City comes to decision on using Norpoint community center as temporary homeless shelter
A temporary warming center for people experiencing homelessness will open at Norpoint Center in Northeast Tacoma despite backlash from some neighbors.
The 24-hour warming center will serve no more than 25 women and couples 18 years and older at the Center at Norpoint, 4818 Nassau Ave NE, city staff announced at a public listening session Thursday evening.
The center is expected to open sometime in the next 10 days and close by Feb. 28.
City staff have been working to identify additional space for people experiencing homelessness as shelters face reduced capacity of around 200 beds to comply with COVID-19 social distancing guidelines.
The Norpoint Center, operated by Metro Parks Tacoma, is currently closed due to the pandemic. It’s one of four community centers throughout the city.
In partnership with Metro Parks, the city opened a warming shelter at the Eastside Community Center in Tacoma in October with little fanfare. It has capacity for 55 men and women 24 hours a day. The Eastside warming center will close at the end of March. The STAR and People’s community centers are being used for other COVID-19 services, such as child care.
The city began looking at the Norpoint Center as a potential warming center at the end of December.
Upon hearing of the potential plans, some neighbors expressed concerns that the center is far away from other homeless services in Tacoma and worries about impacts to safety.
After listening to public feedback, city staff reduced the number of people who can stay at the Norpoint site from 55 to 25, Tacoma’s assistant director of neighborhood and community services Allyson Griffith said at Thursday’s meeting.
Griffith also said the Tacoma Police Department committed to making the Norpoint Center a “patrol priority” and Community Liaison Officers would be in regular communication with the operator to address any concerns.
Yvonne McCarty with the Northeast Neighborhood Council told The News Tribune on Friday via email:
“I appreciate the City hosting a meeting. They made many commitments to the community and we expect them to follow through. I am disappointed that they didn’t allow public comment in a ‘listening session’. This whirlwind of information and public outcry has further underlined the need for public engagement in decision making. A long-standing emergency declaration should not be used as a tool to sidestep the public process.”
Other residents spoke in support of the shelter, encouraging all areas of the city to take on their part to support unhoused people.
Gerrit Nyland, speaking on behalf of the Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness, supported opening the warming center during public comment at the Tacoma City Council meeting on Tuesday.
“Northeast Tacoma has the obligation, and now an opportunity, to serve their neighbors by hosting people experiencing homelessness near to where they became homeless,” Nyland said.
The cost of operating the shelter has not been released but will be paid for by federal COVID-19 response funds, according to the city. A contract is currently being drafted.
People interested in volunteer opportunities can contact Valeo Vocation at alanna@valeovocation.org. Valeo Vocation is a homeless service provider that will be operating the Norpoint warming center and also runs the Eastside warming center. Donations of clothing, hygiene products, blankets, coats, gloves, hats, are welcome.
City addresses questions, concerns
At Thursday night’s listening session, the city addressed a flood of questions from the public, including how the shelter will operate.
Those who use the warming center at Norpoint will be referred by service providers. No walk-ups are allowed. Transportation will be provided by service providers, and background checks will be required for each guest. No sex offenders will be permitted.
Guests at the warming center are provided three meals daily, sleeping mats, blankets, access to showers and face masks.
Employment services and referrals to additional services that address barriers to housing, such as mental health and substance use disorder treatment, will be available, according to the city.
While staying at the warming center, guests must agree to no drug use. While they can come and go during the day as they please, there is a 7 p.m. curfew with quiet hours at 9 p.m.
Guests can drive their vehicles to the center and park in the parking lot, but cannot sleep in their vehicle.
“The operator will work with Tacoma Police and Metro Parks Tacoma to ensure proper community use of the parking lot,” city staff said Thursday.
When the warming center closes at the end of February, city staff said, guests will be provided resources for other shelters and transportation to their next location.
Metro Parks director Marina Becker said at the listening session the facility will be cleaned thoroughly before reopening to the public and that Metro Parks is following Gov. Jay Inslee’s “Healthy Washington” recommendations for reopening.
“We anticipate that Phase 2 will come sometime in April, and reopening centers is in alignment with Phase 2,” Becker said.
Some residents asked why space in the Pierce County Jail or the Tacoma Dome couldn’t be used instead.
City staff said that the Tacoma Dome is currently undergoing renovations and its parking lot is being used for COVID-19 services, while the jail falls into Pierce County Council’s jurisdiction.
Some also wanted to know how the warming center at Eastside has fared.
Per Tacoma Police Department, Griffith reported that in 2019 compared to 2020, there was “not a significant increase in criminal activity.”
“There has been an increase in reports of unwanted or suspicious people, calls for medical aid and wellness or mental health checks,” she said. “Those are increases that we would expect when we’re dealing with a population that has some increased issues with mental health.”
Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Joe Meinecke told The News Tribune on Jan. 6 that since the Eastside warming center opened on Oct. 24 through Dec. 31, TFD responded to 25 incidents at the site, or about 2.5 times a week. When asked if that was more than usual, Meinecke said the data was too limited to draw any trend.
At the listening session, some people expressed frustration that they were not notified by the city earlier about the warming center.
Mayor Victoria Woodards said the warming center idea was not something the city “sprung” on the community.
“This is something that the moment... we knew it was a viable option, we reached out to leaders in the Northeast Tacoma neighborhood to let them know we were thinking about this,” Woodards said Thursday.
The city’s declaration of a public health emergency on homelessness in May 2017, in addition to declaration of a COVID-19 emergency last year, gives the city authority to continue to expedite contracting, permitting and budget processes.
In 2019, City Council extended its state of emergency until there is shelter availability for 95 percent of unsheltered individuals in Tacoma as noted in the annual Pierce County Point in Time Count for three consecutive years.
“The city has done an extensive look at the possible shelter locations, and one of our requirements is to have a willing property owner to be able to make their building available to us for shelter,” Griffith said. “In this case, Metro Parks was willing to be that partner.”
McCarty with the Northeast Neighborhood Council told City Council during public comment on Tuesday that it’s already been four years since the emergency was declared.
“There can’t be an emergency that allows you to go around the public engagement process … It can’t work that way. You need public accountability,” she said.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 1:54 PM.
