Palm Springs Navigation Center Requires Additional Funding to Complete

Palm Springs City Council is set to discuss putting more money into the homeless Navigation Center in their meeting Monday night.

They’re not expected to take a vote, but they will consider allocating $5 million more into the project from the 2024 General Fund Budget.

Palm Springs city staff has been working on a plan to develop a resource center for the homeless community as the number of unhoused individuals in the area increases.

The project has been met with support and pushback and received almost $20 million in state funding.

This recent increase in funding comes after bids for construction last month were higher than expected.

The development team has already reduced construction costs by $10 million through some redesigns of the project but pointed to a few factors for the increase like number of bids received, electrical costs and site infrastructure.

In the end, they’re asking for $5 million from the city and $3 million from the county to offset the increased costs for the center and to build an additional facility at the site for individuals transitioning to independent living.

“The construction costs on this project have increased,” Palm Springs Councilmember Lisa Middleton explained. “That’s common to construction projects across the state of California. Materials are more expensive and labor is more expensive. We’ve had to increase the budget on this project.

Middleton went on to say at this state, there is no projected opening date for the center and acknowledges the length of time to get it open has been frustrating.

“We are going to have this facility be one in which individuals come stay, get the care that they need, the attention that they need, and then move on to permanent housing,” Middleton continued.

Site work and utility infrastructure work is scheduled to begin next month with modular units arriving by fall.

Originally, the facility was expected to be ready by February of next year.