Council Legislation

Proposed Resolution No. R2024-136

Title: A Resolution of the Pierce County Council Adopting the Six-Year Advisory Expenditure and Implementation Plan for the Housing and Related Services Fund.

Status: Passed

Sponsors: Councilmembers Ryan Mello, Jani Hitchen

Final votes

March 26, 2024
Nay Nay Nay Aye Aye Aye Aye


Documents
Additional legislative records are available below Collapse All  Expand All
 

Public Comments

Name Date Comment
John Leslie 3/22/24 9:05 PM The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. The housing first agenda is a demonstrably failed effort. Continuing to spend millions of dollars to advance failure is by definition, insanity. This 6 year plan will continue not only to waste huge amounts of taxpayer dollars, it actually will exacerbate the problem. The main issue that brings so much public attention is the drug and alcohol addicted homeless. Conflating first time home buyers, seniors, veterans, etc. with addicted homeless does not camouflage the waste. Providing housing while not compelling treatment makes the problem worse! This plan should be rejected or amended to remove the housing first agenda and replace it with compelled treatment. Anything short of this is insane.
Linda Wilson 3/25/24 7:31 AM I OPPOSE THIS BILL. DO NOT MAKE THIS LAW. IT HASEN'T WORKED YET WHY SPEND MORE MONEY ON OLD IDEAS! SINCERELY LINDA WILSON
Stephen D Wilson 3/25/24 7:34 AM I oppose this bill. No more money should be thrown toward this. New ideas are needed! Steve Wilson
Linda Wilson 3/25/24 8:25 AM STOP! ENOUGH 4 HAS BEEN BLOWN SINCERELY LINDA WILSON 2024-136
Stephen D Wilson 3/25/24 8:26 AM STOP SPENDING & BLOWING MONEY ON THIS LOST CAUSE. YOU CLEARLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO ALLOCATE MONEY EFFECTLY! JUST STOP! 2024-136
Judi Moody 3/25/24 9:44 AM Just more money down a rathole of good intentions run amok. I can't think of a single, successful outcome with any government "housing" projecct...One need look no further than the devastation wrought in Chicago, New York, etc. with the "projects' destroying miles of communities.How about focusing on the crime issues that are plaguing our state.
Ryan Holland 3/25/24 9:52 AM This resolution is written with intentions of good cause to continue funding for housing and homelessness and it details written texts that indicate what the prognosis of results will be produced after it is implemented. This resolution is designed to fund a program that has displayed results of failures and minute improvements over the past couple of years. This policy is designed to use taxpayers dollars to fund a program that is a failure on many aspects of housing and related issues and the people of Pierce County cannot afford it. It increases rates of new home construction, purchases, and current residential homeowners. It's failure is no one can afford the price of these homes based on the property tax rates. The other aspect is on homelessness. The recovery of the homeless is first needing priority of treatment before sheltering, and the council failed to fund a non profit program that has a high success rate in that demographic. More funding means more tax increase to the residents of Pierce County and I highly recommend a no vote on this piece of legislation. Thank you for your time.
Kathryn Sheldon 3/25/24 10:43 AM Question: The 50,000 per household cost, that is referenced in the proposal, does that have a per annual inflationary increase attached to it. If the proposal uses $50,000 per household,per year without this, then the costs of the proposal are not accurate without inflationary adjustment. Comment: Southhill, south of the intersection of 144th St E and 122nd Ave E is to be expanded to include a center turn lane. Part of this included eminent domain. There are four duplexes on the west side of 122nd Ave E , 3 have been purchased by the county, one is now boarded up. I think 2 houses will be purchased as well. So the point is, is that this is removing 8 rental units from the market. Until they are torn down, why is the county not using them for temporary housing. I suspect that several of the units were rented below market. Just saying here is an opportunity to provide some housing.
Karla Scott 3/25/24 12:12 PM Experience and history are great teachers. NOTHING that has been done so far has helped the homeless situation. Is homelessness a financial windfall for government, contractors and the homeless? If you truly want to help the homeless, you would put them to work to earn their dignity and secondarily, you would get them true mental health help if they are addicted to drugs. Throwing more money at the problem is historically foolish. DON'T reward bad behavior by giving them free housing.
Lynette Borcherding 3/25/24 12:41 PM NO MORE NEW TAXES! Stop fleecing us for the industrial, homeless complex. Your methods are FAILING. Throwing more of our tax dollars at this problems solves NOTHING. We all know how to truly fix this. Close the border and STOP the flow of drugs is step #1. These people need treatment, but until the drugs are stopped or their drug cycle is interrupted by incarceration, a roof will NOT solve the problem.
Marina 3/25/24 1:00 PM As a citizen on Pierce County i have had enough of your fiscal irresponsibility and lack of knowledge and understanding where these people come from and why they are here. They are here from many other states for your damn handouts from tax paying citizens and I am so done with this agenda and chaos you all have helped creat for your WEF new world order!!! This is outrageous and I oppose this gross injustice to those that of us that have been taxed to death by you horrible politicians who are empty headed living in dystopia idiots! Send them back to their home states for one! Giving them a rent free home to have their drugs and mental ill ess go unchecked is as stupid as it gets but alas.. thats all you people know. We the people are pissed off!!
Kyle 3/25/24 1:43 PM I oppose this bill. No new taxes, no homeless village
