Minutes - Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness Provider Meeting – October 4th, 2019
Welcome
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CC Mendoza, Metropolitan Development Council -
cmendoza@mdc-hope.org
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Glad everyone is here today
Candidate Forum Planning
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Cynthia Stewart, League of Women Voters -
stewdahl@comcast.net
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We hosted Candidate Forums last year
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Al will help
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We are using the process used last year – the Al Model (The “Ratcliffe Model” carries a little more panache, but I think - despite Al’s gentle pushback – we’ve decided on the “Al Model”. –ed)
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Al Ratcliffe -
alratcliffe@gmail.com
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The forum process is one I learned about in Massachusetts (interesting state name, Massachusetts – named after an Algonquin word for “at the great hill”, although at just 635 feet high, the hill it was named after doesn’t seem
like that great of a hill to me. Yes, it is well over twice as high as the highest point in Tacoma, but the highest point in Pierce County is over 22 times higher than that great hill. Just saying. –ed)
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Instead of candidates lined up, giving their pitches and boring us, we tried to turn it into a discussion of experiences
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Candidates will do 2-3 minute introduction.
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We’ll then break up into three different groups - and we’ll divide the candidates up into those 3 different groups
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In those smaller groups, we’ll give them stories about our own experiences or experiences our clients have had – with the goal of making a point (no meandering, pointless stories then – I guess I’ll just save my rambling stories
for the minutes, then. –ed).
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It is a matter of explaining to people what homeless person are experiencing on the streets.
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Candidates can ask questions during the session, but not launch into speeches.
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We’ll regroup, and candidates will do a report out on what they’ve heard
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Candidates will finally do a closing speech (a short closing speech, I’m sure Al meant a short closing speech. –ed)
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Emily – are we advertising this to our residents experiencing homelessness? Cynthia – since this group is open, feel free to bring people. We don’t advertise widely because we don’t have facilities to accommodate a large crowd
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The Candidates’ assumptions are they will get different info in the different groups. Our assumption is they will get generally the same information no matter what group they are in – just from a different slant. They will just
meet with one group.
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Geographically, there are different experiences in different areas.
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Cynthia – University Place, Lakewood and Fircrest – all have municipal elections. When invited to come to a candidate forum, the candidates said they don’t have homeless people to speak of in their jurisdiction. They feel this
is a Tacoma problem, and not their problem. (last year, 378 of the people experiencing homelessness in Pierce County came from University Place and 1,372 from Lakewood, but most left those cities to be homeless elsewhere in the County, probably to more
easily access community resources. But, why believe the numbers when one sees very few homeless people in University Place. Honestly, I’m not sure what nefarious motives or gross incompetence “homeless deniers” attribute to those of us who publish the homeless
data they apparently dismiss. It continually surprises me how anecdote or repetitive storytelling can quite effectively subvert the truth. I was just chatting today with a Lakewood City Councilmember, who mentioned that they had some 20 or so homeless people
in Lakewood who were homeless, and that when you talk to them, they are actually quite nice people. Kudos for thinking of human beings as human beings, but when I mentioned that the number of homeless in Lakewood was more like 378 than 20, it was as if I was
telling a cat person a dog story – you know how that is - their eyes glaze over, they stop listening and you just know they are thinking of the next cat story to tell you. I’ll listen to the cat story, but this stuff is important. Sigh. –ed)
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Al – if you reside in the district a candidate represents, you might identify that to them.
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Cynthia – These are all Tacoma candidates
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Question - is Council Member Blocker coming? Cynthia – I think so.
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Al – candidates who are up for reelection know about our concerns for homelessness.
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Al – Invite people to come next week.
State Department of Commerce Interagency Work Group on Homelessness
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Larry Seaquist, League of Women Voters -
larryseaquist@comcast.net
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Some years back, a 2-page directive told all state agencies – any agency with contact with youth homelessness – to form an interagency working group.
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For the last 3 years, that working group has been meeting several times a year. They’re going to produce a plan in December to reduce youth homelessness.
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We’ll ask them to come present when that plan is done.
