BLNC expansion shows success in helping homeless
At the Brundage Lane Navigation Center over 260 people have been housed and part of that is the result of an expansion at the BLNC.
Transcript
00:00 This week, the Bakersfield City Council's Housing and Homelessness Committee met to go over the progress being made to combat homelessness in our community.
00:07 After an expansion that kicked off earlier this year, 23 ABC's Brianna Polk visited a local homeless shelter today that marked a special milestone.
00:16 Here at the Brennage Lane Navigation Center, you can see here right behind me, 269 people have been housed.
00:23 And part of this is thanks to the expansion here at the BLNC.
00:27 There are 250 people sleeping here tonight, and we have permanently housed an additional 269 people.
00:34 So when you add the people that are sleeping here tonight with all those that we have housed, that's over 500 people that are not on the streets of Bakersfield today because of the work that we do.
00:43 It all started back in March, when the facility announced the official launch of the expansion.
00:48 And four months later, Regional Director of Mercy House, Theo Deuse, says the progress has been significant, given the work that has been done the past two years.
00:57 The only reason we even started talking about expanding is because we were so successful in our first two years.
01:03 And so it's that history of success that led to the expansion of our service.
01:09 Services such as the 52-kino facility that was installed for pets, Deuse says this facility is one of a kind.
01:16 Additionally, we can serve homeless people who have multiple pets.
01:20 There's no other shelter in the region that can offer that service.
01:24 They can have one animal, but no more than that.
01:27 Well, we have residents with two animals, three animals, and we can house them here.
01:30 Bakersfield Vice Mayor and City Councilman of Ward 2, Andre Gonzalez, says although progress is being made when it comes to the homelessness crisis,
01:38 he believes there is still more work that needs to be done at the city, county, and state level due to the increase of homelessness.
01:46 We started with 150 beds. We have expanded, including another 119 beds, shelter beds.
01:54 We also have to address mental health care in our community.
01:59 We also have to do better at substance use treatment in our community.
02:04 The city is doing a lot and doing as much as we can, but we desperately need support from the state and from Sacramento.
02:12 We need policy change. We need new programs and new resources.
02:15 In Bakersfield, I'm Brianna Polk, 23 ABC News, connecting you.