BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — 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.
“There are 250 people sleeping here tonight and we have permanently housed an additional 269 people, 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,” explained Theo Dues, the regional director of Mercy House.
It all started back in March when the facility announced the official launch of the expansion. Four months later Dues says the progress has been significant given the work that has been done over the past two years.
“It’s the only reason we even started talking expanding is because we were so successful in our first two years. It’s that history of success that led to the expansion of our service.”
Services such as the 52 kennel facility that was installed for pets. Dues says this facility is one of a kind and has allowed many more homeless people who have pets to enter the BLNC.
“Additionally, we can serve homeless people who have multiple pets. There is no other shelter in the region that can offer that service. They can have one animal but no more than that. Well, we have residents with 2 animals, 3 animals and we can house them here.”
Bakersfield Vice Mayor and City Councilman of Ward 2 Andrae Gonzales says although progress is being made when it comes to the homelessness crisis he believes there is still more work that needs to be done at the city, county, and state levels due to the increase of homelessness
“We started with 150 beds. We have expanded and included another 119 shelter beds. There is an inflow problem. There’s more and more people finding themselves homeless," explained Gonzalez. "We also have to address mental health care in our community. We also have to do better at substance use treatment in our community. The city is doing a lot and doing as much as we can but desperately need support from the state and from Sacramento. We need policy change. We need new programs and new resources.”