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As a past bureaucrat – these workgroups are a way of full employment for bureaucrats. They always say they can do more if they had more data and a consultant. (I don’t understand why the useful data is seldom calculated and
published – like how much money is needed to address the current homeless crisis. That isn’t a hard number to determine, but our bureaucrats don’t seem to even try. They have the answer to life the universe and everything, all they need to do is find out the
question, so to speak. –ed)
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These State groups have little contact with us – how many have had connections with the Department of Commerce around homelessness? – (just two hands
raised -ed)
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The state setup 20 agencies that all touch youth homelessness
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Maybe when we see their plan, we will be able to respond to it and help the state connect its agency to us.
Racial Equity working group
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Heidi Nagel, Carolyn Weisz, Mike Craw, others, many not here today
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Two weeks from today we’ll use an hour plus to hold a series of discussion on what you experience with the causes of homelessness that are widely disproportionate for families and youth of color. There is a brand new report out
state-wide that shows 3.5% of students are homeless. In mason county it is 9%. Statewide – there are 40,000 homeless kids. 62% are kids of color – wildly disproportionate experience for families and youth of color. We’ll ask you in small group – just like
Al was describing last week, what is your experience and your observations about what is going on. We want more your experiences than your theories.
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In part two, we’ll ask, based on experience, are there things we can do to address that wildly disproportionality.
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Who you would like to be here - people in your organization or people experiencing homelessness who could provide some experiences? Who should we invite. We’ll remind you again next week – just think about someone who should
really be here – someone we should really listen to.
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Maureen – the City government has a big push on race and equity- just reported on this. The County has also started a race and equity group at the staff government and leadership level – might be good for the community to reach
out to those two governments
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The Continuum of Care is developing a master plan responding to the state requirement - there needs to be a racial equity component to that master plan. In the next few weeks – we’ll have an opportunity for you folks to chew
on that draft, that will go the state in December.
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The discussion is two weeks from today, we’ll invite your thoughts – like roots of homelessness, barriers to exiting homelessness, dynamics behind wildly disproportional homelessness – and from your experience ways to address
that.
Tacoma Pierce County Chamber
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Len Ganduglia, Business Development -
leng@tacomachamber.org
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The Business community, the Chamber Board, want us to become more engaged with the homeless situation.
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We want some input and feedback from those of you doing this work, to inform our strategy.
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Tom Pierson, President and CEO -
TomP@tacomachamber.org
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Thank you for what you all are doing
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The vision of the chamber is to make the south sound the best place to do business, period.
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The homeless issue, whether it is housing, addiction, mental health – is an issue we need to address.
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Business needs to be part of that solution – and we want to be a part of that. But we don’t know how to jump in (have you tried just handing out buckets of cash to nonprofits? You could do worse. –ed).
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The solutions are multiple – but I do know that coming together works – whether it is labor and business, or other groups coming together.
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I applaud you for doing this. I’m here because we want to be part of the solution (I’ll bring the bucket, you can bring the money – sort of come together, as you say. –ed)
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We want to help businesses help this community. This is a top priority for our business.
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A lot of our nonprofits are doing great things. How can we support you. There isn’t a big checkbook (I may not have mentioned this, but we’ll also take cash, not just checks. –ed) out there – but it is coming together
and working on solutions that is important.
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How can we make this the best place to do business in the south sound
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Maureen – thanks for coming – one things I happened to hear at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, that as the city goes forward trying to create more shelter space – enough shelter is needed day and night no matter who they
are, and the Mayor is explicit that everything needs to be safe, warm and dry - a case manager was concerned that more shelter will take the chamber to work the business side. I know RVs are lined up in the south end. We need you to work the business side.
– Tom – we need our Cities unified on this – that other cities are pushing people to Tacoma. We need to work toward unity
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Maureen – we have an offer from LIHI (info on LIHI at
https://lihi.org/ -ed) – they say they can have a tiny home village up and running by December.
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Larry – thanks for being here. The folks in Puyallup are firmly of the belief that all the homeless come from Seattle (insert 2nd rant about people ignoring the evidence in favor of a story they like better. –ed).
