Tacoma homeless shelters deserve credit — and more help — for coronavirus response
Credit where credit’s due.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Tacoma homeless shelters — and those who lead them — have jumped into action.
With a desperate and immediate need to create social distancing — in a setting where it can be virtually impossible — area shelters have gotten creative, and they’ve taken charge.
In a time of crisis, it’s been inspiring to watch homeless service providers rise to the occasion.
For the city and county, however, it should also serve as a reminder and a reality check
As The Seattle Times’ Sydney Brownstone reported, the week of March 23 Seattle and King County announced plans to open six new sites to help alleviate crowding at shelters. King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan issued a lengthy, joint statement explaining the decision and its necessity.
Meanwhile, in Pierce County, Tacoma homeless shelters have largely been left to figure out how to implement social distancing guidelines on their own, relying on hastily struck deals, handshakes and crossed fingers. Much of this work has occurred in the background, carried out by shelter officials cobbling together a plan in a time of crisis.
Two counties, two different responses.
So how have things looked in our neck of the woods?
At Nativity House, Catholic Community Services has indefinitely booked rooms at a downtown hotel for nearly 60 older, vulnerable shelter users. The nonprofit also cut back its day center services after a man staying at the shelter tested positive for COVID-19.
To date, there have been four positive COVID-19 cases connected to Nativity House.
Together, the two moves have created much needed space at Nativity House’s emergency overnight shelter — which typically provides a place to sleep for 167 people every night.
According to director Denny Hunthausen, it has allowed Nativity House to “achieve separation” in the typically packed shelter, which is no small feat.
Hunthausen says the hotel rooms likely will cost Catholic Community Services hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time the dust settles.
It’s money he hopes will one day be recouped from emergency COVID-19 funding, but he’s not sure.
At Tacoma Rescue Mission, on the other hand, it took a local high school to step up and help protect homeless shelter users.
Last week, the Rescue Mission announced a partnership with Bellarmine Prep that will allow for 50 vulnerable shelter users to be transported to the school’s gym every night.
The idea is the same: to create much needed space for social distancing.
Using Bellarmine’s gym, according to Rescue Mission spokesperson Amelia Kaiser, will reduce the number of individuals staying at the main shelter to roughly 140.
The deal is “temporary,” according to the Rescue Mission and the high school.
“We are grateful to have Bellarmine step forward to help care for community members in need during this uncertain time, by helping us improve social distancing in our men’s shelter,” said Tacoma Rescue Mission executive director Duke Paulson.
Two counties, two different responses.
In fairness, Pierce County’s leaders haven’t been completely absent on the matter.
The County Council allocated $250,000 in hopes of keeping people housed nearly two weeks ago, and another $250,000 for food banks.
At the same time, the county’s Human Services Homeless Team has been working with Tacoma-Pierce County Department of Health to provide outreach and help protect the unsheltered from the spread of COVID-19.
It’s equally true that our neighbors to the north are far more equipped to react and quickly devote resources, thanks to more tax money and bigger staff.
Still, in the fog of a pandemic, it can be all too easy to let the needs of those with the least fall by the wayside, and there’s clearly a risk of that happening n Pierce County.
Already, the coronavirus crisis has illuminated existing gaps and failings in our county’s cobbled-together social safety net, and without a deliberate, coordinated effort to look out for Pierce County’s homeless population, the situation for many will likely get much worse.
Thankfully, our local shelters and members of this community have stepped up during this crisis, and I have little doubt they’ll continue to push forward.
They deserve our appreciation, and our support.
But the questions for Tacoma and Pierce County leaders are simple:
Could it have been easier for them, or faster?
What more needs to be done?
“We are committed to the proposition that no one will be left behind. Not the old, not the sick, not those who are living in homelessness,” Constantine said last week. “We are all in this together, and we have to get each other through it.”
There’s no question about it, wherever you live.
This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 6:30 AM.
