11 stories highlight Pierce County's approach to address homelessness
Pierce County is working on many fronts to address homelessness, with efforts ranging from shelter funding, new affordable housing projects and eviction prevention programs. This list of stories illustrates the need to maintain shelter beds in Tacoma and the challenges of launching support programs like the street medicine team.
Investments have gone into projects such as the Shiloh New Life Apartments and preserving housing at Hidden Firs, while eviction prevention and diversion funds remain in high demand. Large encampments and a shortage of shelter space show ongoing challenges, and new regional initiatives, like the national Counties for Housing Solutions program, aim to boost affordable housing for the future.
The 'readiness' of the project was an incentive for the county to invest in its preservation, an official told The News Tribune. | Published April 7, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
After losing a Pierce County land use hearing against the Good Neighbor Village, Spanaway Concerned Citizens have lost yet another appeal. | Published April 10, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
Pierce County is one of six counties in the nation selected to take part in a national program to create a plan to build more housing in the region. | Published April 14, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
The announcement comes after the county recently recording one of the highest eviction rates in the state. | Published April 16, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
'Its pretty embarrassing when we are out in the field and homeless people are asking where the $17 million [in affordable housing investments] went,' one advocate said. | Published April 30, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
A Washington program helped over 1,700 youth avoid homelessness using cost-effective, flexible funding. | Published May 2, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
The apartments will help low-income families and veterans find stable housing. | Published May 13, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
At least one advocate worries about the direction the $1 million program is headed. | Published May 7, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
With nearly 400 shelter beds at risk, Tacoma saw larger encampments cleared in the first quarter of 2025 amid increasing homelessness challenges. | Published May 8, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
Facing a serious funding gap, Tacoma officials hope state grants will keep critical emergency homeless shelter services running through 2025 and beyond. | Published May 14, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
The map indicates over 3,000 calls related to homelessness throughout the city over the first quarter of 2025. | Published May 16, 2025 | Read Full Story by Cameron Sheppard
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
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Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Yahoo
Shop local Tacoma artists at newly opened ‘Grit City Made' in Old Town
Tucked away a block from the Ruston Way waterfront in Old Town is a new business selling Tacoma artwork, from ceramic baby-head bolo ties to stickers, jewelry, magnets, glass planters and whimsical paintings. Grit City Made had its grand opening earlier this month at 2209 N. 30th St. The owners (who are Tacoma artists) describe the retail space as 'a treasure trove of eclectic creations' and each item 'an enchanting reflection of our community's uniqueness.' On Thursday, owners Krystal Jimenez, Mary Patton and Natalie Haywood told The News Tribune they were lucky to find a brick-and-mortar shop that checked their boxes. All owners still sell their work at local markets (find them at next week's Art on the Ave festival), but they wanted to have a permanent space where artists could sell their wares with less volatility. Jimenez, who uses they/them and she/her pronouns, said the choice to open the shop was an opportunity to 'reinvest into ourselves and our community.' Market sales can vary depending on the day, crowd or placement of an artist's booth, and sometimes artists make no sales despite investing time and money to sell at a market, they said. At Grit City Made, artists receive 65% of the sales from their work, with the remaining 35% going to support the business, Haywood said. 'Typically it would be a 50/50, and we know that that can be really difficult to survive on,' she said. 