It would be useful for the chamber to help the whole community understand the realities of homelessness. The folks on the street are a small percentage of the total homeless –you’re simply not seeing the problem. You could help the whole community see the
real problem and respond to it. The data explanation of who people are homeless is compelling. Tom – I agree – we have 1,800 businesses throughout the South Sound- people know what they see. The homeless folks are often hidden – I’ve done a few night counts-
but it’s been awhile.
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Don Sheppard – we had talked about South Sound Summit – a Premier event. You mentioned a platform to discuss this. Tom – on November 13th – 500 folks from business community will come together. We want an hour 10:30-11:30
– to have a forum on homelessness. We’ll mix it in with some business folks – for many business folks it will be an introductions – we’d like this group to be well represented there.
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Joy – are you covering all of Tacoma and Pierce County, do you work on the Gig Harbor or Key Peninsula side? Tom –chambers are 501c(6) – not tax deductible. There are 6 others in Pierce County – Gig Harbor is there – and it is
a great chamber (where Joy and I will be talking homelessness on October 24th – info at
https://www.gigharborchamber.net/events/details/public-affairs-forum-2019-10-24-2019-3217 -ed). Joy – what do you do specifically in homelessness or affordable housing. Would you like to be more involved – I need home
providers. Tom – we want to be involved, but what is the best place for us to be in line with this group. I don’t have answer, you do – I want to be helpful to you. We are ready for you to tell us what you need – what would be useful. (I may have mentioned
this, but would buckets of money be an option? –ed)
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Peach- I appreciate you coming – one way you all could manifest that interest in being part of the solution in a concrete way would be to have a chamber member come here regularly. Tom- we’d like to do that. We are involved
in affordable housing, and how to make it more affordable to build – and have an incentive to make it affordable.
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Al – good morning – 2 or three things – I’m trying to identify where our interests overlap – housing, employment. We do need to work on the overlap with the business community. One thing that happens out of this group is a periodic
job fair – hire253. I’d like the chamber to endorse that – participate in it, bring job offers – it is really very impressive and we can provide you with information on that. I’d recommend an official person to link with. I’m delighted to hear you are willing
to do that. Tom – I’ll reach out about Hire253- it is an easy pivot to do that.
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Al – How is the business community doing at this point with fears about a recession. Tom – pierce county hits 3.5% growth every year – we just keep climbing – not huge growth, but that is a huge piece. Pierce County comes together
well – we can be impactful. We can help not just the homeless, but come together here.
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Maureen – something the chamber could do – the model called Mary’s place (https://www.marysplaceseattle.org/ ) – where they use commercial buildings that will be vacant for 2, 3,
5 years, or whatever – if you could find owners who have buildings like that, what would it take to make them available for a nonprofit or a community of faith to operate as a response to homelessness? Who has parking lots that could be made available for
people in cars or RVs to use for a safe place to park. The State has required and mapped all the government owned properties that could be surplus – they don’t map vacant business properties – is there a willing owner? That 6th Ave k-mart has
a marvelous parking lot, a marvelous building with fire sprinklers. Tom – that is a good comment – one is trust – who is going to manage this. I know businesses see the garbage and wonder how their property is going to be treated. One issue we have is Bartell’s
– how many years did it take to get that off the list of unused properties.
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Maureen – there is a history of hiring homeless people to cleanup spaces – that is an easy fix. There are experienced property managers among the nonprofits. Absentee owners is on you. What kind of local ordinance would limit
the amount of time an absentee owner would keep a property vacant – better is comes from you not us. Tom - that is a trust thing.
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Gerrit – we want some money (this guy is spot on. –ed). Tom - we are a nonprofit – the more powerful piece would be finding a model that works – or finding a project or some property owners and some asks around that. It
would need to be a very specific ask (a 5 gallon bucket of money? –ed) – businesses writing a check need to see the matrix on success. Just as we go to foundations or governments – or if we could show impact with funding.
