Homeless shelter to move locations from Eastside to South Tacoma neighborhood
An emergency micro shelter for the homeless at East 60th Street and McKinley Avenue in Eastside Tacoma will soon have a new home.
The city plans to relocate the 50-unit shelter to a vacant, undeveloped property at South 69th Street and South Proctor Street, possibly adding 20 more units, said city spokesperson Megan Snow.
The city is beginning the site-planning process and expects the shelter to open in mid-September.
Staff recommended the property to City Council in March as a good place to house a shelter after a search of nearly 700 publicly-owned properties. The original idea was to explore a “low-barrier” shelter. Typically, “low-barrier” shelters provide people a bed despite sobriety status, criminal backgrounds or lack of identification.
Instead, the city will move the shelter at 60th and McKinley there. Right now, the shelter is on a temporary contract that requires it to move by December 2021. The Tacoma Housing Authority owns the land there and has plans to build on it. Prior to opening at 60th and McKinley in 2020, the shelter was located at 8th and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Hilltop.
The city is working with the Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to continue to operate the shelter when it transitions to the 69th and Proctor site.
The city estimated $700,000 to operate the shelter in 2021, according to its website, but that could increase with expansion of units.
The city is now conducting outreach to the nearby community, including at the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council meeting on June 16, the South Tacoma Neighborhood Business District meeting on June 17 and hosting a virtual listening session via Zoom from 6-7:30 p.m. on June 23. Mailers informing residents of the listening session were sent this week.
More information about the community listening session can be found at cityoftacoma.org/authorizedencampments.
