Latest news with #PierceCountyHumanServices
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Calls for accountability, transparency as Pierce County amends homelessness plan
Pierce County has begun the process of amending its Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness, and it is getting an earful as it does. On April 28, Pierce County Human Services hosted a community listening event at Sprinker Recreation Center. Roughly 75 people attended the event, the broad majority of which were representing local homeless outreach programs and service providers. While folks from all corners of the county expressed commitment to addressing the homelessness crisis, many raised concerns about a lack of transparency and accountability within the county's response. The Pierce County Council adopted the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness (CPEH) in March 2022 to serve as the official Homeless Housing Plan. The current CPEH consists of goals designed to achieve 'functional zero' – a state where any person starting a new episode of homelessness has immediate access to shelter and permanent housing intervention. At the beginning of the listening event, Devon Isakson, social services supervisor for Pierce County's homeless team, told attendees the county had the choice to either adopt an entirely new plan or amend the existing one — they chose the latter. State law mandates that the county must update its CPEH by the end of this year. During the event, attendees were asked to work together to discuss the county's goals to improve its homelessness-response system and to decide on how to prioritize its plans. The seven goals, already decided by Human Services, were: Create a unified homeless system which promotes equity, accountability and transparency. Prevent homeless episodes whenever possible. Prioritize assistance based on the greatest barriers to housing stability and greatest risk of harm, and ensure interventions are effective for all populations. Ensure adjacent systems address needs of people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. Meet immediate needs of people experiencing homelessness. Seek to house everyone in a stable setting that meets their needs and expand the permanent housing system. Those goals were a part of the CPEH passed in 2022, with the addition of a new goal: 'Strengthen the homeless service provider workforce.' Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore told The News Tribune the new goal is now required by the state. The Washington State Department of Commerce dictates the housing and homelessness plan guidelines for local governments. Pierce County's homeless response system is almost entirely dependent on nonprofit organizations that competitively apply for funding from the county. Many of those organizations rely on grant funding to operate on a year-to-year basis. In the past year, service providers and officials have raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the process through which the county selects organizations to award funding, internal politics which create a perceived unfairness in that process, and delays in how that funding is distributed. 'We need to empower service providers,' Jessica Pair, co-founder of Family Promise of Pierce County, said during the listening event. After spending nearly an hour discussing the goals and how to prioritize them, participants shared what they had discussed with county officials. Many people expressed the need for different elements to be prioritized within the county's homelessness-response system. One group struggled to prioritize a collection of objectives, identifying all of them as equally urgent. Among the priorities shared by several attendees was the need for accountability in how the county spends its funding and tracks its progress. Some street-outreach specialists said the county needs to be sure that contracted service providers are meeting the expectations and actually making progress towards the goals and objectives outlined by the county. 'Its pretty embarrassing when we are out in the field and homeless people are asking where the $17 million [in affordable housing investments] went,' Trisha Munson, outreach specialist with Common Street, told Human Services officials. Others agreed the county's homelessness response needs to incorporate more feedback from individuals with experience living homeless. 'There is no one size fits all,' one participant said. 'We need to assess what they say they need. We need to talk to the people being served.' Isakson said the April 28 listening session was part of a nearly year-long process of updating the CPEH. There will be additional events through which people can provide feedback, including on July 19 and another on Sept. 18. People can also provide feedback online between April 24 - May 16 at
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tax has raised $60M for Pierce County behavioral health. How's it being spent?
