Tacoma City Council - Sept. 18, 2007 (18. September 2007, 21:29 by Whitney) ~ Award. Money. Housing. ... zzzzz
The Tacoma City Council meeting was rather uneventful, but a few notes of interest:
- Pastor Ron Vignec was awarded a special recognition for his work in Tacoma’s Eastside with the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize
- Funds were allocated to the Small Innovative Grant Program for fulfillment of Neighborhood Council projects. The project list will be posted on the city website for you to look at projects in your neighborhood.
The most exciting discussion centered around the Housing First program. Two resolutions were approved in relation to the Housing First program budgets. Councilman Stenger raised questions about the success of the program because of low enrollment numbers. It was explained that although the original target was 100 housing units, about 40 were filled after one year of the program.
The deficiency was attributed to a lower number of people being served to begin with, the number of people who are eligible, and the number of people who want to be served. The revised goal for next year is 55. The Tacoma Rescue Mission has chosen not to participate in the program next year.
Does anyone know how well the Housing First program is working in combating encampments?
Thanks to Whitney Rhodes, who will be following City Council issues for Exit133.
Commenting Is Closed
Comments are allowed for two weeks from the posted date. If you want to make a comment or reopen this discussion, please contact us with your request. Thank you for visiting.
Reporting on every City Council meeting? I’m for involvement as much as the next person (or probably moreso) but “zzzzz” indeed. Certainly not fit for the hipper “B Side”. Eek.
1 | Posted by KevinFreitas | Sep 18, 10:07 PM
Does anyone know how well the Housing First program is working in combating encampments?
The housing first model is controversial as a way to address homelessness. The bottom line is that it allows “clients” to drink while in their rooms and not have alot of rules which are present in the typical “Mission” approach which is relatively regimented. There is alot of argument whether this is a good idea or not.
However, for the encampment elimination program, the housing first model does seem appropriate, for awhile at least, as many of the people do not want to go into a rule oriented shelter and the city has some obligation to them as they removed them from the encampments.
I see plenty of the homeless camping out along Schuster Parkway on my way to the office on Dock Street in the morning. Maybe this will abate as the rains come and the slope becomes too treacherous to camp upon.
I know that the Housing 1st program has cleaned out some homeless camps. The program can be described as round up homeless people in Tacoma camps and move them to Lakewood. I wonder how many people are actually being housed as of today, not how many were provided housing in the past. I’d suspect that the number of people in the program today is very very low.
The people I’ve talked with tell me the program has been a failure. The reason’s for the failure are many. Some cite poor case management. Others cite Lakewood as being the wrong place to house this population. Some have indicated that the program has eroded the small support base the homeless had vis a vis their support from other homeless people in their groupings.
What ever the reasons, I don’t think the program is working and it is probably time to rethink the program so that it acheives long term housing for the homeless with the support they need to make the transition from the streets and woods into suitable and dignified housing
5 | Posted by Crenshaw Sepulveda | Sep 19, 09:21 PM
Just reagrding the Schuster Pkwy encampments, they remained throughout the year previously. There is additional cover under the Dock Street Bridge (S. 4th) and 705 as needed for really crappy days.
6 | Posted by DavidS | Sep 20, 08:57 AM
Commenting is closed for this article.
