State Rep: I was homeless once. The time for Pierce County to take action is now

I’ve been homeless twice in my life. First, in 2017 when I was forced to leave substandard housing that featured bed bugs and mold. The second time, over a miscommunication of move-in costs of $50.

My 35 years of exemplary rental history was tarnished, and I was unable to find livable housing. It didn’t matter that I am a veteran of the U.S. Army, a college graduate and an elected official.

An eviction study conducted by the University of Washington in 2019 highlighted that Black/African Americans are being evicted out of shelter into homelessness at much higher rates than white people, and women are evicted at a higher rate than men. Those women are me.

During my homelessness, I was serving as a school board director. In 2018, I was elected to the House of Representatives and served my first legislative session as a couch surfer, and I am so thankful to family and friends for providing me with shelter.

Couch surfing did not stop the bruising on my dignity. I had to start all over again. All my house belongings went into storage for two years, my car became my “mobile office,” and my trunk was my closet. Albeit, I am thankful that I had a running car.

I can say with confidence from my previous housing experiences that another well-intentioned conversation, conference, count, commission or ad hoc committee will not restore the dignity or provide the most biological component for human survival, shelter.

I have been working on housing and homelessness issues since I served as a Pierce County Housing Authority commissioner in 2004, when many across the country sought to end homelessness within 10 years. Look around: Homelessness has not ended. After all the conversations and programming, the number of people without shelter has dramatically increased. Low-income housing has not recovered from the 2008 housing crash, housing is less affordable, and gentrification is the outcome.

How can we in good conscience continue to not address this matter in real time. Maybe it is because too many of our leaders haven’t had to struggle. They have a key in their pocket that opens a door to warmth, ample food, protection and safety. That makes it easy to ignore the struggles of others when leaders have never experienced homelessness and couch surfing, hunger or living in inclement weather. Their bellies are full, and they have a dry bed.

There is an emergency. This year’s point-in-time count revealed that 1,005 Pierce County residents were in emergency shelters or transitional housing. But we know the total number of people experiencing homelessness is much higher.

The thousands more people that live outdoors — in tents, in vehicles or abandoned buildings — or spend their nights on friends and family’s couches were not counted due to COVID-19 precautions. Of those who were counted, 24 percent were survivors of domestic violence, eight percent were veterans and 50 percent were people of color.

I made every attempt to work with local Pierce County government to secure either county surplus land, private property to build a shelter or erect a stabilization center, to no avail.

Ending homelessness is going to take real tangible solutions. As a state representative, I helped pass policy that addresses homelessness by allowing move-in costs to be paid in installments (HB 1694) and by securing $1.5 million to erect a homeless shelter in Spanaway. I have strong teammates including Pierce County councilmembers Hitchens and Mello, the Low-Income Housing Institute and community members who are working to secure a shelter site.

Pierce County does not have time to continue to talk about a plan. The time for action is now, which means securing land to build shelters and low-income housing immediately.

I know what it means to be homeless. It is hard and overwhelming and demoralizing. The next time it’s pouring down rain or there is frost on the ground, think of those that are without a key in their pocket. They are our community members who are cold, wet, hungry and disillusioned because they are without decent shelter.

State Rep. Melanie Morgan serves the 29th Legislative District, including parts of Tacoma, Lakewood, Parkland and Spanaway. She is a former school board director from Franklin Pierce Schools and a US Army veteran.

This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.