Since implementing a new sales tax in 2021, Pierce County has generated $61.5 million to improve its behavioral healthcare system. By the end of 2025, the county says it is planning to have made nearly $57 million in investments to the region's behavioral health infrastructure. In December 2020, the Pierce County Council passed Ordinance No. 2020-138s authorizing the collection of a one tenth of 1 percent sales tax to fund behavioral health and therapeutic court programs within Pierce County. Pierce County Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore told The News Tribune the county has spent $37.9 million on services, including agency contracts and transfers to other Pierce County departments, as of April 22. She said approximately $19 million has been obligated and anticipated to be spent by the end of 2025. Opioid-related overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in Pierce County and have been since 2020, according to Human Services. Last year, 423 people died from accidental overdoses in Pierce County and more than 75% of them involved opioids. According to data from Human Services, suicide rates in Pierce County are higher than the state's and country's average for residents aged 20-74, and over 85 years old. Suicide rates for individuals aged 20-39 are nearly triple the state-wide average in Pierce County. In 2023, the county conducted a Community Needs Assessment to identify areas of need within the region's behavioral-health system. The assessment found one out of every four respondents said they needed behavioral-health resources, food, or other health services. Respondents living outside Tacoma consistently identified behavioral-health needs more often than respondents living in Tacoma, with 45% of respondents living outside Tacoma saying they needed mental-health or substance-abuse counseling in the past year but could not get it due to long wait times for appointments and lack of availability with providers. Margo Burnison is the manager of Behavioral Health Services for Pierce County Human Services. In an interview with The News Tribune, Burnison said the county has been making a push to create and support a variety of mental-health programs in areas outside of Tacoma. She said many of the programs are focused on raising awareness of mental health and increasing access to the full spectrum of services available. During a Pierce County Council Health and Human Services meeting April 15, Burnison presented the county's current and future investment into the behavioral-health system. The county plans to spend $3.7 million on community education programs through 2025, according to Burnison's report. She said much of that spending will have been on Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department's Teen Mental Health First Aid program. She described the program to the council as 'education on what mental health looks like, what it is, and what to do if somebody they know is struggling.' Burnison said Pierce County has implemented the program in every school district and is one of the few counties to have done so. She said the county is also working to expand the program to adult workplaces in the region to improve mental health in work cultures. The county has planned for $3.5 million towards Substance Use Disorder treatment programs, including an expansion to withdrawal-management services and outpatient and community services. The county plans to have spent $3.9 million by 2025 on wellness, prevention and early-intervention programs. That includes community behavioral-health clinics administered by Comprehensive Life Resources and the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department's Nurse Family Partnership program. Burnison said the Family Partnership Program puts healthcare professionals into mentorship roles with new parents, to educate on healthy parenting and foster positive relationships with the healthcare system. 'Really this is trying to get to the crux of, where we don't see a lot of services happening, which is before someone is in crisis,' Burnison told the council about the prevention and early-intervention programs. The county plans to spend $6.8 million on outpatient and community-based services by 2025. Those programs will include 'culturally-attuned counseling' for humanitarian immigrants administered by Lutheran Community Services and mental-health community education administered by the Asia Pacific Cultural Center and mental health vouchers for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. By the end of 2025, the county is planning to allocate more than $18 million towards behavioral-health services and programs that intersect with the criminal-justice system. One of the programs noted during the Human Services presentation involves hiring seven mental-health professionals who will co-respond with the Pierce County Sheriff's Office on calls involving a behavioral-health crisis. According to the county, the co-responders will have the authority to commit someone for involuntary treatment for five days. Other programs under that category are additional resources for therapeutic court programs across the county. In an interview with The News Tribune, Burnison said people with behavioral-health issues often end up in the criminal-justice system, especially when they reach a point of crisis. She said programs are intended to divert them out of the carceral system and help them get the treatment they need to 'break the cycle' of incarceration. One of the largest planned behavioral-health investments is a more than $20 million plan to bolster youth and school-based services. The investments include student-counseling services at Clover Park Technical College, a program focused on preventing behavioral-health crises for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities, and various types of mental-health education and youth-engagement programs. Burnison told The News Tribune the investments in youth programs are in part because the county identified a need to do so but are also part of a greater effort to increase mental-health awareness across the whole community, beginning with the younger generation.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Is Pierce County doing enough to help the homeless during cold weather? Providers say no
