Pierce County at odds over how to allocate $2.5M in funding to combat homelessness
by Paul Rivera, KOMO News Reporter
Wed, July 24th 2024 at 8:01 PM
Updated Thu, July 25th 2024 at 12:46 PM
PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Pierce County wants to use federal money to help those who are experiencing homelessness, but there’s a problem: they can’t agree on how to use it.
$2.5 million is left from the county’s portion of American Rescue Plan Act money. Those funds were given by the federal government to local governments to help them during the pandemic.
The money must be returned to the federal government by the end of 2024 if County Executive Bruce Dammeier does not sign off on what to use it for. This is also contingent on a service provider accepting a contract to provide services with the money.
Dammeier and Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello are at odds about how to use the money to help the homeless.
Mello wants the money to go to immediate shelter needs.
“We have in our last homelessness census, over 2,600 people living on the streets of Pierce County. We are short a thousand shelter beds. Year over year, we have a rise in homelessness, according to our homelessness census. A 23% rise in homelessness. We are desperate to get people off the street, to get them into shelter.” Mello said.
An example of this would be a previously established encampment supported by the Tacoma Rescue Mission along Pacific Avenue.
Dammeier, however, disagrees with the proposal.
“The original proposal was this ‘tent city thing,’ which is not allowed by code, and the effort to change the code hasn’t worked. My approach is to pivot towards stable housing and some of our existing homelessness programs that have been proven effective,” said Dammeier.
Dammeier spoke out against the other proposal, saying it is “something that has been proven in other communities to not be successful. We need to stick with things that will deliver results and particularly more stable housing.”
Mello disagrees. “Housing takes years to build. We have a crisis today,” he said. “As I’m told, the executive does not believe that homelessness is a crisis or an emergency. As I’m told, what the executive has said is that we do not need more shelter beds. I think he’s very wrong about that.”
“We don’t need to be replicating failed programs,” Dammeier said in his interview. “We need to be finding things that deliver results. In 2023, 73% of the shelter capacity that we had was used. We’re adding in 2025, we’re already funded and adding 200 additional beds. That’s not the focus. Our professional human services team and the comprehensive plan to end homelessness say we need more stable housing. That’s my focus.”
Dammeier said the money could immediately go to a planned project in Spanaway called ‘The Pierce County Village.’ However, this tiny home village has also met strong opposition from nearby residents. Among concerns of increased crime and drug use coming to the area, the most recent pushback from those living nearby involved endangered squirrels.
While both sides settle their differences, the issues are not going away.
“Solutions are hard to come by when it’s the homeless,” Laurie, who works in Parkland, said. “For me, temporary housing would be great, but it has to be to where they want to go to temporary housing, and that’s the issue. I think that is foremost. You have to have somebody willing to take them and somebody willing to go. The drug issue doesn’t help either, so mental instability and drug issues are big problems here.”
Laurie believes more of a focus on drug treatment and mental health treatment should come first before someone is placed in any sort of housing.
As time runs out on the money, is there a way to find a middle ground?
“There is no chance we’re going to lose the money. Let’s be clear about that,” Dammeier said. “There are a variety of ways that we can find a solution to get this done, and I believe we will. But ‘tent cities’ is not the right approach.”
There is no timetable yet on when an agreement will be reached, but the county council is working on an ordinance that would address the zoning constraints and ‘eliminate regulatory barriers’ for temporary housing communities. The final action is scheduled for August 20th.
If the money’s use is finalized, Pierce County has until the end of 2026 to spend it.