Shelter for homeless veterans to close. Will they get the help they need elsewhere?
An emergency shelter that offers transitional housing for unhoused veterans in Tacoma is planning to close its doors this summer, and staff are worried the vets might not get the support they need at other shelters.
The camp that offered beds to veterans suffering from combat-related PTSD and other mental health afflictions is sending folks to shelters and transitional housing across the region.
“This closing is going to hurt homeless veterans,” FOB Hope’s executive director Tammy Creley told The News Tribune.
Forward Operating Base (FOB) Hope is run by and for veterans. Their camp at Pacific Avenue and South 82nd Street consists of roughly 25 ice fishing tents lined up together with pop-up tents to cover areas used to eat and relax. According to Creley, it housed veterans as young as 22 and as old as 78.
FOB Hope is set up to look and feel like a forward operating base the residents would have used while serving in the military. While it has served veterans in need for two years, its contract with the City of Tacoma is set to expire at the end of July. The gravel lot where it stands will be reclaimed by Tacoma Public Utilities.
City of Tacoma spokesperson Maria Lee said the closure of FOB Hope is consistent with the city’s homelessness strategy, which reduces the number of funded units over time in “conjunction with expanding housing capacity and increasing Permanent Supportive Housing availability.”
“This location has been time-limited from the outset in terms of use of property, but is also ideal for standdown as we believe the needs of the unique population served in this location can be addressed effectively by other resources in the community,” Lee wrote in an email to The News Tribune.
According to Lee, veteran status is not a barrier to entry to any shelters in Tacoma, and people with veteran status are welcome to access any shelter as long as they meet the other requirements of any location. Veterans are also able to be specifically served by the Orting Veterans Village and through Supportive Services for Veteran Families programming through Catholic Community Services.
“The City is meeting weekly with the staff at FOB Hope to ensure every resident transitions successfully,” she said.
According to Pierce County, 8% of the thousands of people living in shelters and on the streets were veterans in 2023 and 2024.
FOB Hope case worker Nikkie Niquette said that the county’s Point In Time count likely undercounts the number of homeless veterans.
When asked why such a proportion of the homeless population is veterans, Niquette said “distrust.”
Niquette described a distrust of the government that some vets feel has failed to take care of them and let them know the resources available to them. Many veterans feel unappreciated by the citizenry they fought for, Niquette added.
Niquette used the example of Vietnam veterans who returned to the states and were met with disdain from people who resented the military’s involvement in a controversial war.
“They have blocked themselves out of society,” Niquette said. “I don’t know many veterans that haven’t had trouble adjusting … even I do sometimes.”
Creley said the shelter is uniquely positioned to serve homeless veterans because of the training and experience of the staff, many of whom have served in the military, including Niquette.
Creley said that many of the homeless veterans that stay at FOB Hope are combat veterans suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues related to their service.
Creley said that PTSD can cause veterans to get defensive and aggressive, sometimes leading to outbursts. They are behaviors that other shelters often do not tolerate, but at FOB Hope the staff is experienced and trained in how to help folks cope and work through their PTSD episodes.
“We know what it is and how to react,” Niquette said staff can recognize the symptoms before a PTSD episode and can help de-escalate before they happen.
FOB Hope also allows veterans to bring their pets, and couples can stay at the shelter — two things that other shelters often do not allow.
“FOB Hope brings everybody in,” said Niquette. “And we won’t give up on them.”
Much of the work they do involves relationship building. Niquette said many veterans feel lonely while returning to civilian life after having constant camaraderie overseas. They return with trauma, guilt and emotions. They self-medicate with drugs to dull the trauma they carry with them after serving their country, according to Niquette.
“They have their own set of barriers,” Creley told The News Tribune. “No veteran should be homeless in the country they served.”
Creley said staff help veterans navigate the healthcare and housing resources available to them through Veterans Affairs (VA) - as many of them don’t even know they are eligible for certain benefits and programs.
Ahead of the closure of FOB Hope, Creley promised that no veteran living there would be put back on to the streets. Of the roughly 25 tents that housed veterans, 14 remained occupied as of May 29, with many moved to a similar veterans village in Orting and to Aspen Court, a transitional housing facility in Tacoma.
Staff at FOB Hope is worried they will not receive the same specialized support they received at FOB Hope.
Creley does not blame the city for the closure of FOB Hopes. Their two-year contract with the city for $852,994 has expired, and it is understood that the city has some budgeting shortfalls. Although the shelter will close, Creley is hoping to keep all the staff employed as outreach specialists. They are currently applying for outreach grants with the city, Pierce County and King County to address the needs of homeless veterans in the region.
This story was originally published June 3, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