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Greg H – You are big on the 80% of your group doing networking –you meet to highlight businesses. Have you considered taking your meetings to nonprofits – Associated Ministries, Metropolitan Development Council, etc.? Tom –
we’ve done some of that. Our chamber – networking is important. We’ve done some things. That would be good. I’m always about advocacy – laws are helpful for our community. There are stories to be told – how many nonprofits are here – people know the
Metropolitan Development Council and the big organizations – but we are open to that. We send out a ton of stuff to our folks – with a business lens – it is helpful.
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Greg W – I’m glad you are here engaging in this conversation. The chamber can help us clarify the common understanding of the issue of homelessness. There is a lot of misunderstanding of the causes (I thought it was just
moral failing. –ed). If we could partner with the chamber on the reality of homelessness – like the bulk of homelessness isn’t just on the streets. How do we engage you and the chamber members with a common understanding? How do we move the next level
of understanding. We need to know the business challenges. How do we get to the table to create a dialog with the business community. Tom – we’re 100% - I think this meeting is the first step, but not much of a step. You are all natural partners – we
need to start grabbing partners who aren’t natural partners. We need the though leaders in the community together. Tacoma is successful because of Seattle’s failures around transportation and homelessness – and we don’t’ have the level of issues Seattle
has – we need to do more and get more folks involved.
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Question – My ask would be having someone here regularly. The presentations each week vary a lot each week. I’d recommend reaching out to different organizations that present here, and meet with folks at those organization –
an excellent way to get information. I specifically work with young children of families experiencing homelessness. One thing that is important in getting a fuller view – would be good to know people doing workforce development, housing, child care – instead
of what ever happened to be here that day
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Al – thinking about building relationships, is it sensible to invite us to participate in cocktail hours and business meeting – many of these conversation are good, but maybe participating in your networking events. The south
sound summit will bring a dialog to the business community. Many non-profits have business folks on your boards – but large businesses are focused on what they are focused on, if topics aren’t on their doorsteps, they aren’t thinking about it and are maybe
hoping that someone else is doing something about it.
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Greg – Can someone from this group attend chamber meetings? Tom - yes
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Maureen – what is the cost of the south sound summit? You say you are an advocate. In the past, a bank said they’d either lobby with us on housing and homelessness, or not lobby at all, but they said they would not lobby against
us. Tom - There are times when our voice is useful, but there are times when your silence is helpful. Summit is $99 for all day. Tom – but we’ll figure out a way to get you there. November 13th – we’ll feed you and water you
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Don –could we have a membership for the coalition? Tom – we can figure something out
Shelter Update
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Maureen Howard, Senior Policy Analyst -
maureenhowardconsulting@gmail.com
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Thank you Larry for bringing the information from the State youth council here – there are a couple others – and everything Larry said about these state council is true, but it also forces them to get people into a room. We
forced the governor to allow us to get into the room. They provide an opportunity – and you have to work them all the time.
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The Continuum of Care plan is still being worked on – we just had confirmation this morning that the Council is required by HUD to vote on it – the State is requiring a new housing homeless plan delivered to the state by December
1st. These are combined in the County’s 5 year plan. That plan will go to county council – I can send it out on the distribution list – it is brief and readable. There will be a final presentation at the October 16th meeting – that
should have the racial equity section incorporated. There is that.
