Homeless shelter: Youth should not be housed in retail area

Re: “South Tacoma business owners reject location, not homeless shelter” (TNT, 12/31)

The city of Tacoma is trying to locate a youth homeless shelter in South Tacoma. Tacoma business districts are zoned the same. Stadium, Proctor, Sixth Avenue, Dome, etc., all require a conditional use permit to place a homeless shelter in the retail business districts. This precedent makes it virtually impossible to fight the placement of a homeless shelter in any business district.

Need for the service? Check. Need to help the youth? Check.

The scale of the shelter is the issue. It will draw homeless youth from all of Pierce County. Locating a homeless shelter in the middle of a retail business district defies logic.

City government spent a huge amount of time and money to remove the rescue mission from downtown; now, they are going to place one in South Tacoma because (as they say over and over) it won’t bother anyone.

They seem pleased to throw all the business districts under the bus. Why not place the shelter in the new storefront in the Park Plaza North at 10th and Pacific? They already own it. But no, Tacoma government wants to spend over $1 million for a location in the middle of an obviously expendable South Tacoma Business District. Who’s next?

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Homeless shelter: Youth should not be housed in retail area."