Pierce County’s homeless system wasn’t built for young people. What is the fix?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pierce County prevented 171 youth in ~100 days while expanding Coordinated Entry.
- County has 111 youth beds and reports a 94% rise in youth homelessness since 2019.
- HUD/YHDP funding supports rapid rehousing, transitional, supportive housing, outreach.
In a roughly 100-day period, Pierce County helped to prevent 171 youth and young adults out of homelessness as part of a new effort to improve the way its homelessness-response system serves young people.
As homelessness among youth and young adults continues to rise, the county is beginning to reform systems that previously were not meant for young people to address the growing demographic.
At the end of 2024, Pierce County was selected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to be a part of its 100-Day Challenge program.
The 100-day challenge is a national initiative through which HUD provides technical assistance to local governments through third-party consultants. The program is intended to inspire innovative solutions to youth homelessness through community collaboration and is designed to create a sense of urgency by putting a 100-day timeline on the planning process.
“What is really great about the 100-Day Challenge is it brings the community together in a full collaboration,” Human Services Program specialist Valeri Almony told The News Tribune in an interview. “You really look at where the gaps are, what is working, what is not working, trying something new and not being scared to fail.”
The challenge took place from September 2025 to January 2026, and during that time Pierce County’s goal was to prevent 113 youth and young adults from entering homelessness — a number that would represent a 20% decrease from a comparable time period, according to the county.
Emil Floresca, a social services program specialist with Pierce County’s Human Services Department, told The News Tribune Mecklenburg County in North Carolina and New York City also took part in the 100-day challenge.
Among the three jurisdictions, 225 youth and young adults were prevented from entering homelessness — meaning Pierce County accounted for all but 54 of the preventions.
“Just in Pierce County, we changed the system itself, and that’s how we were able to capture that,” Floresca told The News Tribune.
To achieve success, Floresca said, the county expanded preventions available for young people through the Coordinated Entry system. Coordinated Entry is the region’s “front door” to housing resources available to those experiencing homelessness. The News Tribune previously reported that thousands of people are waiting for services through the system, which is overburdened by a limited number of case managers and available services.
Carlos Garcia is director of Youth and Young Adults Services for Tacoma Community House’s REACH Center. In 2024, Garcia suggested making a separate priority pool just for youth because of the high number of young people at risk of homelessness.
Garcia said that youth and adultshave “very different needs” despite being mixed together in the same priority pool for housing.
In an interview with The News Tribune, Floresca said the county expanded the demographics eligible for services and preventions through Coordinated Entry to specifically target youth and young adults.
For example, it is understood that many youth and young adults might experience different kinds of housing insecurity such as couch-surfing or living with friends.
“So by updating our criteria to allow [youth and young adults] who are not literally homeless, but are still experiencing housing instability, we improved the ability for [youth and young adults] to access and qualify for homeless and housing services,” a Pierce County report on the challenge wrote.
By expanding eligibility, the county was able to connect youth and young adults facing housing instability with services that include eviction-prevention financial assistance, housing through vouchers, and support from the Homeless Student Stability Program.
When asked how much it cost to prevent 171 youth and young adults from entering homelessness, Pierce County told The News Tribune it was a question it could not answer.
“The youth were housed from multiple systems with multiple sources of funding (some of which are not County funds) and some even no funds, just case management,” Kari Moore, a spokesperson for Pierce County Human Services, told The News Tribune in an email.
During the Pierce County Council’s Health and Human Services Committee meeting on Oct. 21, Floresca gave a presentation on some of its findings and how it is driving the county’s approach.
“We are facing a capacity gap for youth housing. We only have 111 beds available specifically for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness,” Floresca said. “That’s about 2% of the total shelter capacity across the county.”
During the county’s annual one-night survey of those living unhoused in the region, volunteers recorded 448 people under the age of 24 — 16% of the 2,995 counted overall. The survey is regarded as likely being a significant undercount of those actually living unhoused in the region.
“The real gap could probably even be bigger,” Floresca told the committee.
Early intervention is one of the largest assistance programs available to youth and young adults in Pierce County. Through early intervention, the county can mobilize funds for rental assistance, family mediation and other flexible solutions to prevent young people from entering the homeless-intake system.
In October, Floresca told the committee that people under the age of 18 cannot enter Coordinated Entry.
“It doesn’t include them, yet,” Floresca noted on Oct. 21.
Floresca said one of the biggest problems occurring within youth and young adult homelessness is a bottleneck between shelter and permanent housing.
“There just aren’t enough permanent housing options available for young people who are ready to move on from shelter,” he told the committee. “Youth tend to stay in permanent housing longer than they do in shelter, which is a good thing because stability takes time, but it also means that housing units don’t turn over quickly, and we end up with more youth in shelter who can’t move forward.”
According to the county, youth and young adults need more tailored services because they have different emotional, developmental and legal needs. Youth under 18 often do not have legal IDs, rental or income history and cannot legally sign leases.
“Most adult shelters aren’t set up for youth,” Floresca said. “They can be intimidating, unsafe, or even re-traumatizing for young people, especially for those who have already faced violence, exploitation, or discrimination.”
New funding for youth homelessness programs
In 2024, Pierce County was awarded $3.5 million from HUD for what is known as Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), which supports solutions such as rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing and host homes to mitigate youth homelessness.
Devon Isakson, social service supervisor with Human Services, told The News Tribune the county is in a unique position as the first county to ever be awarded the YDHP and the 100-day challenge at the same time. She said the plan developed during the 100-Day Challenge and the input gathered from young community members who have been homeless will help inform how the county applies the grant funding from YHDP.
In September, the county announced several YHDP funding awards.
Four service providers received funding for transitional housing and rapid rehousing projects for youth, including:
- Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County – $607,374
- Harbor Hope Center of Washington – $527,202
- Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center – $657,426
- Tacoma Community House – $837,703
The Brotherhood RISE Center will receive $324,500 to help to expand its outreach and case-management services to youth experiencing homelessness across Pierce County.
St. Vincent de Paul of Tacoma and Pierce County will receive $209,000 for a Coordinated Entry project aimed at youth serving youth and young adults.
Dionne Jacobson is the outreach director at St. Vincent de Paul’s Community Resource Center in Tacoma. Jacobson previously told The News Tribune about 15% of its clients are youth or young adults, and many of them have experienced multiple bouts of homelessness.
“This will be a great opportunity to find ways to engage [with] them more effectively, and quicker, using targeted outreach and youth-centered practices in our day center,” she told The News Tribune.
Youth homelessness in Pierce County
According to a May 2025 report from the county, youth and young adult (YYA) homelessness has risen sharply in Pierce County in recent years. According to data reported by the Human Services Department, there has been a 94% rise in youth homelessness since 2019.
More than one-third of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness report suffering from mental health issues or a substance-use disorder, according to the county.
In Pierce County, 30% of young people experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQIA+, with the national average being 10%. Over two-thirds identify as BIPOC and more than three out of four are between 18 and 24 years old.
Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) reported the highest percentage of homeless students at 6.9% during the 2024-2025 school year, according to data from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
According to TPS spokesperson Kathryn McCarthy, the district served 2,685 students considered to be housing unstable by federal guidelines during the 2023-2024 school year. Of those, 414 were considered “unaccompanied youth” - meaning they are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.
McCarthy told The News Tribune the district recorded 2,389 students who were experiencing homelessness or considered “unaccompanied youth” during the 2024-2025 school year. Additionally, she said there are 202 students in foster care.
