Community News
Council signals intent to join county effort to help homeless
Gig Harbor moved closer to joining a county effort to tackle homelessness in the region after the city council approved a resolution of intent at its July 13 meeting.
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If it joins the Pierce County-led Unified Regional Approach to Homelessness, Gig Harbor would commit to a coordinated homelessness response among different jurisdictions in Pierce County and to addressing homelessness and housing instability throughout the region. Mayor Mary Barber and Shealynn Smiley, the city’s housing, health and human services program manager, participated in the plan’s creation.
“We have spent about two years or more, depending on which group you’re talking about, working together with other jurisdictions to figure out a way to begin solving the homelessness crisis in our county,” Barber said at the July 13 meeting. “After learning and listening to each other, I believe we’ve created a program that will help move the needle and improve the work that all Pierce County cities are doing in this critical area. We are working together toward the same end goal, which is dignity and help for those who need it.”
The resolution of intent lays out commitments for Gig Harbor, including:
- Developing or updating data collection requirements for homeless service providers, in order to align with other participating governments
- Developing or updating a procedure to connect people experiencing homelessness to housing and shelter through existing systems, such as the county’s Coordinated Entry and 24/7 call center, the Shelter Access Hub
- Developing or updating an inclement weather policy that includes coordination with other governments, in order to connect people experiencing homelessness with resources, and identifying places in the city that can serve as inclement weather shelters
- Supporting the establishment or expansion of at least one homeless intervention within the city
“The commitments … are either practices we are already doing and have in place here in the harbor, or are in the progress of implementing,” Smiley told council members at the July 13 meeting. “Signing on to the resolution of intent is a formal commitment that Gig Harbor will continue to work collaboratively across the county, and that our practices will align in a unified way to help substantially reduce homelessness so that it is rare, brief, and non-reoccurring.”
In a June study session, Smiley, Pierce County Council Chair Jani Hitchen and Mary Connolly, the county’s housing and homelessness policy analyst, presented the plan to Gig Harbor council members, who in turn expressed a strong desire to join the plan, starting with passing a resolution of intent.
Approving a resolution of intent only states the city intends to join the regional effort and an agreement must still be signed. There is no signing date set, however.
Jurisdictions that sign an agreement with Pierce County to join the plan have to financially contribute to it. But adopting a resolution of intent does not create an immediate financial commitment for Gig Harbor.
At the city council’s June study session, Connolly estimated that Gig Harbor would eventually have to pay between $5,000 and $9,000 per year. The methodology to determine each jurisdiction’s financial commitment is based on population, but Connolly noted that methodology needs work. She did not say how that methodology would change, if at all.
The council voted 5-0 to adopt the resolution.