From newsletter of Councilmember Jani Hitchen, Jan. 5, 2023:

***Pierce County Village Update***

Many of you have reached out to my office about the proposed Pierce County Village currently sited in Spanaway. There have been a lot of questions, many of which I had myself. I share a link to a resolution below that I think may help assure those in the community, that while we see this as a tool, we also want to make sure it is the right fit for our county and can serve the people it is intended to support.

There have been a lot of question around the proposed location in Spanaway. There is an Environmental Compliance Webinar over Zoom Monday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. focused on the environmental compliance and technical studies of the village project. You can join the webinar here to learn more.

I worked with Councilmember Ryan Mello to draft a “trailer resolution” during the budget process that stipulated some of the questions we would like answered before funding happens. There are additional steps that must occur before this comes to the Council. Executive Bruce Dammeier, the staff of the Tacoma Rescue Mission who are running this project, and some of our amazing Human Services department staff held a public meeting to share the status of this project and listen to community concerns. You can watch the recording of their presentation here.

We continue to see more and more people entering homelessness, but our staff do an amazing job to get people housed as quickly as possible. For those that have been unsuccessful for many different reasons – those we call chronically homeless – this model could be a game-changer. However, there are a lot more decision points and questions that need an answer.