'We really just want to create a space where artists can thrive.' Patton said some shoppers have anxiety that prevents them from attending big markets, which can also have limited parking and hours. Grit City Made is accessible, intends to offer sensory-friendly and mask-wearing hours in the future, and will be open four days a week, she said. In the future Grit City Made hopes to offer classes and private events, possibly moving to a larger space with a studio, Patton said. Currently in the works is a 'Labubu and Me' workshop for people to create charm necklaces for themselves and their viral keychain plushie. Follow Grit City Made's Instagram or check out its website for a calendar of events. On the shelves are the owners' own creations. Jimenez (of Yo Its Cake) specializes in ceramics and is known colloquially as the 'baby head lady,' they said. Patton (of Patton Glass) makes hand-blown glass work, and Haywood (of Nat Haywood Vibes) is a multi-disciplinary artist who makes resin sculptures and paintings 'that border between mysticism and reality and how the natural world plays with us in that realm,' she said. Other artists featured now include Outer Rim Art, Jess Drew That, Lovesome Dove, Plastino Arts, Sketchboard Joy, Maxwell Woodworking, Change Face and Mythic Wick. Jimenez said all the artists made at least one sale the first day the shop was open. Haywood said as a single mom she wants to show her daughter she, too, can follow her dreams. 'No one, quite frankly, ever told me I could be an artist. No one told me I could be a small business owner. In fact, it's just been met with criticism and worries and projections,' she said. 'And I just want her to know, like, if something is your passion, you can make a living off of it. You can, you really can. And it helps doing it with your friends.' Although 'it's just really hard to exist right now,' Patton said, they're using the shop as 'an anchor or a stronghold for us.' 'We've kind of described this as, like, our soft rebellion,' Patton said. 'We're here, supporting our community, putting money back into it. A lot of our artists are disabled or BIPOC. A lot of them are full-time artists. Some of them do other jobs, like teach or work in the schools. So it's just really important to uplift our community directly.' ▪ Grit City Made is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. ▪ Any artists interested in selling their wares at the shop can contact hello@
Yahoo
12-06-2025
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Seeing a lack of some items on Pierce County grocery shelves? This might be why
If you're seeing scarcity of some items on your local grocery shelves, it might be more than a seasonal disruption. Pierce County and national grocers have reported issues with regional grocery supplier United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) following a cyberattack on UNFI's operations reported in recent days. In response to questions Wednesday, UNFI media representative Kristen Jimenez shared the company's latest statement with The News Tribune. According to the statement, the distributor is 'gradually bringing our ordering and receiving capabilities back online, with the goal of further increasing our capacity over the coming days.' 'We continue working steadily to safely restore our systems and provide the services our customers and suppliers know and expect from us,' the company stated. 'The investigation is ongoing with the support of leading forensics experts.' It added, 'Our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We continue to work closely with them to minimize disruptions as much as possible.' One Pierce County grocer told The News Tribune his store had resorted to submitting a recent order 'the old-fashioned way,' written down and called in. Similar accounts were reported elsewhere Wednesday by Supermarket News. The Wall Street Journal reported systems were anticipated to be fully restored by Sunday, based on a notice to suppliers viewed by the newspaper. Providence, Rhode Island-based UNFI is one of the largest suppliers for grocery entities nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, other major chains and various co-ops and independent grocery stores. In a statement June 9, UNFI said that it had 'identified unauthorized activity in our systems and have proactively taken some systems offline while we investigate.' On Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that Whole Foods told its employees in internal communications that the supply disruptions 'may take several days to resolve,' and included instructions to limit communications with customers. A Whole Foods media representative said the company was working to restock its shelves 'as quickly as possible.' PCC Community Markets in Seattle also reported impacts on social media, 'which may temporarily lead to some delivery delays and limited product selection. All our stores are open, and our produce, meat, and deli departments remain well-stocked.' Tyler Myers is president of The Myers Group, which owns various IGA grocery stores in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, including Key Center IGA in the Key Peninsula. In response to questions, Myers told The News Tribune that even though the store is supplied by UNFI, 'The UNFI issue only impacts a few departments within our store. We have multiple vendors that service our store. For example, this temporary UNFI supply problem does not affect our produce or meat departments.' He added that 'It is our understanding that UNFI will be shipping product to us as early as next week. We have already begun to arrange for a new supplier if UNFI continues to have problems meeting our orders.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
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Tacoma to close 200 homeless shelter beds at end of month. Here's why and where
