BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Homelessness in Bakersfield is technically on the decline, and city officials are looking for more cost-effective ways at tackling the issue — including potentially reducing the number of beds in homeless shelters.
During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Councilmember Andrae Gonzalez raised the issue of how Bakersfield will invest in homelessness prevention in the future. Currently, the city is upgrading one of its shelters — The Brundage Lane Navigation Center (or BLNC) — with a 50-bed expansion.
“If we are seeing some progress out there in actually addressing homelessness, it would seem prudent for us to have an honest conversation about when do we scale down the number of beds and the capacity of BLNC so that we can in turn save some dollars and reallocate to more pressing priorities,” said Gonzalez…