Tacoma will soon clear homeless encampments along Yakima Avenue. Where will people go?

According to city of Tacoma officials, people living in several large encampments along Yakima Avenue will soon be cleared. As The News Tribune has reported, some at South 8th Street and Yakima Avenue were given two weeks to find an alternative. Three blocks away, at South 11th and Yakima, others were given just 72 hours to make plans and find new homes.

By Sept. 21, everyone must be gone.

A two week notice is surely better than three days, but no one can say for certain where people will go. A few may find space in an existing emergency shelter if they fit the eligibility and if there is an open bed. Some may have help from community members who will offer transportation and storage. And some, of course, will join other encampments across the city or county.

What we know for certain is that none of them will be in Tacoma’s anticipated new temporary low-barrier emergency shelter, because it won’t be open on time.

At the Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness, we’re all working on it. We all want the people living in tents along Yakima Avenue — and every other encampment, car and RV — to be able to live somewhere safe. The problem is that there is no place for them to go. That’s the underlying crisis Tacoma and Pierce County have yet to fully address.

These are facts: Service industry jobs don’t pay a living wage; local rents have skyrocketed; engaging with the homelessness response system requires patience and communication; and coming out of homelessness to housing can take months and even years.

Here’s another fact: The number of tents in the encampments the city plans to clear along Yakima Avenue is growing. With the sweep coming, there are probably 30 people who need an immediate, safe place to live — perhaps more.

Maybe we’re asking the wrong questions about our unsheltered neighbors along Yakima Avenue. And if we are asking the wrong questions, it’s dangerous, because we won’t have answers that lead us to safe homes for everyone in this, our beloved community.

Maybe it isn’t “Why won’t they move?” or “Why doesn’t the City make them move?” or “Why doesn’t the City do something about them?” Is it really all that helpful to ask “Exactly how many of them are there?” or “Why don’t they pick up their garbage?” or “Why don’t they just get a job?”

Maybe the real issue isn’t “them,” but us: we who are housed. Maybe this is just one more moment of conscience for those of us who wake up warm when the nights are cool; we who remain dry in the rain. We with our homes, our jobs, our retirements, our dreams and plans and our security. We who travel for pleasure. We with phones and chargers and electricity and bathrooms and water and heat. We with social media and email and even websites. We who vote.

Maybe the real question is this:

What will we do to provide safe places for the people living in these tents who have only a few more days to find a new home?

Maureen Howard is a senior policy analyst with the Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness. She can be reached at mhoward@pchomeless.org.

This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Tacoma will soon clear homeless encampments along Yakima Avenue. Where will people go?."