VISALIA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE)- A major milestone was hit in the Tulare County city of Visalia Friday, as the ribbon was cut for the Visalia Navigation Center, the city's first 'low-barrier' homeless and resource center. It was a cause for celebration, after over five years in the making to open the state-of-the-art resource for the unhoused. A need for donors, attendants, and local leaders is essential in order to tackle the continued crisis. "In Visalia, we have over 600 individuals that are living on the streets and we cannot begin to address the needs if we cannot begin to create a place where they can go and seek services and begin to stabilize their lives," said Mary Alice Escarsega, the executive director of Community Services Employment Training (CSET), which will take the lead to run the facility. With over 10 partners in collaboration, Escarsega says they plan to get folks off the streets immediately and into "dorms" on-site, whether they are men, women, the elderly, or children. "This is a comprehensive center that will serve 100 people at any given time with comprehensive services that include employment training, safety net services to hopefully help them transition into permanent housing," she said. For those not part of the first 100 in the shelter, Escarsega says the building will at least give them a place to come and seek those same services, as well as others like free kennels for homeless pets, daily meals, training, and crucial grant funding. "Some of the grant funding that we have will help pay their rent for six months," Escarsega said. "We will help them find places to live and we'll also surround them with the other resources that will help them stay stabilized." With a long time in the making, she says contributors and everyone behind the scenes to get to this point, are just thrilled to finally show it off. "I'm going to be honest. I'm tired but we're just so happy today to finally bring to fruition this first comprehensive center here in Visalia." While the center does not have an exact opening date set, those at the center shared that their hope is that the official opening could come as soon as the next couple of weeks.