What will the latest tally of homelessness in Pierce County show? What we saw
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- Point-in-Time count results for 2026 won’t be out until the spring.
- Pierce County’s 2025 Point‑in‑Time count recorded 2,955 people, an 11% rise.
- County data links rising rents and home prices to increased entries into crisis services.
On Thursday and Friday morning, volunteers and human-services workers patrolled around Pierce County, under bridges, in shelters, along sidewalks and at 12 designated sites as part of the annual Homeless Point-in-Time Count. Their goal was to capture a snapshot of how many people are living unhoused right now.
In 2025, 2,955 people were tallied as experiencing homelessness in Pierce County — an 11% increase from 2024. About half of them were not living in shelters, and most were in the Tacoma area, according to the county. Pierce County data shows a strong correlation between homelessness and rising rent and home prices, and more people are entering the homeless crisis-response system than can be housed.
Crews were out interviewing people experiencing homelessness and passing out backpacks with supplies from 9 a.m. Thursday until 3 a.m. Friday morning. The News Tribune followed a team in the rain Thursday afternoon as members talked with people in tents and standing on sidewalks near the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma.
Teams asked people questions about how long they had been unhoused, where they slept the night before, if they had children and what led them to be on the street. They also logged where they had the interview.
The results of this week’s survey likely won’t be available until spring because the data needs to be sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for analysis and review, said Kari Moore, communications manager for the Human Services department.
The Point-in-Time count has been happening nationwide since 2005, as a requirement of HUD. Pierce County started in 2006, and more than 300 volunteers signed up to help this week, Moore said.
In 2025, of the 1,777 people surveyed in the Point-in-Time count, 264 people cited a family crisis or break up as the primary reason for homelessness, 221 cited an eviction and 209 people cited domestic violence, according to Pierce County. In 2025, most survey respondents said they stayed in an emergency shelter the night before, but others stayed outdoors, in their vehicle or in transitional housing.
More veterans experiencing homelessness locally
The nonprofit Nineline Veteran Services was stationed at the Fife Community Center on Thursday, passing out sleeping bags, pizza, coffee and backpacks full of supplies like hand warmers, ponchos, blankets, snacks, water, hygiene supplies and hand sanitizer. Several of its teams were also out conducting surveys. The Fife-based nonprofit has several programs for veterans, active-duty military and their families, including a housing and employment program.
Outreach manager and cofounder Dave Konkler told The News Tribune that there aren’t not enough local services for veterans, despite our proximity to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Konkler said the six-month period when military members transition out of service and into civilian life is often called “the deadly gap,” when many people struggle to readjust and find purpose.
“That’s where the biggest struggles happen, and that’s where we start seeing homelessness, we start seeing suicidal ideation, we start seeing that loss of purpose that really causes them to try and figure out what’s next, or feel like [they] can’t do anything,” Konkler said.
In the last few years Nineline Veteran Services has participated in the Point-in-Time Count, Konkler has seen more veterans struggling with homelessness.
“The cost of living has gone up, the cost of food, the cost of, I mean, you name it. It’s really difficult to survive,” he said. “We don’t have [enough] housing. We don’t have enough homeless services … We’re [not] going to continue to see a decline unless we do something that better supports those people that are in need.”
Konkler said he wishes more people had empathy for people experiencing homelessness.
“I wish people would know that these people are out here and need help. They’re not looking to sit there and look for pity or anything like that,” he said. “Having a little bit of empathy and compassion [is important], because this could be you tomorrow, and some of these people are just down on their luck. We need to have a different approach to how we’re dealing with this.”
Families still struggling to find housing
Steve Decker, the CEO of Family Promise of Pierce County, was at the Parkland Community Center on Thursday handing out supplies and helping connect people to resources. Decker said he had hoped more families would show up on Thursday.
Like every fall at the beginning of the school year, Decker said, Family Promise saw a decrease in the number of families on their housing waitlist. Some families had found shared housing with a relative, and others might have moved away from the area, he said.
As of Friday, Decker said, there were 60 families and 125 kids on the emergency shelter waiting list, most of whom are currently sleeping in vehicles. Almost 85% of the families on the list live in Tacoma city limits, he said.
Of the children, 25 were under the age of 3, 16 were between the ages of 3 and 5, 73 children were over the age of 5, and there was one unaccompanied minor, Decker said.
Decker said there isn’t an easy fix to homelessness and said one of the biggest challenges families face is that landlords and property managers are being more restrictive about their tenants following the passage of the Tenant Bill of Rights, which spells out eviction bans.
“What that means is they’ve had to respond by creating a much, much harder hurdle to clear to rent. People [sometimes] have to earn three times the amount of rent to be able to rent a new apartment, and that’s unrealistic for a lot of families,” Decker said. “They demand very, very clean backgrounds and credit checks now, again, because it’s become so difficult for them to do anything about bad tenants. And it hurts all of the potential tenants. It hurts everybody.”
Decker said he hopes government policy changes to encourage landlords to take chances on people who have poorer credit or previous issues, as the current policy “has encouraged landlords and property management to be very risk adverse.”
“There’s a lot of empty units in Pierce County that are not being filled, because no one can meet the requirements,” he said. “More communication going about the problem — that’s going to help the problem.”
If you need resources
Pierce County Human Services has a coordinated entry system for families and people experiencing homelessness. You can call 211 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday-Friday for live support or to schedule an appointment. If you need emergency shelter outside of normal business hours, you can visit the Shelter Access Hub online or by phone at 253-444-4563.
Contact staff at Nineline Veteran Services at 253-922-7225.
Family Promise staff can be reached at 253-444-4563 (call or text).
