Pierce County shelter capacity has steadily increased. What will happen in ‘26?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pierce County shelter capacity and use doubled since 2016; 1,831 beds in 2024
- Demand rose and median shelter stay increased from 13 to 19 days in 2024
- Exit rates into permanent housing held near 16–22%; family exits reached 41%
Homeless shelter capacity and usage has consistently increased since before the pandemic, according to data from Pierce County, with the number of people sleeping in shelter beds nearly doubling over the past 10 years.
While the demand for shelter continues to increase year-over-year, the rate of people who exit into housing has not significantly increased since the pandemic.
In 2024, a little over 6,050 people stayed in emergency shelters across Pierce County. In 2016, the number of people who stayed in homeless shelters was closer to 3,670.
On Nov. 18, Devon Isakson, a social service supervisor for Pierce County’s Human Services Department, gave a presentation on homeless shelters to the Pierce County Council’s Health and Human Services Committee.
“That really shows the need in our community and really shows a better snapshot than our Point-In-Time count,” Isakson said
The Point-In-Time count is an annual one-night survey of those living unhoused in the region. Many consider the survey to be an undercount of the true scale of homelessness in the community.
During the 2025 Point-In-Time count in January, volunteers counted 2,955 people living unhoused, up from 2,661 the previous year. The survey counted 1,522 people in shelters and 1,422 people who were unsheltered.
The number of people using shelter beds in Pierce County has increased year-over-year since 2016.
Kari Moore, spokesperson for Pierce County Human Services, said the rise in those experiencing homelessness in Pierce County is directly tied to the increased cost of housing.
“For the past 10 years, the median home price and fair-market rent values have more than doubled in Pierce County, increasing at the same rate of people becoming homeless,” she told The News Tribune. “When rent and housing costs are higher, it makes it difficult for people to afford housing, leading to increased risk of eviction and displacement.”
In 2016 the county spent less than $600,000 to maintain emergency shelters, according to spending data. In 2024, it spent more than $7 million.
The amount of time people stay in shelters in Pierce County also has increased in recent years. According to data from Pierce County, the median number of days spent in shelters increased from 13 in 2023 to 19 in 2024. From 2016 to 2020, the median number of days spent in Pierce County shelter never exceeded eight.
Duke Paulson is the executive director of Tacoma Rescue Mission, the region’s largest shelter provider.
When asked why people were staying in shelters longer than they were eight years ago, he told The News Tribune services that help people get out of shelters were cheaper and more available than they are now. Those services and programs include transitional housing, rental down-payment assistance, and work clothes and equipment donations.
Paulson said the region’s investment into non-congregational shelters such as tiny-home villages during the pandemic might also have had impacts on how long people felt comfortable staying in shelter.
Tacoma Rescue Mission has changed its policy on how long people can stay, adding contingencies and requirements.
“We now require our guests to engage with case management within 30 days to stay longer, with 30-day extensions available if progress is being made. If not, we ask people to leave at the end of 30 days,” he said. “This incentivizes longer stays for persons that are working toward exiting homelessness. If progress is being made, we can extend beyond 90 days even.”
The annual percentage of people exiting shelter into permanent housing averaged between 16% and 22% from 2015 to 2024.
The annual percentage of families with children that exit into permanent housing is much higher, at 41% in 2024. According to the county, roughly one-third of households who stayed in shelters in 2024 were families with children.
“... people who come into the men’s and women’s shelter tend to have a strong motivation to try and exit because of their children. They have the responsibility of care taking of children that they are accepting and working towards finding good solutions for,” Paulson told The News Tribune. “A single individual with no one to provide for or take care of may not have a stronger motivation.”
Half of the people who utilized emergency shelters in 2024 were identified as having a disability.
In 2024, 28% of those who exited shelters reported going back to “homeless situations,” and 51% who exited were categorized as “Non-reported/other.”
The number of shelter beds has increased every year since 2019. The county had 766 beds in 2019. Two years later, the county had 1,348 beds.
Additional funding sources from the state and federal government allowed the county to support a significant number of beds during the pandemic when housing stability was a concern, amid the realization that demand for shelter beds was continuing to increase.
In 2024, the county had 1,831 shelter beds, including the additional 165 beds made available during inclement weather.
Isakson said the county does not yet have 2025 shelter capacity and usage data to report.
The City of Tacoma lost nearly 200 shelter beds in 2025 due to funding shortfalls. Tacoma’s deputy city manager Sonja Hallum estimated the city had about 80% of the shelter beds in Pierce County. The city had about 1,099 shelter beds as of the beginning of 2025.
Isakson said the county is expected to gain at least 218 beds in 2026, most of which will be in Tacoma.
The Low-Income Housing Institute (LIHI) will open a 60-bed tiny home village at 415 208th St. E. in Spanaway. LIHI anticipates opening the village by spring 2026.
Tacoma Rescue Mission (TRM) is constructing a 100-bed expansion to their men’s shelter in Tacoma. The expansion is expected to be completed by summer 2026.
TRM is the region’s largest shelter provider, with more than 2,800 people sheltered in 2024. The next closest shelter provider in 2024, and the only other one that sheltered more than 400 people is Catholic Community Services with more than 1,100.
