Homeless: Pierce County needs a youth shelter

On any given night in Pierce County, hundreds of youth and young adults are experiencing homelessness and sleep in abandoned buildings or wooded rural encampments or may be couch surfing until they are asked to move on.

Teens have no shelter options, and youths who are 18 years or older don’t go to the adult shelters and have no youth shelter to access in Pierce County. King and Thurston counties have been offering crisis center and shelter services for youths for more than 30 years.

For the past three years, our community has been in the process of planning and opening a teen home (ages 13-17) and a day resource center (ages 13-24) which will also offer overnight housing (ages 18-24).The contract for opening these facilities was signed last January, but unfortunately neither site has been identified.

As we approach winter, the need for thee facilities is more critical. I only hope the urgency for these facilities is realized and that faster progress will be made.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 2:31 PM with the headline "Homeless: Pierce County needs a youth shelter."