The Navigation Center opened for services on December 23, 2024.
The Navigation Center is operated by Open Doors.
The Navigation Center hosts a year-round overnight shelter for adults experiencing homelessness. The shelter contains space for up to 80 congregant beds and four universal rooms, with other support facilities such as showers and a laundry room.
The Navigation Center also includes a drop-in center open to anyone in the community to access resources, wrap-around services, and programs that support their efforts to access housing, achieve self-sufficiency, and personal growth. Open Doors will partner with other local agencies, including Sentara RMH, the Suitcase Clinic for the Homeless, Strength in Peers, Mercy House, First Step and the Harrisonburg Rockingham Community Services Board, to provide on-site services.
Hours of operation and information on how to access the shelter and drop-in services are available on Open Doors’ website at: https://www.valleyopendoors.org/services
Project Background
The City of Harrisonburg purchased the property, which includes 3.68 acres with an existing 6,730-square-foot two story building built in 1910 with later additions, from the Shenandoah Presbytery. The City’s goal is to use the property to strengthen our community efforts to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring for residents of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. The facility includes a low-barrier emergency shelter for adults and drop-in center for adults experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity to access resources, wrap-around services, and programs that support their efforts to access housing, achieve self-sufficiency, and personal growth. The project was approached with consideration for potential addition of other services and/or uses onto the property and/or building in the future, such as transitional housing units and/or permanent supportive housing units.
Facility Design
The City of Harrisonburg purchased 1111 North Main Street in Harrisonburg from the Shenandoah Presbytery for the purpose of constructing the Navigation Center. Architectural firm MTFA and engineering consultants 2RW and Monteverde Engineering & Design Studio to completed the design for the Navigation Center. Nielsen Builders served as the construction contractor.
This capital project was approved as a part of the City of Harrisonburg’s American Rescue Plan Act spending plan. $5 million of American Rescue Plan funding was appropriated to support this project. The remainder of the project was funded by the City of Harrisonburg General Fund.