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We attended a recent city meeting. The City provided what we thought was inaccurate, but nobody asked the next questions. To say the Catholic Community Services Family Day Center is open is a start – but it is necessary to ask
when it is open, and how it serves. We have to figure out how to help providers to provide that information to people not around the table all the time so that everyone can understand. Anita Gallagher – who is assistant to the City Manager – who made the
statement that the Salvation army never turns anyone away. If I’m sitting on the council, I’d ask then why we are having this conversation if that is the case (the Salvation Army is pretty amazing, but like all of us providing shelter, they have limited
resources and have to turn households away way more often than they would like. –ed)
. Even if these people are of the best value – why would we do that. We all understand that Martha will do anything to get someone housed. But the city council. We all have the stories of turning away someone to find them dead later (I just took
someone off the list of veterans homeless in Pierce County because they passed away. –ed)
. We always hope in the morning that someone will be there. My personal favorite misinformation is that 70% of folks in a park will refuse services. Even the HOT Team saw that people can be so ill they can’t accept help. (and really, what services
were offered? Not overnight shelter – that is so limited it is almost never available without being on a waitlist. Every time law enforcement says “services were refused” it just makes it that much harder for us to get additional funding for the actual services
people experiencing homelessness need and aren’t currently available – services I suspect law enforcement would like to have available to the people they interact with. –ed)
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Even if you don’t work in Tacoma, what happens with this code will ripple – we want to set something that we are proud of – that when it ripples we will be happy. We have 60 days to come up with what the Mayor requested. We
are taking this as an opportunity – not just for the people in tents in the park. KOMO focused on Wright Park and Titlow. Mary – does Metro parks have data on population by week or by day? People’s park has attention of the city council – but I think there
are 71 parks.
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Mary – we do have data – not around population size, but by occurrences of camps and active areas. Mary - we do anecdotal counting daily at Peoples and Wright Park. We have compiled a list of our parks most impacted that we’ll
share with Mike Yoder and the Metro Parks Executive Director – to pinpoint the greatest need. Maureen - Mary is part of the commitment of metro parks – she’s here every Friday.
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There is a contract with the City of Tacoma, Metropolitan Development Council and AM. Rob – from Metropolitan Development Council’s side, the conversation is continuing. The final discussion and the approval – we are just taking
in information and nothing is finalized. It will go to Council, and we will look at it at that point.
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My understanding is that there is a part of the contract where people experiencing homelessness, allies, service providers, will meet – in addition to whatever else is there.
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My handout – with whitespace. You can fill it out now- or e-mail me later.
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Linda Stewart, with the City of Tacoma, has invited me to meet with her – so I can share this information
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You can write out what you can
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Michael Mirra laid out a really nice road map – if you looked at the non-Permanent Supportive Housing stuff- things like encampments for people hesitant to use shelter, for whatever reason. He has a whole spectrum. Much of
that is low hanging fruit. What could be done in 58 days. Here are a couple of my ideas – identify the informal services network -such as St. Vincent de Paul – can we strengthen it? Can we help those folks expand. Many don’t need government money, but
could be strengthened. A council member suggested police substations for shelters – those buildings are usually empty. The Kandle police substation has a huge parking lot – has parks stuff – Mary will see who owns the parking lot. I just know if it will
work. It is like the old Tacoma Avenue Shelter building that is probably still vacant – it is at code, what would it take to open it. Think about all the times we said “if only”, or this would be easy. Maybe your agency don’t want to own the housing, we
want to do the services – let us know things like that.
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What can we suggest for the most difficult to shelter? People are most difficult because of addiction or Mental Health, or are just too proud. They rather have their own control of their lives. We could mirror Tacoma Rescue Mission
with just the people near it on South Tacoma way. We do have great shelters.
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Michael - is the ordinance restricting structures only calling out no walls. The tents are already not legal at night – they can have a roof but no walls – you couldn’t have clear plastic around? Is clear plastic a wall?
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Emily – can you say more about the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI)? Maureen – the Low Income Housing Institute has developed the tiny house village in Washington – they’ve done 1,000 tiny houses in Seattle, and those in
Olympia. Sharron Lee said they can have them up and running in two months. I sent her to the City – to Linda Stewart and Jeff Robinson. Do I think tiny houses are an answer? No. do they provide limited housing at a low cost for a limited set of people?
Yes. They find the personal space of a tiny house works for the most difficult to house. Emily – a high barrier tiny house village for low barrier was shut down because of perceived issues.
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Question – about the LIHI tiny house village – I visited one in Seattle. One advantage of that model is they have a case manaer there to connect folks to services.
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Peach - I work with the library – they’re actively seeking groups to do outreach in the libraries
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The question is what you would need to do to add capacity. The City of Tacoma has money set aside.
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Tacoma Rescue Mission does outreach and Latisha Bones is the lead on outreach.