Homeless service providers in Pierce County recently took part in a nearly month-long effort to protect those living unhoused from freezing winter conditions. Many say the region needs a better plan to protect a vulnerable population. Pierce County Human Services triggers a cold-weather response when predicited or actual temperatures reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below, according to the county's Inclement Weather Response Plan. Many service providers say the planning to protect those living unsheltered from extreme cold weather does not happen until that threshold is met — creating a response that is disjointed, poorly prepared and at times under-resourced. Pierce County Human Services says the department worked diligently to organize the region's cold-weather response in January and February — opening multiple warming centers and reducing barriers for the unsheltered population to access 'lifesaving services.' 'Dozens of people were served daily for overnight shelter, food, warm clothing, hand warmers, and more,' Kari Moore, a spokesperson for the department, told The News Tribune. 'We lowered barriers so people could bring in pets or partners without worrying about being turned away.' Steve Decker is the CEO for Family Promise of Pierce County, an organization that hosts a warming center which opens when the inclement weather response is triggered. Decker told The News Tribune the warming center in Parkland was open Jan. 19 through Feb. 14. He said the need for a place to stay warm is great, and the building sometimes hosts around 90 people trying to escape freezing outdoor temperatures. During a Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting on Feb. 14, Decker said the multi-week response felt 'reactionary,' without any 'advanced planning whatsoever.' 'And frankly, it was reactionary during the process,' Decker reported to the coalition. 'Because every day it was a question, 'Are we going to be open until what day?' And that makes planning almost impossible when you can't even plan out, you know, more than a day or two, At best.' According to the Inclement Weather Response Plan, when a response is triggered Human Services can expand services or extend operating hours; hotels vouchers can be provided to place people into shelter for the night; and supplies such as blankets, clothing, food and water can be distributed. It also allows certain populations to be served by shelters that would not be under normal conditions — for example, single adult shelters may serve youth or households with children and vice versa. Some service providers and volunteers have been frustrated with the logistics of the county's inclement-weather response, claiming it keeps them from being prepared. Dionne Jacobson is the outreach director at St. Vincent de Paul's Community Resource Center. Jacobson said when the cold-weather response is triggered, organizations under contract with the county are expected to attend a virtual morning meeting to talk about how they will use resources. She said many organizations do not attend the meetings on a daily basis, creating a potential gap in coordination. Jacobson said the county's response lacks leadership, leaving 'everyone to fend themselves.' During cold weather, St. Vincent de Paul helps get folks into hotels using funding from the City of Tacoma. It also helps distribute cold-weather supplies such as blankets, tarps, hand warmers, Mylar insulation and hand sanitizer, which people burn for warmth inside their tents. Jacobsen said this is the first year the county allowed for the purchase of survival items with county funds. In previous years, organizations and volunteers had to wait for either the county's Department of Emergency Management, which has its own inclement-weather threshold, or the City of Tacoma to hand out the supplies to the organizations, she said. 'We had no ability to pre-plan,' she said. 'The best time to get ready is before it gets cold.' Jacobsen estimated St. Vincent de Paul spends about $8,000 a month on survival supplies during the winter. Sally Perkins volunteers to distribute supplies to her unhoused neighbors in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood. During a Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness meeting on Feb. 7, Perkins shared her frustrations with the county's lack of planning. 'The money needs to be flexible,' she told the coalition. 'It can't be tied to a rule that says temperature has to be between this and that, or you can't spend the money. The money needs to be flexible and needs to be available in advance, so supplies can be purchased. 'We should have a warehouse full of hand warmers in August.' Paula Anderson is the executive director of the New Hope Resource Center. The Puyallup-based organization hosted a warming center in South Hill area and is contracted by the county to be a part of the inclement-weather response. Anderson told The News Tribune the response has been a 'learning curve for everybody' over the past few years. She said there was some initial confusion over what kinds of survival supplies could be purchased with county funding as there was no explicit list of permitted items. Moore told The News Tribune the contracts do not specifically list approved supplies, by design, because they are considered 'flexible funds' and can be used to meet basic safety needs. Providers are asked to seek approval if they are unsure or it is not an obvious safety need. 'At any time, providers can buy supplies in alignment with their contract, which often includes things like water, blankets, etc.,' Moore told The News Tribune in an email. 