The Unified Regional Approach and Legislative Update

Office of Jani Hitchen, Pierce County Council, District 6 announcement.

On Friday, April 18, elected representatives from Auburn, Fife, Gig Harbor, Lakewood, Orting, Puyallup, Tacoma, University Place, and the county met with Uncommon Bridges to adopt the Unified Regional Approach (URA) to Homelessness vision and guiding principles. This project started almost a year ago, and we continue to see new faces join the work. This is coalition building to really dig into how we can substantially reduce homelessness, so it is rare, brief, and non-reoccurring for our neighbors living houseless, in their cars, or couch surfing.

The organization will reach out to the community to create three separate sub-groups. These task-force groups are going to develop the “meat” of our URA by thinking about the answers to questions like the ones listed below:

• Operations: How will we approach this work? How is information shared? How do we contract? How do people enter the system, and how do we become more efficient and responsive?
• Governance: What will legal agreements look like between jurisdictions? How are decisions made? How will different groups, including Tribes, be part of the process, and how will we know we are being successful?
• Finance: How will we remain transparent to jurisdictions and constituents around services provided and funding used? Can we develop new and sustainable resources? Can we improve delivery of services to be less duplicative, and reach further? Can we speak with one voice regarding seeking funding, and what would that look like? How will we fund and contract with service providers?

This is a significant body of work, and the reason why the Council funded an outside entity to complete this task. It also stems from the fact that the council did not want to continue operating multiple systems regionally. The Council led a collaborative effort with our incorporated jurisdictions and landed on hiring outside help to help with outreach and checking where our blind spots may be. I am excited about this opportunity.

Legislation Related to Immigrants and Refugees

There are two pieces of legislation related to these communities that are before the Council next Tuesday. Others in Pierce County could be impacted. 

The first is Resolution No. R2025-139s. This resolution, a clarifying statement to the county, simply reaffirms our commitment to treating everyone with dignity, regardless of immigration status. It does not change any laws or spend any money. 

We want all in our county to feel safe enough that they will seek help if they are a victim, report a crime if they see one in progress, access medical help when ill or injured, and feel safe accessing public spaces. 

We have undocumented residents in Pierce County, some who have lived, worked, and paid taxes for decades. They have children, own or rent homes, work in and operate businesses and have continued to contribute to our county. They are being unjustly targeted and treated by our federal government with no recourse or due process, and that is why this statement is needed. In addition, we have community members that we actively welcomed into our county, like those that came to us from Ukraine and Afghanistan. 

In 2022, this Council appropriated funding and resources to support this population as they fled and were resettled into our state. We had our former Executive and others from the Council collecting coats, food, and other resources to support refugees who were fleeing war-torn grounds of their home countries. Now they are being threatened with removal. 

We stood with them when they arrived, and it felt good; we must continue ensuring they feel welcome and supported today. 

We are also adopting some policy language that has been problematic for our immigrant population, along with women and those within our LGBTQ+ community. That is the federal E-Verify program. This is a voluntary program that jurisdictions can use to double-check that someone is authorized to work. Ordinance O2025-510 repeals the county’s participation in this program, except when required by federal law. It is a duplicative service that can falsely flag a person because a name is misspelled. With the passage of this bill, the county will only be using this where we are required by law.

I am thankful to my colleagues and the Executive for proposing these pieces of legislation. We are all stronger together, and right now, we are seeing continued attacks that create fear and sow confusion and distrust. The point of the Keep Washington Working Act is truly to keep the thousands of immigrants, including those living without documentation, working and communities safe. So many of these community members are our neighbors. They attend your churches and schools and shop at your neighborhood stores. They are part of our community, and they are now living in fear. I hope these two pieces of legislation help clear that up.

Traffic Safety and Vision Zero

During the same Council meeting, we will also consider adopting our Vision Zero Action Plan. Resolution No. R2025-132 is pulling together over a year’s worth of research and outreach to determine how we can make our county roads safe for all users.

For decades, our projects for county roads have been predominantly about how to move cars and trucks from point A to point B the fastest. The part of the equation that was not considered in most cases was other users. This asks that we really think about design with safety in mind for all users: cars, trucks, and those walking or rolling. 

We all use our roads and should be able to have them designed with everyone’s safety in mind. I know in my home in District 6, we have very few sidewalks, low visibility, and people driving really fast. It takes intentional planning and forward thinking, and that is what this action plan is doing.