Alan Evans, the executive director of Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers, announced the pending purchase of buildings on S. Roosevelt Drive that will serve as an overnight homeless shelter and a 24/7 navigation center.

One of the buildings is already being used as a seasonal emergency shelter. The expansion could increase capacity from 10 to 40 beds.

“We will be open for drop-in 24 hours and we’ll have emergency shelter there as well,” Evans said.

A single-level building on S. Roosevelt has been used off and on as a shelter and recovery center since early 2002, when Evans launched an eight-bed shelter. It operated for several years as Clatsop County’s only warming center before closing from a lack of funding in 2013.

Interest in its use was revived last year as the city sought to provide emergency beds for people without shelter.

Seaside’s push to address homelessness grew amid reports of more people living in cars, on the streets and in the woods.

Last year Helping Hands reopened the building for emergency overnight stays in partnership with Clatsop Community Action.

Capacity will more than double with the installation of a new sprinkler system in an unused portion of the building.

A neighboring 4 1/2-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home to the north sits on a quarter-acre and was built in 1928. Both buildings are zoned for commercial use.

Plans include day areas, laundry rooms, Americans with Disabilities Act accessible showers and kitchenettes for overnight stays.

An official opening is planned in January, Evans said.