'Many of the cold weather supplies that organizations would purchase are already eligible due to the nature of the work done by emergency shelters, day centers, and street outreach.' Anderson said because each city, jurisdiction and county agency has its own threshold for when inclement-weather resources are mobilized, it can create 'confusion' for service providers and disparities for those living unsheltered in different parts of the region. She said the patchwork of different rules can be 'taxing' for service providers 'who just want to go help people.' Anderson advocated for an alignment of funds and resources between communities and jurisdictions as a way of creating a cohesive response. 'There needs to be someone in charge of this process,' Anderson told The News Tribune. Jake Nau, the outreach manager for St. Vincent de Paul, told The News Tribune that many organizations doing important work to open warming centers and distribute supplies to keep people alive rely on donations and volunteers to do so. When asked if the county is dedicating enough resources and has organized an efficient cold-weather response, Nau answered: 'Absolutely not.' Nau used the example of Common Good Tacoma, an organization that keeps a warming center open during cold nights. He said the place stays open because of the labor of volunteers, who stay there well through the night. 'I have yet to see a county employee coming down to the shelter,' Nau told The News Tribune. 'We need boots on the ground and people who realize the (expletive) crisis is here.' Moore said Human Services plans to have an after-action review to identify areas where it can improve the response.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Homeless-service provider claimed it wasn't paid by Pierce County. Here's how case ended
The Pierce County Council has agreed to an $800,000 settlement with a nonprofit that sued Pierce County Human Services over alleged missed payments. Wellspring Family Services is a Seattle-based nonprofit which provides services and resources. It contended in a lawsuit that it was not paid by the county for nearly two years of homelessness services the county contracted it to provide to families and individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Between 2020 and 2022, Wellspring had four different contracts with Pierce County's Human Services department to administer eviction and rental assistance and the county's rapid rehousing program. According to the lawsuit filed in Pierce County Superior Court, Wellspring successfully provided homelessness services to 320 households in Pierce County, including rental assistance, move-in cost assistance, eviction prevention and diversion assistance, hotel and motel assistance, food vouchers, car repairs and utility assistance. As part of the contract, Wellspring had to comply with performance monitoring and auditing measures. The monitoring measures were imposed by the county as a way of tracking accountability, but it also included guidelines required by the federal government as much of the contract funding came from federal sources. Because the contracts took place during the pandemic, the monitoring of Wellspring's housing programs initially was done remotely. In January 2022, approximately nine months following the start of the initial remote monitoring program, Pierce County notified Wellspring that it would conduct an on-site, in-person monitoring of Wellspring's client files due to purported concerns. In June 2022, Pierce County delivered a letter to Wellspring and two attached reports, reflecting the findings of monitoring efforts. The letter concluded that, 'Due to the number and severity of the listed findings for the two projects, we have determined all client files fail to comply with project requirements completely and fully and are therefore deemed ineligible.' The lawsuit noted Pierce County reported reviewing 24 participant files, which represented less than one-eighth of the files provided to Pierce County by Wellspring. 'Pierce County's conclusions not only ignored the impact of Wellspring's programs, which successfully provided critical services to 320 households (an estimated 700 individuals) experiencing homelessness in Pierce County, but likewise improperly relied on a small and unrepresentative fraction of the data and documentation that Wellspring provided, to claim that allegedly none of the files complied with the project requirements,' the lawsuit claimed. According to a Pierce County report referenced in the lawsuit, auditors provided seven findings, which it stated resulted 'from a material lack of compliance with a significant contractual requirement.' Those findings included that none of the 24 case files included referrals from the county's Coordinated Entry system or documentation of homelessness status, had proper documentation of income, included notes on background checks nor included information on a lease agreement signed by the client. Libby Catalinich, a spokesperson for the county told The News Tribune the county monitors the performance of providers so it knows people are receiving the services they need and the funds are being well spent. 'We have limited funds so it's important that providers use them as effectively as possible,' Catalinich wrote in an email to The News Tribune. The county declined to comment on the case any further. According to the lawsuit, the county's auditors essentially concluded that because the program monitors did not find the few client files they reviewed complete, Wellspring should not be paid anything for work that it performed between June 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022. According to the legal complaint filed by Wellspring, the county asked that Wellspring reimburse more than $1.2 million the organization was already paid under the contract and refused to pay Wellspring more than $839,700 they claimed they were owed for services they had provided. When asked why the County Council made the decision to settle the case for the amount of $800,000, Council Chair, Jani Hitchen, gave this statement: 'The Council values the partnerships with our non-profits and are glad we were able to come to a resolution on this matter.'
