Posted on by lcatali

Thank you!

Dear Partners and Colleagues –

THANK YOU!  In late January, Pierce County Human Services successfully conducted our annual Homeless Point-in-Time Count for 2024.  We could not have done it without our partners and volunteers.

The Point-in-Time Count is required each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Washington State Department of Commerce to collect data, identify trends, track historical data, and educate and engage our community. With the help of over 350 volunteers we were able to successfully survey and provide resources to our community’s most vulnerable individuals who are living without a home.

On behalf of Pierce County Human Services, I would like to thank our community partners who came together to make this event a success:

  • The City of Tacoma offered critical outreach information and allowed United Way access to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
  • County Executive Bruce Dammeier, the Pierce County Councilmembers, and several other elected officials and leaders from across Pierce County joined in our count. Participants included City of Tacoma Councilmembers, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, and State Representative Mari Leavitt.
  • The United Way of Pierce County centered its Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service Event on convening nearly 150 volunteers to gather and create 3,000 hygiene bags distributed during the Homeless Point-in-Time Count.
  • Many additional organizations and concerned citizens provided volunteer hours and donations, including food and cold-weather clothing, for the count:
    • Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
    • Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center
    • Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness
    • Habitat for Humanity
    • Emergency Food Network
    • New Hope Resource Center
  • Pierce County professional outreach staff scouted sites in advance and led teams of volunteers during the count.
  • Officials from the Seattle regional office of Housing and Urban Development joined us in person Thursday so they could experience a local count firsthand.
  • And of course, our 200 VOLUNTEERS for the Thursday afternoon count, the Thursday night overnight count, and the Friday count. All individuals in emergency shelter are accounted for through the Homeless Management Information System.

Following the investments of County Executive Dammeier and the Pierce County Council, we are pursuing the initiatives in our 2022 Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness (Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness | Pierce County, WA – Official Website (piercecountywa.gov)) to ensure that homelessness in our community is brief and one-time.  Until we reach that goal, this annual count is critical so we receive the resources needed to help our neighbors without shelter.

Thanks again for another successful year of collecting important information and distributing essential supplies; this event could not happen without our partners. I’ll reach back out when we have data to share…probably in April or May of this year.

Heather Moss, Director