In March 2022, Pierce County took a significant step in the fight against homelessness by officially adopting a Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness (CPEH). This plan, comprised of six crucial goals, prioritizes the formation of a Unified Regional Approach, or URA.
The CPEH defines a URA as a coordinating system with a shared vision and operating structure that allows for a successful regional response to homelessness.
“There’s a lot of trepidation from the community when they hear us talk about the creation of a URA because it sounds a lot like the creation of another agency to try and navigate,” said Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello (District 4). “It isn’t that though. Our approach to a URA acknowledges that the systems and the work are already happening, and the creation of another agency will most likely only complicate that work. We’re proposing a coordinating system and shared approach that gives us a common operating picture to get people to the service they need when they need it, in a seamless way.”
The Pierce County Council took a major step in establishing a URA on Friday, April 12, by bringing together key stakeholders from across the County for an inaugural meeting to discuss the URA and holistically address the homelessness epidemic affecting people across the region. Participants included:
- City of Auburn
- City of Bonney Lake
- City of DuPont
- City of Edgewood
- City of Fife
- City of Fircrest
- City of Gig Harbor
- City of Lakewood
- Pierce County
- City of Orting
- City of Puyallup
- Town of Steilacoom
- City of Tacoma
The Cities of Milton, Sumner, University Place, and the Towns of Carbonado and Wilkeson were not able to make it, but those jurisdictions did provide comments for discussion and consideration.
Councilmember Jani Hitchen (District 6), who chairs the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee, convened the meeting to outline the scope and objectives of a prospective URA.
“This initial meeting marks a crucial step towards establishing a framework for a Unified Regional Approach,” said Hitchen. “Through our collaborative efforts and strategic approach, I am confident that we can find lasting solutions to our homelessness crisis and truly help stabilize people and families struggling to fulfill their most basic needs. A URA provides us with a structure to these complex issues.”
To address the core objectives of the URA, stakeholders were divided into groups to answer three questions:
- What is your community already doing to serve the unhoused?
- What gaps is your community experiencing in serving the unhoused?
- What would help support your community’s efforts?
Individual groups reported the key themes of their discussion, helping to identify areas of overlap and potential points of friction. One consistent theme was the need for a unified case management system so more coordination, data sharing, and specialization in different response approaches could be achieved. This data-sharing vision is difficult, however, because of the myriad of systems that converge on the homelessness crisis. The mental health system, domestic violence services, substance abuse recovery treatment, the medical system, and the criminal justice system all deal with people experiencing homelessness on a regular basis, and the services and support someone receives can vary drastically depending on the system they enter.
To overcome that challenge, one jurisdiction shared that it has had great success in direct outreach and building rapport with those experiencing homelessness. However, it noted that this is a long-term investment and requires “a whole city approach.”
There wasn’t a clear consensus on the scope of the problem from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, however. Some reported they don’t deal with homelessness on a continual basis, and others shared that homelessness is at crisis levels in their jurisdictions.
“Today was a good way for a lot of jurisdictions to share the good things being done,” said Michael Brandstetter, City of Lakewood Councilmember. “Lakewood has been more focused on preventing homelessness from occurring in the first place through things like rent assistance and home improvement. The people we successfully prevent from slipping into homelessness don’t get tracked in that system, so it’s hard to say the impact that has. We know it works in keeping people housed, though. From this meeting, I want to see [the Pierce County region] move beyond planning and into action.”
Hitchen said the next steps are to get the community involved through listening sessions or a similar discussion format to gather feedback from residents and those who have had to navigate homelessness. The County also plans to hire a consultant to help manage the development and implementation of a URA with stakeholders and partners.
“Our goal is to make homelessness rare, short in duration, and a one-time experience,” said Hitchen. “When we talk about ending homelessness, that’s what we mean.”
Let’s hope that Pierce County has the wisdom NOT to follow Tacoma’s lead with the recently passed Measure 1 which has several onerous provisions for landlords. Indeed it will do quite the opposite of its stated goal:
“…..the purpose of protecting families and tenants and reducing homelessness.”
Apparently our politicians haven’t learned that “homelessness” isn’t about a roof over your head but rather what’s in your head.
Measure 1 requires landlords to “…offer relocation assistance (up to 3 months rent) when the increase is 5% or more; create a defense against certain student/school year evictions, evictions between November 1 and April 1.”
The unintended results are:
1. Tenants have stopped paying rent between November 1 and April 1 as though a “rent holiday”.
2. “Special case” tenants are parents with children and school district employees (don’t they get paid?) who avoid eviction during “cold weather”. What makes them so “special”? Do we now have yet another “protected class”? Is that even Constitutional?
3. Limits on pet (25% of month’s rent) and security deposits (not to exceed 1 month’s rent) are not covering tenant caused damage beyond “fair wear and tear.” The result will be NO PETS ALLOWED!
4. The $10.00 a month late fee is no incentive for tenants to pay rent on time.
5. The courts are now flooded with 6 months of delayed eviction proceedings which have created a backlog that may stretch for months.
6. Landlords are selling their Tacoma properties as the cost of ownership has become impossible to bear. With inflation running as high as 9% a 5% rent increase represents a cumulative annual loss. There are no such 5% limits on utilities, real estate taxes or contractor repair, maintenance, cleaning services or appliance costs.
7. Prospective landlords will be deterred from considering rental purchases in Tacoma further limiting supply. There are plenty of options outside Tacoma and Washington State for real estate investment.
8. Upon vacancy you can expect rent to explode for subsequent tenants as landlords attempt to catch up with inflation.
9. Progressives in the Washington legislature tried to outdo themselves with a similar bill which attempted to institute rent control (7% cap on rents) that was narrowly defeated. Expect to see it resurrected in the next session. If that happens there will be a whole scale divestment in Washington residential rentals.
Fascism may be defined as “ an economic system which has private ownership of the means of production controlled by government to achieve its political goals.”
It is clear that our elected officials are listening to people who have no concept of rental ownership and have no “skin” in the game.
Homelessness is the result of government policies despite spending millions ostensibly to deal with the problem. The solution is NOT to saddle landlords with the responsibility to fix that problem.
Fascism is here and now.
Mussolini would be proud!