Harrisonburg opening permanent, low-barrier homeless shelter on Monday

WMRA | By Randi B. Hagi

Published December 18, 2024 at 5:37 PM EST

Open Doors Executive Director Nate Riddle gives reporters a tour of the shelter facilities on Wednesday. The city is contracting with Open Doors to operate The Navigation Center.

Harrisonburg's first permanent, low-barrier homeless shelter opens on Monday. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi took a tour and filed this report.

The shelter, named The Navigation Center, has been a long time coming. Mayor Deanna Reed said she'll never forget the first meeting she had with leaders from local agencies serving people experiencing homelessness – six and a half years ago.

DEANNA REED: I guess the conversation was tough for me because I didn't realize that we had so many people out on the street with nowhere to go. … They're the experts, so I had to listen to them.

They formed a coalition that met monthly, and the recurring call was for a permanent, low-barrier shelter. Other shelters in town are geared towards families, or have strict requirements for entry, such as sobriety.

City leaders have allocated $9.4 million to the project, including $5 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds. The city will cover utility bills and maintenance and pay $100,000 a year to the nonprofit Open Doors to run the shelter. The nonprofit will fundraise most of the remainder of their budget from private donors.

The city bought the property on North Main Street from the Presbytery of the Shenandoah, which donated $50,000 of their proceeds towards building this commercial kitchen, which will serve dinners to shelter guests. The city covered the rest of the kitchen build-out, which totaled almost $120,000.

For the last 17 years, Open Doors has traditionally operated out of a different church or faith organization each week, and only during the coldest months of the year. For the past few weeks, they've been putting folks up at the former Virginia Quilt Museum.

Executive Director Nate Riddle said having a permanent, year-round location will offer more dignity to their guests. For example, previously –

NATE RIDDLE: We had mattresses on the floor, because that's what we could rotate easily. Here, they each have a bedframe, they have a locker, an under-bed storage.

The facility has 80 beds total. During extreme inclement weather, they can set up another 20 cots in the dining hall. The center also has a medical clinic area and office space for partner agencies. It opens for overnight guests on Monday, December 23rd.

The facility has three group sleeping areas, one for women and two for men. Last year, Open Doors provided shelter for 160 people throughout the season. About three-quarters of their guests were men. A few private rooms are available for guests who are uncomfortable staying in the gendered areas or those diagnosed with a serious illness who need a quarantine space.