01-08-2025
Would you pay $100 per year to make a dent in Pierce County homelessness?
By some estimates, Pierce County's homelessness response is more than $100 million shy of what the region needs to effectively mitigate the crisis.
A local data analyst involved with Pierce County's homelessness response has theorized it might be possible to close the funding gap, but would it generate the resources needed and what mechanisms exist to do so?
From 2015 to 2023, the county spent more than $172 million dollars on its homelessness response, about $21.5 million per year. In 2024, the county budgeted more than $75 million dollars to fight homelessness.
In a blog post published in November 2024, former Pierce County Human Services director Heather Moss estimated the county would need an annual investment of $157 million to meet the needs of those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, according to the county's Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness (CPEH).
When asked how that level of funding would help to make significant progress towards ending the homelessness crisis, Moss said one of the largest efforts would be building or providing incentives for builders to create more affordable housing — what she called a nationally recognized best practice to mitigate homelessness.
Moss also said additional funding would be used to provide more interventions and resources for the chronically homeless population — a demographic of people who have been unhoused or unsheltered for long periods of time, or who have found themselves unhoused more than once.
'Until or unless we get to that level of sustained funding, our system will be insufficient to meet demand,' Moss wrote in her statement.
Gerrit Nyland is a policy analyst for the Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness. He previously worked as the director of client information systems for Catholic Community Services, one of Washington's largest homeless-service providers, where he did data management and reporting.
He also worked for Pierce County, helping to develop and author the Pierce County's CPEH — the very plan Moss cited in her estimation of the funding gap.
During a recent Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting, Nyland shared a data dashboard he created which outlines all the funding for homelessness and housing services across Pierce County.
He also floated a theory that the funding gap could be closed if every Pierce County resident paid $100 annually. He explained that if the estimated more than 940,000 residents each contributed $100 annually, it would generate more than $90 million in additional revenue to bolster the homelessness-response system.
In an interview with The News Tribune, Nyland theorized that the roughly annual $94 million would help close the funding gap between the current system funding and what is estimated to reach reach what the CPEH calls 'functional zero.' Nyland said 'functional zero' means anyone experiencing homelessness could immediately be enrolled in a program leading to permanent housing.
Nyland clarified his $100-per-person idea is more theory than actual plan.
'$100 per person per year is more a tool to communicate the scale of the number than a funding strategy,' he told The News Tribune. '$100M is tough to easily put into context – so putting it in a per person structure – like $100 per person – just makes it a more understandable number.'
What mechanisms exist to close the gap?
When asked about ways the revenue could be collected to fill the funding gap, he offered four different possible revenue streams which could be used.
'None of these are simple or easy or maybe even desirable. But those are the tools we have available,' he said.
First, Pierce County could dedicate a portion of its existing general fund dollars to homelessness. Nyland projected 3% of the general fund would be roughly $25 million.
'Pretty much only Tacoma does this now – no other city nor the county government dedicates any of their 'own' general funds to address homelessness,' he said. 'Time for every municipality to get some skin in the game.'
He also suggested that state and federal funding could be a way to bridge the gap but acknowledged those strategies as less realistic given recent events.
'This is laughable with the current administration, but things won't always be this way (I hope),' Nyland wrote in an email about the prospect of increased federal funding. 'The federal government has historically been our best bet at funds from progressive taxation. And Washington pays more into the federal government than we get out – we are owed a greater share, in my humble opinion.'
The other revenue stream he suggested is a new property tax or sales tax. He calculated a $.20 per $1,000 of assessed value property tax would generate roughly $25 million annually.
'If you can get past the irony of addressing a housing issue with a tax on housing,' Nyland joked.
What do Pierce County officials say?
When asked about Nyland's theory to close the gap by increasing local revenues, Pierce County Council Chair Jani Hitchen, D-District 6, told The News Tribune she thought the idea was 'intriguing,' but the region's funding could be more effective if used to better address the problem and circumstances which lead to folks becoming unhoused in the first place.
'I don't think the $150 million is off-base BUT it assumes that none of the other problems are being addressed and working to reduce those that enter the system,' she wrote in an email to The News Tribune.
She also pointed to the anticipated changes in federal funding under the Trump administration. The region's homelessness response has heavily relied upon federal funding in recent years to support homeless and housing services and programs.
'It is too early to tell what the short- and long-term impacts will be, but the cost to local governments for those living in poverty just increased,' Hitchen told The News Tribune. 'And our local income taxes will continue to be shipped out of state, while we are asked to feed, house and provide healthcare for those with the highest needs.'
Much of the federal funding came from federal pandemic assistance. Since the pandemic, federal COVID assistance and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars have allowed for significant increases in homelessness-mitigation investments. Of the more than $75 million budgeted in 2024 for the homeless-response system, $23 million was from ARPA funds.
'While homelessness will always be one of my major priorities, our local government is going to have to shift to just trying to keep our government functioning,' she said.
Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello, a Democrat, said Nyland's theory to collect an average of $100 of revenue from each Pierce County resident would be 'very inequitable.'
Both Mello and Hitchen pointed out the county is limited in what kind of taxes it can impose to generate revenue.
'The concept is interesting and has merit, but the mechanism doesn't exist, at least nothing I am aware of,' Hitchen told The News Tribune in an email. 'I have firmly believed that we need to find a way to bring in funding for things like addressing homelessness in a very real way, but the tools allowed to county government by law are VERY limited.'
She pointed out King County has funded a variety of different packages for funding through levies and other types of assessments, but recently, local school districts have failed levies and bonds needing 50% or even 60% voter approval for some funding options.
'It can be really challenging in Pierce County to raise taxes,' Hitchen said. 'At the Councilmatic level, we have very few tools available by state law, and truly believe in some cases it should be a vote of the people.'
Amy Cruver, R-District 3, told The News Tribune she did not believe that throwing more money at the problem would solve the crisis.
'Mr. Nyland suggested a novel idea, but I'll just say … if money could solve our problems, our educational system would be in the top tiers of the country,' she wrote The News Tribune in an email.
Cruver pointed to Washington's public educational system, which she said has received increased funding in recent years only to see standardized test scores drop and a declining rate of students meeting math and reading standards.
'I believe the same principle applies to trying to solve homelessness. More money won't solve the problem. We must do the best we can with what we have,' she wrote. 'In addition to the current homeless problem, I'm concerned that our homeowners will be taxed out of their own homes.'
How wide is the funding gap?
Kari Moore, spokesperson for Pierce County Human Services, said the more than $150 million estimated need was a 'bit dated,' based on the plan drafted and published around 2022.
'Putting a dollar figure on solving the homelessness crisis is a moving target, and Pierce County is working to develop reliable financial models that will inform what dollar amount is required to solve the crisis in the county,' Human Services director Gary Gant told The News Tribune.
'We are currently evaluating the projections needed to address homelessness in Pierce County as part of our Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness update, but we know the interventions that work have been underfunded for a very long time,' Mello told The News Tribune. 'In fact, the system has never been funded at adequate levels in modern times to keep pace with the scale of crisis to both prevent it and intervene with evidence-based solutions.'
A Pierce County Finance Department report from January 2024, found Pierce County would need to spend between $525 million and $1.1 billion across 2024 and 2025 to meet the total need for homeless services, with operational costs of between $225 million and $500 million in the following years.
