If the City Leaders and Mayor are planning for emergency shelter, there needs to be a clear strategic approach, an informed community, and better coordination between the Pierce County, the City of Tacoma, Metro Parks, and 3rd party contractors, like Valeo. On such short notice, our community is not equipped to offer these services or the Center at Norpoint as a homeless warming location.

Sheltering the homeless during the winter is an annual necessity that will continue to be a worsening problem if the homeless are not assisted in other ways in addition to basic shelter and food during inclement weather.

A public bus ride from the Center at Norpoint to locations in Tacoma where social services are available is at least two hours, when normal bus services are available. Without reasonable access to city services, grocery, food other health resources, the problems of the homeless intended to be helped will not be addressed and our community will be negatively impacted as the result.

The cost of transporting people to and from the Center at Norpoint, along with the additional resources needed to manage the logistics and to create services where currently none exist, will be significant. It makes more sense to establish a warming center near existing services and without the added costs incurred by choosing such a remote location.

The Tacoma Dome and empty schools in Tacoma, including McKinley, Geiger, and Rogers, would be better choices for warming centers. These locations have showers in locker rooms, and bus and transit are close by for reaching city services.

The City of Tacoma does not have a clear strategy or plan for addressing warming center services including employment services, increased need for ambulance services to transport homeless, increased police protection at the substation, health and safety concerns, and bus transportation. The lack of a clear strategy puts our communities and families in further danger.

Valeo Vocation provides employment, case management and supportive services to enhance success for individuals experiencing homelessness. They are not an emergency shelter provider that provides services needed for drug rehabilitation, transportation, staffing for warming centers, cleaning services, or community protections. People knowledgeable and with appropriate credentials are needed to evaluate and engage resource providers for the necessary services to manage a warming center.

Our community is concerned about drug use, the mentally ill, sex offenders, trash dumping, human waste dumping, increased crime, possible gang presence, and having homeless people walking the streets near schools and around this completely residential area that could result from using the Center at Norpoint as a warming shelter. Our families and our children should not live in fear in our neighborhoods.

Repurposing the Tacoma County Jail towers that have never been used as a homeless care center is a wise choice since it is closer to services needed by the homeless that are located within the city. While the optics may not seem ideal, the resources for long-term, impactful change are nearby and at the ready.

It’s clear that the pandemic and winter weather conditions have placed a financial strain on the City of Tacoma, as it has for most everyone; however, making decisions that will not truly benefit the homeless and could potentially cause harm to our community will only add to the turmoil.

As the communities of Norpoint, Dash Point and Browns Point, we believe in the dignity of each individual and the preservation of life and safety are very important to all of us. However, a strategic and detailed plan with the voices of more stakeholders and the communities most impacted could lead to a better approach for all as it relates to providing more convenient housing while offering a greater array of services to those in need.