Pierce County Council announcement.
The Pierce County Council once again signaled its commitment to address the needs of the county’s most vulnerable residents with adoption of a Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness that will serve as the roadmap for how to tackle the multifaceted issue of homelessness in the region.
Immediate next steps include establishing a regional office on homelessness to create a unified response and expending $9 million to execute short-term strategies outlined in the plan. That includes creating a pilot bus pass program and funding case management services for 1,000 people transitioning out of homelessness. Also on the short list of immediate action is the establishment of a shelter to provide temporary housing and wraparound services to transition people into permanent housing. Its location is not yet determined, but it will be in an underserved unincorporated area.
“The county has worked with community partners in the past to help address the needs of our homeless population, but we’ve never had a true plan to end homelessness,” said Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young. “This is a unified approach created by people with lived experience, experts in the field, and service partners dedicated to finding homes for everyone.”
Through legislative action in 2021 Council requested the plan’s development, citing the need for a comprehensive document to outline short- and long-term goals to address the complex needs and factors that contribute to people being homeless.
The adopted plan designs a system to end homelessness and achieve “functional zero,” or a state where any person starting a new homeless experience has immediate access to shelter and a permanent housing intervention.
Six goals outlined in the plan are:
- Create a unified homeless response system.
- Ensure interventions are effective for all populations.
- Prevent homelessness.
- Ensure adjacent systems address needs of people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
- Meet immediate needs of people experiencing homelessness.
- Expand the permanent housing system to meet need.
“Council took bold steps at the end of 2021 when it adopted the biennial budget that included significant allocations aimed at increasing affordable housing options and reducing homelessness,” Young said. “We dedicated $253 million to fund housing and homelessness programs, including a $19.9 million set aside for affordable housing development in the county and $22.3 million for development of a future micro-home village for supportive housing.”
Council also used $65.6 million in one-time monies from the American Rescue Plan Act to fund community response and resilience programs with amounts explicitly dedicated to homeless resources like increased shelter space and emergency shelters, and foreclosure prevention counseling.
“We look forward to working with our community partners and moving forward in creating safe homes for our unhoused residents,” said Heather Moss, director of Human Services.
In addition to establishing the regional office on homelessness, the plan directs the Human Services Department to convene a plan implementation advisory board, requires a semi-annual report back to Council with updates on how the plan’s implementation is going, integration of the plan into existing county plans that address homelessness, revision of homeless prevention services eligibility by June 30, 2022, and development of a strategic funding plan by Oct. 31, 2022.
Yes, please, let us throw money at this problem. I’m absolutely positive it’s going to work this time. There’s no possible way that my paying $1100 in auto licensing while another person chooses to drive a window less 90s minivan on 4 bald tires, last licensed in 2018, isn’t gonna work this time! Please! Punish us more! May I have another, sir?
According to Pierce County’s own figures there are about 3300 homeless in the County as of 2021 (https://www.piercecountywa.gov/2021plansurvey). According to the article there is a total of about $318,609,000 in taxes dedicated to “affordable housing”, “supportable housing” and “homelessness efforts”. It is not clear how much of nearly a third of a BILLION DOLLARS is going to be spent on what but simple math would tell you that that amount of money divided amongst 3300 homeless comes to about $96,548 per person. How much of this total is going to administration, overhead, construction costs and how much will actually go to the welfare of individuals? Is this program primarily to benefit the homeless or to primarily support the government employees and bureaucrats who administer it? How many homeless does it plan to hire as employees and administrators? At almost $100K a pop in direct aid you could eliminate the homeless problem over night……….until word got out and a migration of homeless descended on Pierce County for such benefits.
I’d suggest that the Pierce County Executive and Council watch the following documentary on homelessness. Exchanging a canvas roof for one of shingles does nothing for the person living under either……………except perhaps for the public that no longer has to see them.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=notif&v=1631817230503735¬if_id=1647619368778350¬if_t=live_video
So who is the outside auditor for this massive program?
That would be the best money spent on it.
A recovered homeless addict once told me, “Giving an addict a free house is like taking your 2 year old into the woods and leaving them there, because that’s what they told you they wanted”.
Don’t forget the floor drains in building design.