Z Dunning 3/25/24 2:03 PM Reject Resolution R2024-136 Are you morally sure you want to add another tax to the good people of Pierce County for failing special interest projects? I fear that, you, the “elected” County Council and Executor are out of touch with the personal economic situations of Pierce County residents. Did you know that most of us are financially maxed out? Since 2020, fuel costs have doubled, property taxes have doubled (and you want more money?), bread has doubled, rent has increased 60%, housing prices have doubled, mortgage rates have nearly tripled. And now you want to raise our taxes......again? ...........for programs that are not solving the root cause of felon criminal panhandling vagrants you call “homeless” .........Funding the false problem of ‘homelessness” is increasing the population of people that are brain broken criminals that refuse treatment, steal to buy drugs, vandalize property, threaten the safety of good people and our law enforcement employees. We, the good people of Pierce County, are done with the financial abuse and fiscal irresponsibility that you, the County Council, forces upon us. Taking our money and using it for irrational funding of failing projects requested by special interest groups (and the Heath Department) that profiteer from the pain of the “homeless” and have no incentive to solve their mental and drug addiction problems because their six figure salaries would go away? I wonder, are the drug addicted criminal “homeless” actually suffering because of special interest greed? Vote against R2024-136 support the good people of Pierce County. Your vote on this will be remembered.
Kim Peterson 3/25/24 2:04 PM Please do not support this. We do not need more taxes, rather we need better solutions. What we have been doing is clearly not working.
Doug Stearns 3/25/24 2:14 PM This is a very bad idea. Taking money from honest hard working taxpaying citizens and giving it to People who don't and never will care about the community is a horrible idea, its just plain theft. If homeless people need help with addiction or mental health and are willing to participate in their own recovery fine, but those who aren't need locked up, giving more handouts only increases more dependance and crime. Why should people who worked hard all their lives to have a nice home and a place to live have to suffer so others can come in and destroy their neighborhoods. For those who support this insanity how many homeless have you invited into your home and neighbor hood? How many homeless do you want camping in your yard? quit doing the easy wrong and show some strength of character and do the hard right, work for and protect the honest hard working taxpayer and quit pandering to the looney squeaky wheels.
Jeffery Sproul 3/25/24 4:21 PM Oppose R2024-136. This 6 year plan will continue not only to waste huge amounts of taxpayer dollars, it actually will exacerbate the problem. The main issue that brings so much public attention is the drug and alcohol addicted homeless. Conflating first time home buyers, seniors, veterans, etc. with addicted homeless does not camouflage the waste. Providing housing while not compelling treatment makes the problem worse! This plan should be rejected or at least amended to remove the housing first agenda and replace it with compelled treatment. Anything short of this is insane. Sincerely, Jeff Sproul
Beryl Emberson-Nash 3/25/24 4:33 PM Please do not support this bill. It has not been working and we do not need to put more money in this big hole. We need to discuss different solutions that maybe a better way forward. Housing first without treatment does not work. Throwing good money after bad is ridiculous. It is not right that seniors and veterans have to compete!
Jeanette Montgomery 3/25/24 4:54 PM Stop wasting our hard-earned money on programs that do not help the homeless. You are throwing our money away. The homeless that are mental and drug users need to be put in jail or get treatment just like we did back in the 80's when we had drug courts and yes, we do need more low-income housing for the ones that are working but cannot afford the astronomical rents that landlords charge these days. Do not waste money on the programs that have not worked. This plan will just inflate the problem of homelessness that we already have. All you want to do is give money to your choice of charity in the name of helping the homeless but instead you are lining the pockets of your left winged liberal friends.
Mark & Patty Johnson 3/25/24 4:56 PM We are adamantly opposed to the proposal approving the expense and implementation of a six year plan to fund the homeless near Spanaway Lake. We can't afford it and you should listen to your constituents and stop spending money we just don't have. Help!!!!
Kathryn Webster-Minnick 3/25/24 5:20 PM When in our lives did it become a choice to give up? Why are we supporting this crap? Money should be spent getting these people and their drugs off our streets. Our strerts vecause WE pay taxes and still contibute to our society. We have not given up and given in to the abuse that fuels their lives. Why must it also invade ours. Our choice is to contribute. Their choice everyday is to imbide in their preferred drug and not participate. It is past time to take our streets back.
Eric Lundberg 3/25/24 5:37 PM STOP THIS!
Lori M. Uhler 3/25/24 6:29 PM I vehemently oppose this idea to construct a homeless village in Spanaway. There is too much that can and will go wrong. There is already much crime and shootings in this city. It will be a hotbed of crime. The money would be better spent on opening up Western State again. The police have a hard enough time trying to control crime on the street, not to mention our other first responders. Just a bad idea to be next to our water aqueducts too. Poor Spanaway has become an armpit ever since the side walks were built. It brought in the homeless with the busline and section eight housing, now you want to add to the problem. NO WAY!
