Tacoma could lose 379 homeless-shelter beds in 2025 unless state comes through with cash
The City of Tacoma is preparing to lose more than 350 homeless shelter beds in 2025 due to a funding deficit. City officials say the only hope to keep some of the beds is to receive money from the state Legislature.
Caleb Carbone is the homeless strategy, systems and services manager with the City of Tacoma’s Neighborhood and Community Services Department.
On Dec. 10, Carbone briefed the City Council on the anticipated loss of a collective 379 beds at seven different homeless shelters.
The shelters are:
Bethlehem Baptist Church - 40 beds set to be lost in June 2025
Altheimer Memorial Church - 32 beds set to be lost in June 2025
Shiloh Baptist Church - 40 beds set to be lost in March 2025
Tacoma Emergency Micro-Shelter Site No. 3 - 60 beds set to be lost in June 2025
Holy Rosary Safe Parking - 40 units set to be lost in June 2025
Forging Path Community - 135 beds set to be lost in June 2025
Freedom Project - 32 beds set to be lost in June 2025
In an interview with The News Tribune, Carbone said the city’s reduction of the shelters is not a surprise.
When Tacoma’s homelessness strategy was drafted in 2022, it was anticipated that there would be a funding gap of roughly $12 million to maintain the shelters at the end of 2024. Part of the city’s plan included helping to increase the inventory of permanent affordable-housing units to provide housing opportunities for those living in shelters.
“The challenge has been that the demand for temporary shelter beds has exceeded the initial expectations,” Tacoma’s deputy city manager Sonja Hallum told The News Tribune in an interview. “So the stand down is not happening at the pace that the city had originally expected and hoped would occur.”
Hallum said the nearly 400 beds set to disappear in 2025 represents a “significant” portion of the city’s roughly 900 shelter beds. With Tacoma hosting what Hallum said was about 80% of Pierce County’s shelter capacity, she said the loss of shelter would have county-wide implications.
“So the impact isn’t just for the city, it’s for the entire region,” she told The News Tribune. “We are greatly concerned about the ability to provide for this very vulnerable population.”
Carbone said that during the pandemic, one-time funding opportunities, like those through the American Rescue Plan Act as well as resources from the state, were used to support the operation of the shelters. During that time the city significantly increased its homeless-shelter capacity at a time when it was needed.
Now, city officials say, the upcoming legislative session will be the last opportunity to keep the just over 300 shelter beds in operation. Regardless of state funding, the city says shelter at Altheimer Memorial Church and Shiloh Baptist Church is set to close — accounting for about 72 beds to be lost.
On Dec. 10, Carbone told the City Council that the city found $3 million to maintain most of the shelters through the first half of 2025, giving the city an opportunity to request funding from the Legislature.
He told The News Tribune that the shelters would require a collective $6 million annually to stay operating.
“I want to stress that this is a very important priority for the council and for the city and the city manager,” Hallum told The News Tribune. “We will be using every means possible to try to secure state funding to keep these shelters open.”
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
CORRECTION: Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify that regardless of state funding, Altheimer Memorial Church and Shiloh Baptist Church is set to close — accounting for about 72 beds to be lost.
