Plans in place to turn Tacoma hotel into homeless shelter, permanent affordable housing
A Tacoma hotel could become a place to shelter and house people experiencing homelessness.
The City of Tacoma plans to dedicate $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to assist with the purchase of Comfort Inn at 8620 S. Hosmer St.
Right now, the three-story property is under contract with a sale and purchase agreement for $8.8 million by the Seattle-based Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI).
“We hope to purchase the Inn to provide a much needed place before winter for people living unsheltered,” said Sharon Lee, executive director of LIHI. “LIHI already operates three tiny house villages in Tacoma and it is sad that many people must be turned away because of lack of room. Given the unmet need, we propose to operate the Inn initially with 24/7 staffing as an enhanced shelter and eventually convert it to affordable permanent housing.”
LIHI has experience using hotels as shelter and previously purchased two underutilized hotels in Seattle to provide housing.
“This is a good model to get shelter and housing in place quickly to keep vulnerable people safe and warm,” Lee said. “We propose to have case managers on-site to provide services. We will also have an on-site live-in supervisor.”
City staff presented the plans in a City Council meeting on Tuesday.
The Comfort Inn was built in 2000 and has 91 furnished rooms for use that include microwaves and refrigerators. The plan is to use the hotel as an 120-bed shelter through 2023, using six rooms for offices, case management and storage.
In 2024, the property would be converted to 80 units of permanent affordable housing, with 100 percent of the units directed to people at or below 50 percent of the area median income, which is about $36,350 for a family of two in Pierce County, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The conversion is estimated to cost $2.5 million.
The total acquisition of the hotel costs $10.5 million. Jeff Robinson, City of Tacoma Director of Community and Economic Development, said an environmental assessment of the building came back clean, and a condition study is underway.
The purchase and sale agreement with LIHI stipulates a closing date of no later than Oct. 29, 2021, and LIHI must show they have the dedicated funds to purchase the building.
The city’s $5 million contribution is likely to be matched by Pierce County and possibly the state. Pierce County’s contribution is in a formal ARPA funding request and will be reviewed later this week, Robinson said.
“It looks as though with our $5 million and matched by the county, the financing will be in place to be able to allow LIHI to purchase this property,” he said Tuesday.
The first two years of operating the shelter would be paid for through the city’s Emergency Solutions Grant, CARES funding and through Mental Health Substance Use Disorder funding. Operating costs total about $1.5 million per year. That will decrease to about $800,000 a year for affordable housing.
This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 2:09 PM.
