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In the six months since Huntington Beach opened the doors of its navigation center — which provides temporary housing and services for individuals experiencing homelessness — hundreds of people have taken shelter from the streets.
While the center can serve up to 174 people, its current population is about 85, city officials said. But for every person residing on site, there are many more who continue to live in unsafe scenarios or have not yet been helped by existing services and programs.
“Every individual is different — there’s not one cause of homelessness,” said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Roman Altenbach, supervisor of a citywide task force formed in 2016 to provide a responsive and proactive approach to addressing homelessness.