‘Survive until you find something.’ Shelters sparse for Pierce County’s homeless kids
TACOMA – A Pierce County organization working to find homeless families and children a place to stay reports more than 130 children were waiting for shelter as of Friday, due to the scarcity of shelter options.
Steve Decker is the CEO for Family Promise of Pierce County. Decker said his organization operates Pierce County’s Shelter Access Hub, which acts as an entry point for anyone experiencing homelessness and in need of shelter. Decker told the News Tribune on Friday that 53 of the 130 children waiting for shelter referrals through his organization have been waiting for more than four weeks.
“There simply is not enough capacity for emergency shelter when children are involved,” he told the News Tribune.
With congregate shelters that make up a large part of the county’s shelter bed capacity not allowing children, Decker said there are “not very many” other options for children experiencing homelessness.
According to a spokesperson from the county’s Human Services department, the county has 492 beds for children and families, with 24 of those available to unaccompanied minors. It is a policy that noncongregate shelters will not allow children with or without an adult.
On Monday, the county reported about 287 households with children – nearly 900 people – were in the county’s Priority Pool waiting for a referral to housing or shelter.
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 told the News Tribune shelters that serve youth and families are required to implement stricter screening processes than for low-barrier shelters.
“Low-barrier shelters can accept individuals regardless of their criminal background or past, but when children are present, more stringent safeguards are necessary,” he said. “In some cases, this could limit the options for families seeking shelter.”
According to Paulson, the process for an organization to become credentialed to provide shelter for unaccompanied minors is much more complex than for a standard shelter, with further limits availability.
According to Family Promise, some of the only shelter options for youth and families in Pierce County are Adams Street Shelter, the county’s Safe Parking Program, Give Me a Chance Family Shelter, Tacoma Rescue Mission and domestic-violence shelters.
“Survive until you find something,” Decker said he has told families as they wait for an open space at a shelter, which often means they have to sleep outside.
“Every day, and sometimes every hour, I have to tell people with children in tow, that there is ‘nowhere for you to go,’ ” he told the News Tribune.
The number of children needing help from Family Promise has grown in recent months. According to data from Family Promise, nearly 30 children were added to its waiting list in the first week of September.
In June, Family Promise performed 68 intakes with minor children into its system. In July, it did 84. Ninety-six intakes were done with minors in August.
Decker said the demand is so high that when he or his staff are notified of a shelter opening, individuals or families have to commit to getting in the shelter that day. If they cannot, the opportunity is passed to the next on the waiting list.
“I’ve noticed a shift in the demographics of those experiencing homelessness, with groups who were once less affected now being more substantially represented,” Paulson told the News Tribune. “Notably, there has been an increase in both elderly individuals and family units facing homelessness.”
Paulson believes the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in this shift by causing housing instability.
In July, Decker gave public testimony to the Pierce County Council in support of an ordinance that would have made it easier to establish noncongregate emergency shelters in unincorporated Pierce County.
“There are no places for families with children,” he told the council on July 9. “What I know is in the past nine days, I have had to tell 18 families, ‘There is not room for your children.’ ”
In an interview with the News Tribune, Decker described the burden he feels to find places for families to stay as “constant torture.” When asked if increasing the availability of shelter options for youth and families should be a priority for Pierce County’s homelessness response, Decker said it should be the “only priority.”
He advocated for shelters scattered around the county, so children could remain in the communities in which they previously lived, attend the schools they were familiar with and reduce the stress they experience.
Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) is recognized to have the highest number of McKinney-Vento students in the state. The McKinney-Vento Act defines homeless children as “individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”
According to TPS spokesperson Kathryn McCarthy, the district was serving 2,685 students through McKinney-Vento programming during the 2023-2024 school year. Of those, 414 were considered “unaccompanied youth.”
Paulson said he is aware of only one shelter in Tacoma specifically for unaccompanied minors, and it has 12 beds.
“This is trauma for every kid, period,” Decker told the News Tribune.