Roberta Schur 3/25/24 6:45 PM While we applaud the Councils adoption of the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Act, there are a couple of items in the Expenditure and Implementation Plan that we would like to provide some feedback on. The proposed plan requires that if service dollars are awarded, the owner must fill units using the coordinated entry system. We believe this would have a negative impact on exclude projects that have set-asides for homeless households who receive referrals through other pathways as there are not a lot of other sources of services dollars available for these projects. Housing providers are experiencing an increase in the number of very low-income people presenting with more issues and needing support in order for them to be successfully housed. In addition, there are other homeless housing resources that conflict with this requirement as we understand it. The Veterans Administration provides housing vouchers to homeless veterans and refers VA clients to the housing units. These folk would not come through coordinated entry and would therefore not be eligible for service dollars from this program to support the residents once there were in permanent housing. On page 17, the Plan sets for the requirement for coordinated entry. We suggest adding to the following bullet item: Households must be refereed through Pierce county’s Coordinated Entry System unless they are referred through other homeless service programs such as the Veterans Administration.
Ken Scudder 3/25/24 8:13 PM NO MORE NEW TAXES!Reject Resolution R2024-136 Are you morally sure you want to add another tax The industrial homless complex is in full swing. how about supporting the law abiding citizens of pierce county for a change. you have been elected to do just that. now do your job.
Steve Johnson 3/25/24 11:54 PM I oppose this legislation. Please vote no.
David Conrad 3/26/24 5:45 AM Please do not waste anymore taxpayer money on people that don't want help. the problem is not homelessness it's a drug problem.
Michelle Ash 3/26/24 6:36 AM Oppose!
Sherry Haviland 3/26/24 7:30 AM R2024-136. Why are you continually wasting our hard earned taxpayer dollars on projects that don't work? So many homeless don't want housing because they are drug addicted. Most people that need housing that are homeless seek it. But not this way. Please don't pass this. Rethink your spending our dollars.
Justin Anderson 3/26/24 10:57 AM Please do not support this proposal. This is the wrong site and wrong method to help the unhoused. There are plenty of options and resources for those unhoused people who are truly trying to make a change in their lives. Unfortunately many of the unhoused are unwilling to trade drug use, alcohol use, etc. for housing. When given the choice, most would choose to continue drug/alcohol use versus being housed. It is not up to the taxpayers and council to provide options that are not wanted.
Shannon Gregory 3/26/24 11:44 AM Housing first has been an abysmal failure. Without compelling treatment for drug addiction and mental health, you are wasting taxpayer money and creating unsafe communities. This is a bad plan. It will not end homelessness. It will not make our communities safer. Please do not pass this!
Aaron 3/26/24 12:30 PM The Pierce County Human Services Department has presented a 6 year spending plan to implement the “Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness”. This plan and spending are a continuation of the failed policy of ending homelessness by providing housing. This failed “housing first” policy continues to drain $millions in Pierce County and Billions across the state and nation. I oppose this legislation (No. R2024-136). Eisenhower warned us about the every expanding Military Industrial Complex but he failed warn us about the Homeless Industrial Complex. The continue cycle of throwing tax-payer money at a problem without real solutions IS THE PROBLEM. Homelessness is generally a symptom of greater problems including drug addiction and mental illness, economic hardship, bad personal choices, challenging family dynamics, etc. Churches, charities, and private organizations should be the primary agents of effort addressing these issues, not the government. Instead, what we are experiencing is government over-reach where tax payer money is funneled into pet agencies and contracted companies. Follow the money down the partisan political streams to their recipient donor base. This needs to stop. When inflation, taxes, regulations are all increasing on the hard working people of this county…we don’t need an every expanding county or state government adding more burden on its citizens. Your “comprehensive plan to end homelessness” must start with and rely on churches, charities, and private organizations….they do a more efficient job at doing more with less resource.
Jennifer Milton 3/26/24 1:48 PM Please vote NO on resolution 2024-136. The homeless problem is not going to be fixed by spending more of our TAXPAYER money! I’ve lived in Pierce County my whole life and can see that the homeless problem has been caused by drugs being legalized, open borders, no mandated treatments, etc. How about turning McNeil Island into a treatment facility for drug addicts. Get them clean, teach them a skill, and work with the private sector to help employ them. That’s what the homeless need. A job and a reason to be a part of society! Vote NO on R2024-136
Donna stanley 3/26/24 5:50 PM I oppose this proposal it will do no good, tired of being taxed to death
Lisa Palmer 3/27/24 8:20 AM I know you won’t listen but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try. I have found myself trusting the system more and more lately. It appears to do what IT wants not what the people want. It appears to think it knows better than those that supposedly it represents. Sadly the it I am talking about is you all. We realize that there is a problem but WE also realize throwing money at it is not the solution Please don’t pass this legislation it will only get us deeper into debt and no where nearing to a solution
Mary Kay Hesse 3/27/24 12:13 PM I oppose this ordinance....Jani Hitchens is absolutely WORTHLESS....She showed up for a photo op with "Wonderland" on 149th n C Street....She is the Nitin tune with her constituents whatsoever....Party line idiot....