Sheltering the Unhoused: Sprung Center Helps Fight Homelessness in Phoenix

PHOENIX, March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - The City of Phoenix, RPM Team and Sprung Structures are pleased to announce the grand opening of the Phoenix Navigation Center – the City's flagship and largest housing facility, designed to provide immediate and transitional solutions for people experiencing homelessness.

Members of the media are invited to tour the center, located at 11 S. 71^st Avenue, which officially opened today (March 26^th) at 10:30 AM. 

"This center will have ample space for people to live and work on the things they need to work on to end their homelessness," says Rachel Milne, director of the Office of Homeless Solutions for the City of Phoenix.

"It's city-owned and city-operated, in partnership with our non-profit partners," she said. "This facility represents our commitment to providing more capacity and comprehensive services to address the rising number of unsheltered individuals."

The 280-bed center consists of three Sprung Structures: one dedicated to women's housing, another for men's housing, and a third which will be used as a central Navigation Center. Meals and support services will be located here.

Eighty non-congregate beds will be available in converted shipping container shelters. Non congregate beds are areas where individuals or families have living space with a level of privacy, such as a motel or hotel room, or in this case, a shipping container.

On-site wraparound services include counseling, job training, medical care and other personalized assistance to help residents overcome challenges and rebuild their lives.

The facility will also provide hygiene facilities, secure storage for personal belongings, RV safe parking, and pet accommodations such as kennels.

"This is a state-of-the-art design successfully executed in collaboration with City of Phoenix officials, resulting in the co-location of congregate and non-congregate populations on one site," said David Rennard, President of the RPM Team. "We were excited to use all pre-engineered and modular building products, like Sprung, because it speeds up the design, permitting, and construction process, while at the same time giving us a design that provides dignified spaces for the residents." 

The center follows a proven model deployed in cities across North America, where similar Sprung-built facilities have transitioned more than 10,000 people into stable housing. Unlike conventional shelters, navigation centers provide 24/7 access, allowing couples to stay together and welcoming pets, removing key barriers that often prevent individuals from seeking shelter.

Innovation in Rapid Construction
Sprung Structures' cost-effective, energy-efficient, and durable solutions enable municipalities to act swiftly in addressing the growing homelessness crisis. The new Phoenix facility showcases how high-performance, climate-controlled shelters can be erected in weeks rather than months, significantly reducing both construction timelines and costs.

"Providing people with a safe indoor space is really important in a city like Phoenix because it is too hot and dangerous to be outside for a good six months of the year," says Milne.

The opening of the Phoenix Navigation Center marks a major milestone in the city's efforts to combat homelessness, offering a proven, compassionate, and results-driven approach to shelter and recovery.

"Cities across the U.S. are searching for solutions to the homelessness crisis, and Sprung is proud to provide an effective, scalable answer," said Phil Sprung, President of Sprung Structures. "Our rapid-build technology enables communities to deliver safe, high-quality housing quickly, efficiently, and affordably."

About Sprung Structures

Sprung Structures is a rapid-construction manufacturer of structures used in multiple industries, including military bases, schools, hospitals, sports arenas, fabrication plants, warehouses, soundstages and homeless navigation centers.

Sprung Structures is a division of the Sprung group of companies established in 1887.

Five generations of inventors in the Sprung family led to today's patented tension-membrane technology. Combined with Sprung's aluminum framed structures, this alternative construction offers the most advanced, sustainable and high-performance buildings in the world that can be designed quickly, allowing clients to render their facilities fully operational in a much shorter time frame than conventional methods.

SOURCE Sprung Structures