Latest news with #MariaLee
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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.'
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Spotted the orange flag above the Tacoma Dome? Here's what it means.
On June 4, an orange flag was raised on the Tacoma Dome. Three years ago, Mayor Victoria Woodards declared June as Gun Violence Awareness Month. In June 2023, the annual tradition of raising the orange flag on the Tacoma Dome began to encourage the reduction of gun violence, city spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune Thursday. 'In the State of Washington, there are about 850 gun deaths every year, with a rate of 10.8 deaths per 100,000 people,' according to Mayor Woodards' May 2022 proclamation. In response to those statistics, Tacoma uses one of the city's most iconic buildings to shed light on the issue. The color orange has become a symbol of gun safety as part of the Wear Orange campaign and National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which is June 6. Orange was chosen because that's what hunters wear for safety, according to a previous News Tribune article. The flag will get taken down on Monday, June 9, but efforts to promote safety will continue throughout the month. For example, Tacoma helps fund Summer Late Nights, a program that aims to reduce youth violence, Lee said. From June 23 to Aug. 29, middle and high schools throughout Tacoma will have their doors open on weeknights for students. Students have the opportunity to get dinner and hang out with friends, according to the Parks Tacoma website. 'The City of Tacoma maintains our commitment to end senseless gun violence with evidence-based solutions, and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands,' the proclamation said. Editor's note: This story has been updated to include information about the Wear Orange campaign and National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
Spotted the orange flag above the Tacoma Dome? Here's what it means.
On June 4, an orange flag was raised on the Tacoma Dome. Three years ago, Mayor Victoria Woodards declared June as Gun Violence Awareness Month. In June 2023, the annual tradition of raising the orange flag on the Tacoma Dome began to encourage the reduction of gun violence, city spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune Thursday. 'In the State of Washington, there are about 850 gun deaths every year, with a rate of 10.8 deaths per 100,000 people,' according to Mayor Woodards' May 2022 proclamation. In response to those statistics, Tacoma uses one of the city's most iconic buildings to shed light on the issue. The color orange has become a symbol of gun safety as part of the Wear Orange campaign and National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which is June 6. Orange was chosen because that's what hunters wear for safety, according to a previous News Tribune article. The flag will get taken down on Monday, June 9, but efforts to promote safety will continue throughout the month. For example, Tacoma helps fund Summer Late Nights, a program that aims to reduce youth violence, Lee said. From June 23 to Aug. 29, middle and high schools throughout Tacoma will have their doors open on weeknights for students. Students have the opportunity to get dinner and hang out with friends, according to the Parks Tacoma website. 'The City of Tacoma maintains our commitment to end senseless gun violence with evidence-based solutions, and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands,' the proclamation said. Editor's note: This story has been updated to include information about the Wear Orange campaign and National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What is happening (or not) with 171 planned apartments near Tacoma Mall?
Plans for new apartments near the Tacoma Mall recently received an extension in terms of permitting. Avanti Apartments, planned at the site of a former office building, 4218 S. Steele St., received an extension on its building permit last month. 'The building permit was granted an extension on April 17 for another 180 days (10/14/2025),' according to Maria Lee, media representative for the City of Tacoma. The status of the site's building permit is listed as 'awaiting resubmittal/revisions,' on the city's permit portal. The site is owned by an LLC affiliated with Bend, Oregon-based Pahlisch real estate entity, which acquired the site in 2022 for $6.5 million. Pahlisch Commercial, which has offices in Bend, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington; and Bellevue, is the firm's branch that develops mixed-use, multifamily properties. Pahlisch representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Tacoma site. The project received an 8-year multifamily property tax exemption from City Council in 2023. Plans at the time called for 171 market-rate units, eight live/work units at ground level and around 130 parking spaces on the first two levels of the seven-story structure. In 2023, the city listed the development's completed assessed value at $75 million, based on estimated construction costs. Pahlisch has other planned apartment projects in Western Washington. The developers earlier this year received an 8-year MFTE for a $135 million, 564-unit, market-rate apartment complex at Kent's West Hill. In January, Pahlisch Commercial landed a $69.2 million construction loan for a a seven-story, 198-unit apartment building in Vancouver, Washington, as reported by
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Encampments removed in Tacoma were ‘notably larger' in first quarter of 2025
The City of Tacoma removed nearly 80 homeless encampments during the first quarter of the year. While only a slight increase from the previous quarter, city officials said the encampments removed so far this year were 'notably larger.' According to data from Tacoma's Neighborhood and Community Services Department, the city conducted 79 encampment removals during the first quarter of 2025. The city removed 68 encampments during the first quarter of 2024. City spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune encampments removed in the first quarter of 2025 were 'notably larger' than in the last quarter of 2024, with several locations having more than 10 tents. Lee said the first quarter of 2025 included approximately four weeks of pauses in removals for certain holidays and the Point In Time Count — a one-night survey of those living homeless. Those pauses might have allowed the camps to grow, she said. The city agreed to not remove encampments for approximately two weeks ahead of the county's annual survey of those living unhoused. The city stated the pause was intended to allow the county to collect more accurate data. In the first quarter of 2025, the city spent $561,112 to remove 488,960 tons of debris from encampments. In the first quarter of 2024, the city spent $585,621 to remove 605,600 tons of debris. According to data from Tacoma's Homeless Engagement and Alternatives Liaison Team, the city records the highest volume of encampment reports during the summer months. In March, Shiloh Baptist Church closed its homeless shelter, which had 40 beds. The city is preparing to lose nearly 400 shelter beds by the end of 2025. Heading into the 2025 legislative session, Tacoma requested roughly $6 million to keep roughly 300 shelter beds operational through 2025. By June the city will lose 339 shelter beds without state funding. Lee told The News Tribune as of the first quarter of 2025, the city has a little over 1,000 shelter beds. With fewer shelter beds available than in previous years, the impact on the number of encampments the community will see is unclear. In October 2022, the Tacoma City Council passed an ordinance that prohibits camping and the storage of personal belongings in a 10-block radius around temporary shelters and all public property within 200 feet of Tacoma's rivers, waterways, creeks, streams and shorelines. Under the ordinance, violators face fines of up to $250 and up to 30 days in jail. To date, the city reports that two citations or fines have been issued since the ordinance was passed. To enforce the policy, the city uses both police and homeless-outreach staff, known as the HEAL team, who make contact with people living in encampments that have been reported to the city. Their job is to get folks living unhoused to accept offers of shelter and services that help them get off the streets. The HEAL team reportedly contacted 519 people in the first quarter of 2025. It contacted 454 people during the first quarter of the previous year. When offered services by the HEAL team, historically only about half of individuals accept those services. That trend continued in the first quarter of 2025, with 54% of individuals expressing interest in the services offered. According to the city, the HEAL team placed 74 people into shelter during the first quarter of 2025, about 14% of those it contacted. In the first quarter of 2024, 61 were placed into shelter by the HEAL team, about 13%.
