Shelter Rebrands to Housing Navigation Center
ImmaCare continues to fulfill its mission by offering emergency shelter services to individuals experiencing homelessness. After many twists and turns, the major renovations to ImmaCare’s Emergency Shelter are complete and the transformation is breathtaking. In addition to the beauty restored to this 125-year-old Gothic structure, we now have a facility that’s up-to-date with building codes and has increased functionality to better serve our clients.
In addition to this physical transformation, ImmaCare’s Emergency Shelter has transformed into a Housing Navigation Center. At ImmaCare we believe in offering easily accessible shelter and housing services to individuals experiencing homelessness. ImmaCare’s Housing Navigation Center is a new low-barrier, service-enriched shelter with a focus on individuals working on ending their homelessness. Intensive onsite support services will be provided in our renovated facility.
The Housing Navigation Center is equipped with updated showers and laundry facilities, as well as a kitchen for food service and a dining area. Behavioral health services are actively being planned to address and treat mental health and substance use disorders, both of which are strong contributors to homelessness. Clients are offered guidance from an onsite employment specialist equipped to supply clients with the necessary tools to begin their journey toward employment and financial stability. This new focus offers those experiencing homelessness the opportunity to develop pathways to permanent housing, income, improved healthcare and stability.
By providing a safe and clean environment with easily accessible resources, Navigation Center clients can take control of their lives and determine what their path to housing and recovery looks like.
At the start of our renovation project, we envisioned a grand reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony to be shared with our funders, donors, volunteers and supporters. Unfortunately, restrictions and science-based concerns surrounding COVID-19 have caused us to rethink our vision of a grand celebration. We were honored to have a much smaller ceremony which included our major funder on the project, the State Department of Housing, and Mayor Luke Bronin for a ribbon-cutting and tour. You can see NBC Connecticut’s coverage of the event here.
Thank you for your continued support of ImmaCare.