County officials expect Navigation Center will help lower number of homeless in the area

Riverside County officials anticipate the new Palm Springs Homeless Navigation Center will help to bring down the number of homeless in the Coachella Valley.

News Channel 3 has reported in depth on the nearly $40 million dollar Center in North Palm Springs that fully opened in November 2024. The Center provides 50 emergency shelter beds and 80 units of transitional housing to people experiencing homelessness.

County officials hope the recent increase in services will bring the homeless count down. Deputy Director of the Riverside County Housing and Workforce Solutions Greg Rodriguez says, "The beauty with the Navigation Center is if somebody is ready to go to services we can feed them into that right away. We definitely anticipate with the next [homeless] count that you will see some impact."

Rodriguez added that there's been a 25 percent increase in shelter beds throughout the county, as well as an increase in affordable housing.