Hotel on Meridian in Puyallup chosen to serve as East Pierce homeless shelter
Puyallup has decided on a homeless service provider to start East Pierce County’s first adult homeless shelter.
The Puyallup City Council authorized an agreement with Catholic Community Services at the Jan. 26 meeting for a pilot program offering emergency shelter in a hotel.
The six-month program will provide about 20 beds at the Hometowne Suites on North Meridian.
A state program to build homeless shelters across Washington granted $40 million to counties and cities for rapid beds.
The shelter is expected to open sometime in February, city spokesperson Brenda Fritsvold told The Puyallup Herald.
The city said in a statement sent to The Puyallup Herald on Monday that the shelter will only serve those experiencing homelessness in Puyallup.
“For this reason, all persons admitted to the program will be directly referred from the Puyallup Police Department,” the statement said.
Director of Operations for Catholic Community Services, Mike Curry, said the nonprofit has been looking to expand outside of the Tacoma-area for some time.
“It was something that played well to experiences we’ve had recently in light of COVID, in terms of sheltering people in hotels,” Curry said. “We found that to be a quite effective model under the right circumstances with the right support.”
The state Department of Commerce is overseeing the shelter grant program. Pierce County submitted an application that included three projects: a tiny home village in Tacoma, support for a women’s shelter at the Tacoma Rescue Mission, and a new low-barrier shelter in East Pierce County.
The East Pierce County proposal pitched to the state as a $1.5 million low-barrier shelter over three years for 30 beds.
The Washington State Department of Commerce is supportive of the program, said Kathy Kinard with the Office of Family and Adult Homelessness.
The goal of the program was to develop and expand emergency shelter to bring people inside as quickly as possible, but the pandemic has stalled progress, she said.
“We’ve heard many homeless housing service providers are overwhelmed with managing the current emergency COVID housing response and taking on an additional project at this time is challenging,” Kinard said in an email. “Some of the counties have reported barriers to siting a project, permit delays and finding service providers to operate the program.”
Kinard said the city, Pierce County, and Catholic Community Services have committed for the long haul.
“They let us know that the county and all other local jurisdictions involved in the planning and implementation of these new emergency shelter beds are committed to ensuring that the beds remain available in the county for the full-time commitment in the contract with the department,” she said.
In the Monday statement, Puyallup said there has been no long-term commitments to this program.
Puyallup will receive a grant total of $291,879; $243,278 will be contracted for Catholic Community Services and $48,600 will be used to support the project, Fritsvold said.
Catholic Community Services will provide case management and connect clients with resources like treatment and housing options.
Curry said running the shelter in Puyallup will be different than in Tacoma because of the lack of resource availability.
“Part of it is just understanding and acknowledging that not all services are available in all communities, and helping folks figure out when there isn’t a service available to you, working with them, and walking alongside them through the process of figuring out what’s best,” he told The Puyallup Herald on Jan. 27.
Some of the details have yet to be determined, like payment, staffing, admission terms and turnaround expectations, Curry said.
“It’s a hotel based shelter program, that’s the beauty of it,” Curry said. “You can increase the number of rooms and decrease the number of rooms as needed.”
Puyallup has taken steps to provide spaces for those experiencing homelessness during the pandemic.
As the pandemic unfolded in March, at least two dozen tents were set up along the Riverwalk Trail behind the Fred Meyer on River Road.
The city responded by creating a temporary encampment in a parking lot of the Puyallup Recreation Center for two months, where people could park their cars or sleep in tents on wooden slats.
Once the site was closed, people who had been staying there were offered hotel rooms. The city has provided people hotel rooms at the Hometowne Suites since June. Puyallup sheltered up to 20 people at a time in hotel rooms.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
