased a local hotel for use as a more robust housing alternative. Location of the hotel has not yet been announced.
Shelter Manager Rob Mendoza and Mid-Columbia Community Action Council Executive Director Kenny LaPoint pose for a photo by the MCCAC logo on the restroom trailer at the pallet shelter.
The Navigation Center, seen in an architect rendering above, will soon provide transitional tiny home housing, and a project is currently underway to purchased a local hotel for use as a more robust housing alternative. Location of the hotel has not yet been announced.
Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) will be moving their shelter site to the Navigation Center on W. Seventh Street, following its construction in mid-2023. Plans are also underway to provide additional beds in a hotel renovated to provide transitional shelter, which will be able to serve families as well as individuals.
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At the Navigation Center, the pallet shelters will occupy part of the lot and the actual center will be a large building full of resources and essential services, which will be provided in partnership with many community organizations. According to the project website, mccac.com/navigation-center, the site will provide services for healthcare, behavioral healthcare, and job and employment resources.
The center will have services from Oregon Human Development Corporation, Columbia Gorge Health Council, Bridges to Health, The Next Door Inc, Nch’I Wana Housing, Mid-Columbia Center for Living, and the Columbia Gorge Housing Authority.
The Navigation Center will also provide many amenities for shelter clients, including a kitchen that will serve clients as well as childcare.
“If families are coming in to receive services, they can drop a kiddo off and we can watch them while they work with their case management team,” MCCAC Executive Director Kenny LaPoint said. “That kind of thing can be traumatizing for children.”
Shelter Manager Rob Mendoza and Mid-Columbia Community Action Council Executive Director Kenny LaPoint pose for a photo by the MCCAC logo on the restroom trailer at the pallet shelter.
Alana Lackner photo
Currently, the existing shelter cannot house families, as it is not suitable for children, LaPoint said. At the moment, MCCAC has a hotel voucher program and prioritizes those vouchers for families with children, though they are only for three days. MCCAC spent $750,000 on hotel stays last year alone, LaPoint said.
However, MCCAC is also in the process of buying a hotel to convert into a shelter.
According to LaPoint, they were selected to participate in a grant program called Project Turnkey, which is a state program that gives communities resources to buy hotels and motels and turn them into shelters.
Though the deal is not yet finalized and the name of the hotel MCCAC would be buying has not yet been released, they are expected to close on the purchase in January. Like with the pallet shelter, residents would be able to stay up to six months at a time. As the hotel has 54 rooms, LaPoint said the purchase would provide close to another 100 beds with the 54 rooms.
“It’s a big deal,” Shelter Manager Rob Mendoza said. “It gives me chills thinking about it. It’s going to change lives.”
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