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I’m not suggesting tiny villages are the answer
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Gerrit – We need to know the details of the funding opportunities – how much money to be focused on what type of work
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Question – something on my mind – we have - from a simple google search I did - 18 golf courses – lots of land and parking lots. Maureen - that is the sort of things to think about.
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Gail – the costs of individuals going to the Emergency Room and not having the services they need – placing bodies in concrete campgrounds should be possible to do at a much lower cost than serving people in emergency rooms.
It would still be a lower cost. Maureen – it is the source of the money that is important.
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Al – tom gave us a strong hint to make specific proposals with costs. We need some budget people to put things together
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Al- Is there a role for Elevate Health?
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Question – Elevate Health – the new name for the Pierce County Accountable Communities of Health -one of the Accountable Communities of Health in Washington state. We are tasked to better use Medicaid healthcare money in Washington
state. We will soon have a One-Pierce Foundation to submit grants to – I’ll take this back to our leadership. (I’m not sure I got this comment completely right.-ed)
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Pastor John – in Portland, years ago, lots of property owners had covered parking garages that weren’t being used – and the homeless community got access to a specific covered space. If there were any problems – police couldn’t
go in without a warrant. That idea worked quite well with the owners of the property. Maybe make those available in Tacoma. Of course, you had to responsible for your area – you were allocated a specific spot.
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The court just ruled that the safe injection sites are legal.
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Council Member McCarthy made a point to bring up that Fire Station One is an opioid (interesting word, opioid. Not many words with the “ioi” vowel string. Opium is the root, which is from the Greek “opo”, meaning “vegetable
juice”. Just in case you were curious.–ed) safe place to come there.
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Question – how do clients enter the Salvation Army? – family shelter is through Coordinated Entry – 2 rooms are dedicated through the City of Puyallup for single men and women. That is extra to the community at large in Tacoma.
Question – I heard that Puyallup wasn’t happening and it went through Associated Ministries. Don – not true.
Good of the order
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If you have a felony you can vote – there is a card that describes your rights and how to get registered – contact Julie Anderson -
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MDC – money coming (this doesn’t make any sense, now that I’ve written it, but that is the note I took, so I’m sticking with it. –ed)
Coming Attractions
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November 15th - Started by high school students, Benevolence Blankets provides blankets to people experiencing homelessness. We’ll also have a chat with Allison Needles, with the News Tribune, hear about the Tacoma
Fire Departments new Safe Station program, and learn about the Sexual Assault Center. It is a packed agenda, but I’m rolling with.
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November 22nd – Councilwoman Pam Roach will visit to chat about expanding shelter in Pierce County, MDC’s withdrawal management and evaluation and treatment center will come present, and we’ll also have Crossroads Treatment
Center in Lakewood (and perhaps soon on the Key) come talk about their work.
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November 29th – Black Friday – no meeting
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December 6th – The Port Gamble S’Klallam Reentry Program will come present, and we’ll hear about a new Community Engagement Taskforce around youth employment (among other topics). We’ll also do a “year in Review”
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December 13th – Forum on Libraries and Homelessness
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Evening of December 20th – Coalition Christmas Party
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January 3rd – is the way Trix cereal puffs naturally gather together a window into the nature of gravity or clear evidence that naturally and artificially fruit flavored sweetened corn puffs are actually both sentient
and social? We’ll bring some of the premier food scientists of the 1950’s, a couple physicists, and a whole room of precocious 6 year olds to discuss the matter over breakfast.
Restaurant Review
You know that feeling of happiness and even euphoria you can feel in a crowd where you’re connecting to and even synchronizing with the masses? It is called “Collective Effervescence” (a lovely term coined by the enormously influential
French Sociologist Emile Durkheim). It is a feeling that is hard not to love. Sometimes we tweak reality a bit to help create that feeling of connection and majesty – churches put you in a different place with the light filtered through stained glass, music
unique to cathedrals, the scent of incense – it can all wrap together with our sense of awe around the divine to create an intense experience. Raves, curiously, offer not unlike feelings, although the technique for bending reality can differ a bit. I feel
it most often in crowds in cities. Sometimes because of something extraordinary - like the 1995 Mariners American League West win that advanced them to the American League Championship Series (was that a great game, or what). Other times, it is just everyone
humming along in the same collective path towards happiness. I remember a night in Vienna when my 3 year old and I were wandering the City riding trams and eating anything sold by street vendors. We were among a City of people going out for a night of fun
– and for me, that feeling just echoed everywhere. At one point, we were on a tram heading into the heart of the city, and I remember chatting in my rather limited German to a lovely septuagenarian couple in a suit and beautiful dress heading to the opera.
