New housing and resources coming to Visalia for unhoused community members

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A future housing facility will help over one hundred unhoused people in Visalia.

The City of Visalia and Community Services Employment Training, or CSET, have been working towards building a Navigation Center for unhoused community members for the last three years.

This week, the city was awarded $3.6 million from the state's Encampment Resolution Fund.

The money will help push the project forward.

The one-hundred-room complex will be located in North Visalia, on Court Street near Esquivel Avenue.

It will be the city's first low-barrier resource and housing center- where pets will be allowed.

"A low barrier shelter- it can be an entry way for people getting stabilized, getting documents ready. To have wrap-around services available at the center so it can make a difference and a change in their lives," says Visalia City Manager Leslie Caviglia.

The navigation center broke ground in April and should be completed within a year.

It's something CSET says will help change the lives of many people who are living on the streets.

"We are calling it a navigation center because that's truly what it is, 15 to 20 partners here, we're going to help them get jobs and get back into the community," Jeff Forbes with CSET.

CSET's website details a 2023 Point in Time Count Survey, which found nearly 800 people are living unsheltered in Tulare County, including 58 unaccompanied youth.

There are also nearly 300 people in an emergency shelter or transitional housing.

The City of Visalia says the new center will help them meet people where their needs are.

"So we are very excited to have this opportunity to really start to make a difference in their lives and lives in our community as folks begin to get the help they need," says Leslie.

The Navigation Center is expected to be complete by 2024 and could be done even sooner.

For news updates, follow Kassandra Gutierrez on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.