A formerly vacant lot in Vallejo has been transformed into a welcoming place where people experiencing homelessness have access to shelter and supportive social and medical services. Recently, a crowd of over a hundred community and business leaders, activists and elected officials gathered to celebrate the milestone of the long awaited center with a ribbon cutting event.
Sutter Solano Medical Center CEO Kelley Jaeger-Jackson at the Vallejo Navigation Center ribbon cutting celebration.
The Vallejo Navigation Center, located at 1937 Broadway Street in Vallejo, Calif., will serve as a central hub for unhoused people in the city of Vallejo and Solano County. The Navigation Center offers 125 shelter beds along with an array of vital services, including individual case management, to help connect people to social and medical resources. Individuals will be able to stay for up to six months (with extensions if a housing plan is made) and engage in job training programs, learning the skills they need to obtain and sustain permanent housing. The new center will serve approximately 200 people annually.
“My Sutter Health colleagues and I are incredibly proud to be a part of the creation of the Vallejo Navigation Center,” said Sutter Solano Medical Center CEO Kelley Jaeger-Jackson. “At Sutter Health, we understand that the health of a community is grounded in the health of our most vulnerable populations, and the Vallejo Navigation Center will bring up the entire Vallejo and Solano community. Our community health doesn’t only include access to healthcare and access to mental healthcare, but all of the other services around essential care that make our most vulnerable populations, our unhoused community members, feel heard, seen, cared for—and have an opportunity to state their opinions and their concerns and their fears as they move through life.”
Funding for the Navigation Center was a true collaborative community effort involving the City of Vallejo, the County of Solano, CAP Solano JPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, California Department of Housing and Community Development and local healthcare systems. Sutter Health was an early supporter, committing the first $3 million to the project to help unhoused Solano County residents access shelter and support services.
The Navigation Center is a well-designed complex of five buildings, including a community building with office space, a kitchen, community room/dining room and intake office, a dormitory, two restroom buildings and a dog kennel. The complex also boasts a large garden area with picnic tables and space to relax.
The Vallejo Navigation Center garden area.
New Navigation Center to Address Critical Need in Vallejo and Solano County
The Navigation Center addresses a critical need in Solano County. According to the 2024 Solano County Point-in-Time Count Community Report, 1,725 people were experiencing homelessness in the county—either in shelters or living on the streets— an astonishing increase of nearly 550 people since 2022.
Homelessness in Solano County is a complex issue with no single solution. Point-in-Time Counts reveal a range of contributing factors including job loss or reduced work hours, eviction, physical or mental health challenges, divorce or breakup and substance use disorder. Many unhoused people also report having at least one disabling condition—such as a developmental disability, HIV/AIDS, or a long-term physical or mental impairment—that affects their ability to live independently.