They were so kind and content. I felt a part of all that goodness and happiness all around me. Fun note - in the center of Vienna, they pipe the opera music live into the pedestrian squares in front of opera house – so everyone takes it in, not just those
able to pay to get inside. That feeling doesn’t happen for me much in Tacoma - street fairs and First Night often have their moments when they really hum, and I like that. One place I associate with that collective happiness is
Von’s Martini Bar (https://www.vons1000spirits.com/ - 1225 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101). During the holiday season, my family heads up for a night in Downtown Seattle. The streets team with people eating,
window shopping, and generally having a good time. I can soak up a bit of that collective effervescence, but truth told, I can only take so much crowd before I get a little claustrophobic. That is when I head to Von’s, a bar that has been there 100 years
(I actually prefer their old location on 6th and Pine, but I guess nothing last forever). They have a heated patio where you can get a superb martini and some pretty good nosh, while watching the happy throngs. If timing is on your side, Happy
Hour is where it is at. But really, the point is the rather extraordinary variety of drink at Von’s, and the patio, of course. Honestly, any heated patio dining somewhat near all the buzz makes me happy at Christmas time in Seattle. I like to sit and people
watch, truth told. I have hopes that Pacific Avenue in Tacoma, especially in the general Matador - Wooden City - McMenamins - Devil’s Reef area, will one day have the shopping/theater/dining vibe you get in downtown Seattle. Until then, I’ll hop on the bus
and take in an evening wandering the streets of Seattle, looking at $500 shoes I’ll never buy, dropping a quarter in the Pike Place pig while watching the fish fly, and enjoying the feel of being a part of a generally happy mass.
Attendees (I didn’t get all my sign in sheets back, so sorry if I missed you – ed).
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“A really impressively written pair of first and middle names I can’t decipher, but either start with Rs or Ps” Morales, Elevate Health
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Someone from SeaMar who I knew but couldn’t come up with their name at that moment in time
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Gail Misner, Molina Healthcare
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Emily Less, Tacoma Pierce County Health Department
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Christine Sharp-Lamas, Puyallup Tribe
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Cheri Coleman, Partner Cafe
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Mary Anderson, Metro Parks Tacoma
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Peach McDouall, Clubhouse Model Advocate
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Gary Darley, RN Student
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Dana Pederson, Catholic Community Services
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Christina Qiao, Tacoma Rescue Mission
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Carolyn Weisz, University of Puget Sound
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Matthew Jorgensen, City of Tacoma
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Lauren Angelo, Metropolitan Development Council
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Rob Huff, Metropolitan Development Council
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Don Sheppard, Tacoma Salvation Army
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Steven Simmons, University of Washington Tacoma
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Richard Berghammer – Fellowship Bible Church
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Larry Parsons, Helping Hands for Veterans
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Dave Morell, Pierce County Council
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Greg Homan, Associated Ministries
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Greg Walker, Cardo Communities
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Mary something
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Hava Tursky, Childcare Resources
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Bryan Green, Olive Creast - Safe Streets for Children
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Pastor John, Got Jesus
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Gerrit Nyland, Catholic Community Services
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Stephanie Glover, Comprehensive Life Resources
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Cynthia Stewart, League of Women Voters
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Larry Seaquist, League of Women Voters
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Mariam Kone, Comprehensive Life Resources
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M.J. Gruenewald, Comprehensive Life Resources
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Mike Craw, The Evergreen State College
Gerrit F. Nyland
Director of Client Information Systems, SW
Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
Mobile: 253-304-5105