The News Tribune released the *Homeless camping, sitting, setting down belongings* Ban data

Below are the stripped details. Full story link at bottom.

Encampments are banned near:

Aspen Court, Tacoma Emergency Micro-Shelter Sites at 6th Avenue and Orchard Street, South 69th Street and Proctor Street, 60th Street and McKinley Avenue; the stability site at 1421 Puyallup Ave.; the mitigation sites at South 82nd Street and Pacific Avenue and 3561 Pacific Avenue, the RISE Center Emergency Stabilization Shelter, Altheimer Memorial Church of God in Christ, Bethlehem Baptist Church and Shiloh Baptist Church.

In the last four months, the city of Tacoma has removed 23 encampments

The most recent clean-up was March 8 at 26th and Pacific, which is in the 35th and Pacific zone.

The HEAL Team contacted six people, and none accepted the city’s resources.

Services offered:

shelter, substance-use treatment, peer counseling and behavioral counseling.

649 contacts citywide since the ordinance went into effect Nov. 14.

Of those contacts, 386 people, or 59 percent, were interested in services

71 people, or 11%, were placed in a shelter.

Between Aug. 1 and Nov. 14, 194 people were offered services, and 95 people accepted them, a 49% acceptance rate.

Between Nov. 15 and Feb. 28; 485 people were offered services and 307 people accepted services, a 63% acceptance rate.

In non-prohibited areas, those who accepted services fell during the implementation by 7%.

Between Aug. 1 and Nov. 14, 208 people were offered services with 110 accepting, and between Nov. 15 and Feb. 28, 164 people were offered services and 79 accepted.

The city has 1,162 emergency, temporary and permanent shelters beds.

The emergency shelter beds increased from 380 to 430,

Temporary shelters decreased by 28 as a response to post COVID-19 and an operation’s ability.

In areas that have the ban, 311 requests related to homelessness decreased, from 1,531 requests before implementation to 1,082 requests after implementation. Requests for outreach decreased from 1,134 to 770.

In prohibited areas, calls for services increased by 3.2% for the three-and-a-half months during implementation as compared to the three-and-a-half months before implementation, according to South Sound 911 safety statistics

Non-prohibited areas had the same amount of 311 requests related to homelessness before and during the ordinance’s implementation

Removal of an encampment outside the banned area has to be authorized by the city manager, who assesses primary calls for services to public safety or 311, health impacts and environmental impacts, Griffith said.

The HEAL Team’s outreach is the same in the prohibited area and out of it. Griffith said TMC 8.19 has achieved voluntary compliance.

“This means that no citations, infractions or fines have been issued related to TMC 8.19, which is in keeping with council’s directive to pursue the least restrictive enforcement methods possible,” (maximum fine of $250 and/or a maximum imprisonment of 30 days).

District 1 Council Member John Hines, who was the sponsor of the encampment ordinance, said he wanted to highlight that the code has not led to arrest and criminal prosecution of people for being homeless or unhoused.

Allyson Griffith is director of Neighborhood and Community Services, which oversees the HEAL Team.

Shelter sites have increased slightly during the three-and-a-half months of the ordinance’s implementation. General complaints about homelessness issues, illegal dumping and miscellaneous requests also decreased.

Griffith said she is not certain if the decrease was due to reduced issues or if it’s related to the change in seasons.

Griffith said that in the prohibited areas the acceptance rate for services has increased since the implementation of TMC 8.19. Griffith said the timeline for implementation has been too short to “draw concrete conclusions on these data points.”

Griffith said the council will receive its next homeless services and strategy update in June.

Read more at: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article273141630.html

Kenneth King CPC, SSMH Outreach Coordinator

Office: 253-502-5455                                   kingk@p-c-a.org

Cell: 253-548-6566