County emphasizes rapid rehousing as $17.6M doled out to homelessness service providers
The Pierce County Council has approved more than $17 million for a broad variety of outreach and housing projects expected to impact tens of thousands of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness over the next two years.
The resolution passed July 2 included a list of nearly 50 projects that received recommendations for funding from the Human Services department.
The investment is known as the Homeless Housing Program (HHP) and is the county’s largest regular funding opportunity for homeless services. According to county staff, the HHP is funded by the Housing and Homeless Fund through a variety of local, state and federal sources.
During the July 2 council meeting, Pierce County policy analyst LeighBeth Merrick said 56 homeless service applications were filed for funding through HHP and more than $32 million was requested.
Community service providers were evaluated by Human Services staff and given a score based on a rubric. The rubric evaluates project proposals based on factors that include budget management, staffing, organizational experience and connections to supports and services, among others.
Human Services supervisor Devon Isakson told the council’s Health and Human Services Committee on June 18 that geographic equity was also a factor used to prioritize certain proposals. For example, Key Peninsula Community Services was recommended an award of $175,000 for outreach services in its region. Isakson said the organization was the only new program recommended for funding in the outreach category because it serves a relatively under-resourced region.
While only half of the outreach programs that applied for funding were recommended to receive it, Isakson said all of the all three of the day shelter projects were recommended for funding. She said there was an identified need in the community for hygiene services offered by day shelters.
Isakson said three emergency-shelter applications were denied recommendations for funding because the shelters are not in operation, and it could have been six months until they were.
Eighteen emergency shelters applied for funding, and a little over $6.5 million was recommended.
One of the largest funding recommendations for emergency shelter was the City of Puyallup’s Hotel Pilot Project, which received nearly $700,000 to continue its operation. Isakson said the project was prioritized because Puyallup is recognized as a homelessness “resource desert.”
According to Isakson, rapid-rehousing projects were one of the highest priorities during their HHP recommendations as every project that applied was recommended for funding. More than $5 million was recommended for rapid-rehousing projects, which aim to get families that are unhoused or on the cusp of homelessness into stable housing with continued support.
In an email to The News Tribune, Human Services communications coordinator Jordan Chames said the department’s prioritization of rapid rehousing is consistent with the county’s Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness.
The need for more rapid rehousing capacity was identified as a factor causing a backlog in the county’s Coordinated Entry system — which works to direct those experiencing homelessness to available resources.
According to Chames, rapid rehousing is an intervention designed to help people exit homelessness and return to permanent housing. It connects people experiencing homelessness to services such as short-term rental assistance and community resources such as housing-search assistance, move-in costs, employment training and connection to mainstream services such as behavioral health programs.
“Rapid Re-Housing is a highly successful and cost-effective way to end homelessness for many households,” Chames wrote in an email to The News Tribune.
Rapid rehousing made up 34% of homelessness spending from 2015 to 2023 — more than what was spent on emergency shelter and permanent supportive housing in the same time frame.
The funders for the current HHP list, which will provide money through 2024 and 2025, are the Department of Commerce, Tacoma Housing Authority, Housing and Urban Development and the City of Fife, with the Department of Commerce contributing nearly $15.4 million.
On June 18, council member Ryan Mello estimated that more than $11 million was available in the Homeless Document Recording Fee Fund and urged representatives from Human Services to find ways to get the recording-fee dollars into the hands of more programs and services.
Before passing the resolution on July 2, the council passed an amendment requesting the County Executive to use different revenue sources such as the Housing and Homeless Fund, Homeless Document Recording Fee Fund, or the Housing and Related Services Fund to fund services that applied for funding but did not receive it.
Mello expressed concern over service providers that did not receive HHP funding despite receiving a high score from the rubric used by Human Services.
Mello said the need for these services to too great not to figure out ways to get them funding.
