Puyallup to close temporary homeless encampment set up for COVID-19 response
Puyallup’s temporary emergency site for the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic is set to close. No one who stayed at the shelter tested positive for COVID-19, city officials said.
The Rec Center parking lot on Valley Avenue was transformed into a temporary shelter with a fence, wooden pallets and portable toilets as a space for those experiencing homelessness to receive medical attention if needed. City staff monitored the site, making sure public health safety recommendations were followed.
The site is expected to close June 5 after nine weeks of operation.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department tested staff and those living at the tent encampment in May with no positive results, spokesperson Steve Metcalf said.
The temporary site was seen as a success by the city.
The Puyallup Recreation Center parking lot was used to slow the spread of the coronavirus during the “stay-at-home” order, Puyallup’s spokesperson Brenda Fritsvold said.
“Given that no COVID-19 cases in Puyallup have been associated with homeless persons, this aim was achieved,” she said in an email.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been a handful of coronavirus cases recorded among people living at other homeless shelters. Tacoma’s Nativity House saw at least four cases.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said there were a few cases in March, but homeless service providers took steps to follow public safety recommendations. By May, no new positive cases among those experiencing homelessness have been recorded.
“Currently, we don’t see evidence that COVID-19 is spreading among those living homeless,” the health department said in a blog post.
Asked if there are plans to monitor the coronavirus spread after the tent encampment closes, Fritsvold said “one of the positive takeaways is that, as more was learned over the last few months about the virus and how individuals can protect themselves and others, (the city was) able to pass that information on.
The temporary site included 30 tents, 16 parking spaces and motel rooms rented for the most vulnerable.
On May 27, Puyallup counted 11 people in tents and eight in vehicles. The city was paying for 10 to live in a motel, Fritsvold said. Local churches have been providing meals, and the health department has offered hand-washing stations.
Puyallup does not yet have an estimate on the cost of the temporary site, Fritsvold said.
As the site closes, the city has referred the homeless to alternative resources, Fritsvold said.
Access to sanitation
Paula Anderson, Director of the New Hope Resource Center, said people have already returned to the resource center for lunch. During the last week of May, Anderson estimated, New Hope volunteers served about 45 to 50 lunches a day.
With the temporary encampment closing, her biggest concern is sanitation. Puyallup’s public restrooms are closed, leaving New Hope’s four toilets to become the only bathrooms for the homeless.
“It’s going to be hard for people on the street,” Anderson said. “For a while, there is going to be no porta-potties or hand-washing stations for those on the street. The city needs to do that, in my opinion.”
The city was renting the portable toilets, and they will be returned when the site is dismantled, Fritsvold said.
Before the temporary site was opened, people began putting up tents and sleeping bags along the Riverwalk Trail. Sanitation facilities were placed near the skate park behind the Fred Meyer on River Road, but the city soon deemed the area “untenable.”
Camping on the Riverwalk Trail, or any city park, remains prohibited, Fritsvold said.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
