Homelessness issues to get special attention from Puyallup City Council
The Puyallup City Council is intensifying its efforts to address homelessness.
During its July 20 meeting, the council unanimously approved a temporary subcommittee that will focus on homelessness in the city
Council members Ned Witting, Jim Kastama and Deputy Mayor John Palmer will work together to create an action plan that will be voted on by the full council.
For the last few months, Witting has assembled a group of activists and nonprofit staff to discuss potential options Puyallup could take. He was under council direction to report back his conversations. Witting wanted more input from other council members on future options before a plan was introduced to council.
“I would hate to develop a solution that my colleagues don’t like,” he said.
A date for the first meeting of the subcommittee has not been formally set, city spokesperson Eric Johnson said. All recommendations made by the subcommittee must be heard by the council for approval.
The three council members will address next steps after a hotel-based shelter program contract expires in March. The city has been renting 20 rooms at the Hometowne Suites on Meridian since February with Catholic Community Services contracted to provide case management.
The year-long program is estimated to cost $767,679 in state grants.
Palmer addressed the recent shift in Puyallup’s approach to homelessness.
“I think it’s building some successes bit by bit,” he said.
For years the city spent more on defending its homelessness laws than on services. In 2019, The News Tribune reported Puyallup had spent more than $1 million on legal fees in litigation against the New Hope Resource Center and its parent company Homeward Bound, private individuals and a federal investigation into Puyallup’s restrictions.
The laws included placing restrictions on the only resource center in the city and creating designated zones for homeless shelters that the Growth Management Hearings Board determined violated the city’s comprehensive plan, which called for the promotion of “a variety of housing for people with special needs, such as the elderly, disabled, homeless, and single householders.”
The city also began providing shelter space with a contract at Tacoma’s Salvation Army in 2019. The nonprofit provides 14 beds in a men’s and a women’s room for an annual $68,000.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the city responded to those living outside on the Riverwalk Trail by opening Puyallup Recreation Center’s parking lot for two months for tents, cars and RVs. Puyallup has used CARES Act funding to shelter people experiencing homelessness.
There was pressure for the city to act after Puyallup churches canceled their winter shelter program, Freezing Nights, due to COVID-19. After the site closed, about a dozen people were placed in motel rooms.
The city opened the first shelter in East Pierce County with the hotel program.
“There were people who thought if you do anything you will make things worse, but we are showing we can do this. The big deal the council as a whole sees that,” Palmer said. “There is a formula that can work for Puyallup. We have to be smart about it, but it works.”
Council member Cyndy Jacobsen said in the council meeting the committee is representative of the different opinions on homelessness.
“I think it’s a good group,” she said. “ It’s a fair chance for us to get something we would all agree to.”
Kastama ran in 2017 with a platform to address the homeless population and concerns surrounding the New Hope Resource Center. He told the council he looked forward to being a part of the subcommittee.
“Thank you for your confidence in me being a part of this,” he said in the council meeting.
Kastama did not respond for further comment before publication. He has supported the hotel shelter, but said in a council meeting last month he wanted a program that is fair for the Puyallup community.
“I’m just afraid that as we offer these services, you’ve maintained that many people find them attractive and so they will have more utilization,” he said in a June 29th study session. “The fact of the matter is we’re the only service here, we will end up carrying the burden for over half a million people and that will be carried by a population of 43,000 people.”
Witting ran in 2019 promising a compassionate solution to homelessness that also addressed safety for families. He has been a proponent of the hotel-based shelter program, but wants to find a more cost-effective option. The hotel rooms cost 60 percent of the grant funds.
Palmer also ran in 2019, and said homelessness needed to be addressed. He has since advocated for the hotel program but is interested in exploring a tiny home village.
