PORT TOWNSEND — A five-year plan to address homelessness and affordable housing services in Jefferson County has been adopted by the county and the city of Port Townsend.
The plan, passed Monday, is the second of its kind and was developed by the now-dissolved Housing Task Force (HTF), which had representatives from both local governments as well as service providers, housing experts, individuals with lived experience of homelessness or housing insecurity and concerned citizens.
The plan frames homelessness as a rung in a housing continuum ladder, not to be solved solely by providing an emergency shelter option, but with continuous firming up of support for rental and ownership options.
“One goal of this plan was to recognize the importance of each type of housing in this continuum as essential to addressing the issue of homelessness and housing instability,” HTF chair Audrey Morford said. “For example, consider the inability of folks to move out of emergency shelter when no options for affordable rentals exist for them to move into.”
The plan includes analysis of homelessness in Jefferson County, noting that the number of homeless persons has averaged 500 since 2018. The number equates to 15 per 1,000, just below the state average of 17 per 1,000.
The plan addresses causes and outlines the types of persons at risk of becoming homeless.
Jefferson County’s low-income renters have been heavily impacted in recent years.
“Between 2016 and 2023, the Jefferson County population of renters with incomes less than $50,000 decreased by 1,116 people, a shrinkage of 32 percent,” the plan document said.
The plan names five objectives, each of which contain strategies, totaling 14 in all, which yield specific action steps. The plan lists 48 action steps.
“We worked very hard to synthesize the data needs presented into an actionable plan that is not merely aspirational or full of unfunded mandates,” Morford said.
Each action includes a way of measuring completion, a planned timeline and a lead responsible party for the action’s completion.
The five objectives are strengthening the homeless service provider workforce, promoting an equitable, accountable and transparent homeless crisis response system, prioritizing assistance for people facing the greatest obstacles and risk of harm, preventing homelessness whenever possible through renter support and expanded affordable housing options, and seeking to house everyone in a stable setting that meets their needs.
“I’m feeling pretty world weary today,” said Viola Ware, Olympic Community Action Programs’ (OlyCAP) director of housing, in public comment.
Ware said a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) and Request for Proposal (RFP) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was released last week with a Dec. 14 deadline.
The accounts and portals needed to re-apply for funds were not opened, she said.
Funding for rapid rehousing, permanent housing and permanent supportive housing have been reduced from the typically more than 80 percent of continuum of care dollars to 30 percent this year, Ware said.
The funding requirements also specify scoring penalties up to disqualification for participating in or supporting harm reduction, for having a history of supporting gender non-conformity and for failing to enforce camping bans when no shelter space is available, she said. Preference for the funding will be given to jurisdictions with laws and demonstrated enforcement of camping bans as well as utilization for civil commitments, she continued.
After funding requirements include immigration reporting, she added.
Since it shared the RFP, HUD has removed it. A paragraph on its website says it will return before the still-in-place Dec. 14 deadline, Ware said.
Port Townsend Mayor David Faber called the grant limitations thoroughly disgusting.
“This is going to be a difficult time as we have this really, aspirational homeless and affordable housing services plan and face more stark headwinds than I think we’ve felt in a long time,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Amy Howard said the stakes are literally life and death.
County Commissioner Heather Dudley Nollette expressed confidence in the plan but noted federal funding limitations add to the work load.
County Commissioner Greg Brotherton said he believed the HUD funding would return.
Calls for low- or no-barrier shelters, supported encampments and anti-displacement without replacement also were voiced in public comment.
“Stop removing sanctioned encampments until (a low- or no-barrier encampment) is available,” resident Derek Firenze said.
Firenze also requested that the city commit to pursuing new revenue sources, specifically an affordable housing real estate excise tax authorized by House Bill 1867.
County commissioner Greg Brotherton said he was excited about the tax, which can be utilized by cities or counties, but noted that funds gathered by the tax are to be used for affordable housing, not no- or low-barrier shelters.
“We’re required to make this plan for homeless housing services, but we recognize the interconnectedness of all of the different rungs of the housing continuum,” he said.
The task force knowingly overreached to include elements of affordable housing in the plan, he said.
In response to comments asking for the inclusion of anti-displacement policy, task force member Viki Sonntag said the task force did include a statement of support for such policy, but including a policy itself was not within its purview.
The comments also extended to pleas that the city integrate service provider feedback and avoid repeating something similar to the recent homeless encampment sweep which occurred behind the state Department of Social and Health Services building in November.
The removals must stop, said Anya Callahan, a Port Townsend resident whose work involves providing direct services to the unhoused in Jefferson County.
“Forced sweeps often deepen harm, disrupt social ties, destroy personal belongings and result in increased risks of overdose, infection, chronic illness, and even death,” Callahan said. “By contrast, a well-managed, supported encampment can provide safe shelter, allowing residents access to health care, case management, housing, navigation and other services.”
Callahan urged the city to build a low-barrier encampment.
Encampments can act as a stabilizing bridge to something more permanent, she said. They foster social networks and bolster emotional resilience in the vulnerable population, she added.
Port Townsend City Council member Ben Thomas asked whether the five-year plan might prevent a repeated occurrence of what happened in the recent homeless encampment sweep.
Some strategies outlined in the plan call for a greater standard of relationship and collaboration between jurisdictions and service providers, County commissioner Heather Dudley Nollette said
“If we are really following through with the strategies, that would significantly improve things,” Dudley Nollette said.
Page 65 of the plan, index I, states the party responsible for actions outlined under the five primary objectives, Dudley Nollette pointed out.
For more information or to read the newly adopted plan, visit tinyurl.com/mmef7zp2.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
