21-05-2025
‘We stay on top of it.' New Pierce County homeless shelter hub showing success
Less than a year since coming on line, Pierce County's homeless shelter intake hub has helped more than 1,400 individuals find shelter.
Last summer, it was announced that Family Promise of Pierce County would receive a $1 million grant from the county to create the county's first-ever homeless shelter access hub.
With that funding, the organization leased a portion of an unused school building in Parkland to serve as a centralized intake hub for anyone experiencing homelessness in Pierce County to receive help finding shelter.
While the shelter intake hub did not reach full operating capacity until November 2024, Family Promise of Pierce County told The News Tribune staff had helped refer 1,452 individuals experiencing homelessness into shelter as of May 20, 2025.
Before Family Promise and the shelter intake hub, the only hotline available to families and individuals experiencing homelessness was the county's 211 line — which could only be used between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Family Promise now operates a 24/7 hotline for any individual or family experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
During the Pierce County Council's Health and Human Services Committee meeting on May 20, Family Promise of Pierce County CEO Steve Decker reported the organization's progress.
'People can go to they can call us, they can text us, they can show up in-person with an appointment, and we can do the intake in 15 different languages and connect them to emergency resources,' Decker told committee members about the organization's efforts to reduce barriers.
He said the intake process can be as short as answering seven questions.
'Which means it is not a big barrier to get people's information enough to contact them and connect them to services,' he told the committee.
Alternatively, Decker said, the organization has a longer intake process for more involved case management that uses over 240 points of data for individuals and families.
In his presentation, Decker reported the shelter intake hub places an average of 121 individuals or families into shelter each month. The hub receives thousands of calls and text each month from people in crisis.
Decker said a large part of Family Promise's success has been achieved through diligent and consistent communication with clients.
Past intake programs funded by the county, such as Coordinated Entry, have been criticized by some left wondering when they will be contacted for follow-up.
'In our contract with the county, the requirement was that we return people's contact within 24 hours from initial contact,' Decker told the Health and Human Services Committee. 'I tell my staff that they only have an hour.'
He reported to the committee Family Promise averages about a 10-minute follow-up time from when someone texts, fills out an intake online or calls.
'We stay on top of it,' Decker said. 'We want someone who is in crisis to know that someone is paying attention to them. Even if they are a family and we have to tell them that there is no [shelter] availability.'
Decker said his organization has identified a number of barriers to getting families and individuals experiencing homelessness into shelter. The number one barrier is strict shelter requirements.
He said strict requirements could be anything from requiring someone to pass a drug test to requiring that someone does not have certain prior criminal offenses while other offenses are allowable.
Some shelters, such as non-congregate shelters, will not allow children with or without an adult.
Duke Paulson is the executive director of the Tacoma Rescue Mission — one of the largest operators of shelter in Pierce County. The organization also operates the largest family shelter in the county.
Paulson previously told The News Tribune shelters that serve youth and families are required to implement stricter screening processes than for low-barrier shelters, in some cases limiting the options for families seeking shelter.
Family Promise of Pierce County has been involved in Pierce County's homelessness response for a little over a year. Its model has been to focus on unhoused families with children, utilizing AI and diligent case management to cut through bureaucratic barriers.
According to data reported by Family Promise, families they have helped into shelter spent an average of 26 days in emergency shelter.
'That is fast,' Decker told the committee.
Of the 145 families the organization has helped into stable housing since the organization began operations near the beginning of 2024, only four have done so with subsidized housing vouchers. Meaning, 141 of those families were able to find and pay for housing on their own.
'That's the model.' Decker told the committee. 'We shouldn't have people depend on [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] or the lottery systems to get off the street.'