The City of Tacoma was relying on state funding to keep open more than 300 homeless shelter beds open scheduled to be closed at the end of June. This week, the city reported that it was awarded half the funding it asked for and will be able to keep less than half of those shelter beds open through the next year. The City of Tacoma has been planning to close roughly 339 emergency shelter beds due to an anticipated funding shortfall. Heading into the beginning of 2025, the City of Tacoma requested $6 million annually over the next two years to maintain 307 shelter beds through June 2027. The budget recently passed by the Legislature did not directly name Tacoma as a recipient for such funding but did note an annual allocation of $58.8 million in grant funding to be available to support homeless housing programs and services in cities and counties. The funding will be distributed through the Department of Commerce. On June 9, Maria Lee, a spokesperson for the City of Tacoma, told The News Tribune the city will be awarded $3 million to keep 140 shelter beds open through June 2026. Lee said the 140 beds will be at the tiny-home village shelter at 602 N. Orchard St., the family shelter operated by Bethlehem Baptist Church at 4818 E. Portland Ave. and Holy Rosary's safe parking site at 520 S. 30th St. Pierce County has allocated $400,000 to help continue the tiny-home village shelter on North Orchard Street through June 2026, according to the city. Lee said the decision to keep those shelters open over others was guided by factors including the capability of the providers hosting the sites, the locational feasibility of the sites, and the funding required to keep them operating. Shelters planned to close after June 30 include the 32-bed shelter at Altheimer Memorial Church, Brotherhood RISE's 32-bed shelter at 2135 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and the Tacoma Rescue Mission's 135-bed Forging Path Community at 3561 Pacific Ave. Tacoma Police Department's Crime Dashboard showed a 38% total reduction in crimes in the quarter-mile surrounding area of the Forging Path Community shelter compared to the year prior to its opening. The dashboard showed a 53% total reduction in crimes in the quarter-mile surrounding area of the Freedom Project shelter compared to three months prior to its opening. According to the city, Forging Path Community has served 295 people, with 66 individuals successfully transitioning to permanent housing as of May 26. Freedom Project has served 50 people, with 26 out of 38 people who exited transitioning to permanent housing as of May 26. Mercy Housing was awarded the property where Forging Path Community sits for development of an 81-unit affordable housing project for residents earning 60% Area Median Income (AMI) or lower. Lee said the site will include a community hub and an 8,000-square-foot early learning center. The city has said it is committed to ensuring transitions to other shelters or housing programs for those currently living at shelters scheduled to close. According to Lee, Forging Path Community had 41 residents and Freedom Project had 11 residents as of June 2. The city is recommending a month-long operation extension with the funding for the Freedom Project shelter. 'This provides crucial time to decommission the site responsibly and, most importantly, to work intensively with the 11 current residents as of June 2, 2025 to find alternative shelter or housing,' Lee told The News Tribune. 'The City plans to store the micro-shelter units while continuing to identify alternative locations and potential use by partners like Pierce County.' The city had about 1,099 shelter beds as of the beginning of 2025. Lee said the city anticipates having 860 available shelter beds after standing down Brotherhood RISE, Freedom Project and Forging Paths Community. When Tacoma's homelessness strategy was drafted in 2022, it was anticipated that there would be a funding gap of roughly $12 million to maintain the shelters at the end of 2024. Part of the city's plan included increasing the inventory of permanent affordable-housing units to provide housing opportunities for those living in shelters. Caleb Carbone, the homeless strategy, systems and services manager for the city's Neighborhood and Community Services department, previously told The News Tribune that during the pandemic, one-time funding opportunities, like those through the American Rescue Plan Act as well as resources from the state, were used to support the operation of the shelters. The city significantly increased its homeless-shelter capacity at a time when it was needed. 'The challenge has been that the demand for temporary shelter beds has exceeded the initial expectations,' Tacoma's deputy city manager Sonja Hallum told The News Tribune in an interview. 'So the stand down is not happening at the pace that the city had originally expected and hoped would occur.' Hallum said the beds set to disappear in 2025 represent a 'significant' portion of the city's shelter beds. With Tacoma hosting what is about 80% of Pierce County's shelter capacity, the loss of shelter funding would have county-wide implications, Hallum said. 'So the impact isn't just for the city, it's for the entire region,' she told The News Tribune. 'We are greatly concerned about the ability to provide for this very vulnerable population.'
