County to spend millions more on homelessness projects, programs for seniors in ’24-25
Affordable housing and homelessness services will be a cornerstone of Pierce County’s Human Services budget in the next biennium.
If the current 2024-2025 budget proposal passes, Pierce County likely will have invested in a new enhanced homeless shelter with medical respite care, another hotel transformed into emergency housing, a tiny home village for those who are chronically homeless and a number of new affordable housing developments.
The Health and Human Services budget also calls for greatly expanding services for the county’s aging population. By 2030, a quarter of Pierce County’s population will be over the age of 60, director Heather Moss said in a presentation to the Pierce County Council earlier this month.
In all, 45% of the proposed 2024-2025 Human Services budget is allocated to address affordable housing and homelessness, said Amy Richardson, a grant accountant with Pierce County Human Services. Nearly 99% of the proposed Human Services 2024-2025 biennial budget’s use of American Rescue Plan Act dollars, about $51.7 million in total, will be allocated for housing and homelessness related services, Richardson said.
In its entirety, the preliminary 2024-2025 county budget is $3.2 billion, a 1.2% increase, or $38.5 million, over the 2022-2023 budget. Overall, the Health and Human Services budget is expected to be 28.2%, or $31.6 million, higher than the 2022-2023 budget.
Other budget priorities identified by Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier have been public safety, transportation and congestion relief, economic development, and graffiti and litter removal. A final budget is expected to be approved by the Pierce County Council on Nov. 21.
More funding for staff, affordable housing services
In a presentation to the Pierce County Council on Oct. 4, Moss said this biennium’s human services budget is the “largest” and “the most ambitious” one in the four years she’s been with the department.
“At the same time, it’s affordable and sustainable given our funding sources,” she said.
Pierce County Human Services budget draws from multiple funding sources, including local taxes and fees, and state or federal grants, Moss said. Less than half a percent will come from the general fund budget, she said. The general fund is supported by taxes, fines and permit revenue and includes general government expenditures, including parks and recreation, the Sheriff’s Department, court operations and corrections.
Since the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Tax was implemented this year (which created a sales-and-use tax of 0.1% to fund housing and related services), the budget for housing and related services in 2024-2025 is 205% higher than it was in 2022-2023, according to the preliminary budget. Funding is up $24.6 million to total about $36.6 million for the next biennium.
Among the priorities identified in Moss’s Oct. 4 presentation are $1.8 million for staffing in affordable housing and eviction-related services and about $479,000 for staffing in community development and veteran outreach.
Human Services asked the council to add or continue about 10 positions in the Community Services department, including about 4.5 social service program specialists, 1.5 grant accountants, three program specialists and an office assistant. The department also asked to add or continue about six positions in the Community Action Programs division, in addition to continuing or adding two more program specialists to support behavioral health and opioid settlement work.
Federal dollars to fund bulk of shelter projects
According to Moss, about $51.68 million in ARPA money is proposed to be carried over in the 2024-2025 biennium. ARPA dollars must be allocated by Dec. 31, 2024 and spent by Dec. 31, 2026, according to department staff.
The spending priorities for those ARPA dollars include about $48 million for emergency shelter construction and services and affordable-housing developments.
That includes $22.55 million held in reserve for the controversial Pierce County Village project to build a permanent tiny home village for chronically homeless people in Spanaway — if Tacoma Rescue Mission can meet fundraising goals and acquire the necessary permits.
It also includes $13.7 million for previously awarded affordable-housing projects that are still underway or in active construction, and $5 million that has been awarded to the Low Income Housing Institute to purchase a hotel to convert into temporary emergency housing, similar to Aspen Court, Moss said.
LIHI also has been awarded $3.5 million to build an enhanced shelter with medical respite services, which doesn’t currently exist in Pierce County, Moss said. The idea is that the shelter would be better suited to address the complex medical needs many people experiencing homelessness have, as well as provide a place for people who are unhoused to recover from surgery, she said. It will also be wheelchair accessible. LIHI has a site selected and is raising money to purchase and renovate it, Moss said.
Also in the budget is $750,000 for LIHI to build another tiny-home village (location is to be determined) and $150,000 for a contract extension for a safe parking shelter area with Homeward Bound.
There will be an additional $2 million proposed for homelessness prevention, to assist people who are on the verge of homelessness, according to Moss.
“[With U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] dollars for our programs for homelessness, you have to be literally homeless to qualify for services, and that means that you are sleeping in a temporary place that’s not suitable for habitation. So that could be you’re sleeping in a car, or you’re sleeping on the streets, or you’re sleeping in a shelter. That’s sort of the more narrow definition of homelessness,” Moss said. “What we’re trying to do is bridge that gap between folks who are on the verge of being homeless or who are more generally known to be homeless, but don’t meet that more narrow definition.”
Aging and disability services also see increase in funding
With significantly more Pierce County residents reaching the age of 60, services targeted toward the long-term support needs of older and disabled adults will become more important in the future, Moss said in her presentation to the council Oct. 4. The county’s Aging and Disability Resources include case management, care coordination, in-home care, support services for family caregivers, and information assistance, according to the preliminary budget.
About 21% of the county population is older than the age 60, and by 2030 about 25% of the county’s population will be over 60, Moss said. Of those over the age of 60, 17% report as being non-white, which means the county needs to provide services that address representative staffing and language barriers, she said.
To accommodate increased caseloads in the Aging and Disability Resources and Development Disabilities service programs, the proposed budget reflects an increase of about 16.5 full time staff, including five case managers, two case manager specialists, two case manager supervisors, a division manager, a grant accounting assistant, a nurse case manager, about two social service program specialists and two social service supervisors, according to the preliminary budget.
There are currently 155 Aging and Disability Resources staff, including 10 staff members of the Developmental Disabilities team. One hundred thirty of those staff members work directly with clients, said Kari Moore, the Human Services Public Information Specialist.
Moss said the department is also proposing creating an eighth division to Pierce County Human Services that makes developmental disabilities work its own division.
More funding for Boys and Girls Clubs, other prevention services
Health and Human Services are proposing a 3.7% increase, or $193,000, to the prevention services fund, which supports a variety of community services, including after school youth programs, family support, assistance for homeless youth and domestic violence services. That funding comes from the one tenth of one percent sales and use tax collected in unincorporated Pierce County for criminal justice purposes.
Among the programs receiving more funding this year are the Boys & Girls Club (50% more than the last biennium to total $37,500), Buckley Youth Activities (101.7% more, to total $54,470) and Pierce Outdoor LIFE (211% more, to total $59,080).
The proposed budget also accounts for $38,000 more invested in the Veterans Relief Fund, with about one additional full time staff member to support proactive outreach and engagement with underserved veterans.
This story was originally published October 15, 2023 at 7:05 AM.
