The city asked for funding to sustain 307 shelter beds for two years from the state legislature, but was only able to get enough funding to sustain 140 for one year.
TACOMA, Wash. — By the end of July, the City of Tacoma is set to lose more than 150 shelter beds for people experiencing homelessness.
That’s because some funding the city was utilizing ended, and it was not able to secure what it hoped to get from the state.
“It is going to be, it is quite a blow,” said Caleb Carbone, the Homelessness Strategy Systems and Service manager for the City of Tacoma.
Carbone said the City of Tacoma asked for funding to sustain 307 shelter beds for two years from the state Legislature, but was only able to get enough funding to sustain 140 for one year.
This means the city will lose 167 shelter beds by the end of July.
The 140 beds they are able to maintain for the upcoming year are at the Tacoma Emergency Micro Shelter which serves families and single women, at Bethlehem Baptist which is also a family and single women’s shelter, and Holy Rosary Safe Parking which serves all households. Those will be funded through June 2026.
Carbone said they will continue to work with the state to see what type of funding they can get for next year. He said this decrease in funding is coming at a time when the area is seeing an increase in homelessness.
“There has been an increase, not just in the city of Tacoma, but also in the county, along the entire region, and both I-5 corridor, and in Washington,” said Carbone.
One of the shelters that the city is standing down funding for is the Forging Paths Community run by the Tacoma Rescue Mission off of Pacific Avenue. The City of Tacoma said the funding they lost for the 167 beds is not site-specific funding, it is operational funding and that this location was already planned be turned into an affordable housing development. The city said ground will break this fall on that project.
“We’re working with the last handful of people to find a place for them,” said Myron Bernard, the deputy director of the Tacoma Rescue Mission, which runs the community.
The Forging Paths Community has been in Tacoma for three years and was being funded with money from the City of Tacoma.
“I know that the city looks at this and says, ‘Hey, this has been a positive venture, but we only have limited funds,’” said Bernard.
The shelter housed both people in tiny homes and in tents with a focus on helping people to transition out of homelessness.
“So, since we’ve started, we’ve had about 275 total unique individuals who have lived here, and 75 of those have gone on to permanent housing, which is something we’re excited about,” said Bernard.
Back when KING 5 was at the community in December 2024, there were 130 people living there. On Monday, June 9, there were around 20 people still there as the Tacoma Rescue Mission has been working to move people out over the past few months as they knew funding would be likely ending for the shelter beds. Everyone has to be gone by Sunday, June 15.
“Every person who’s been here, we’ve given an opportunity,” said Bernard. “We’ve invited them to stay at a different shelter; we’ve invited them to be somewhere that gives them an opportunity to continue on their journey.”
One person who is still a resident at Forging Paths told KING 5 off camera that this closure has been distressing. Tacoma Rescue Mission leaders said they understand it can be discouraging.
“I’m trying to imagine what it would it be like to feel like, ‘Hey, I’ve finally gotten my leg up, I have finally gotten an opportunity that seems like it’s going to work’, and then to say, just kidding this is all going to be shut down, and so that is a problem,” Bernard said. “Our goal is to get them further along the journey. Everyone’s been offered shelter, but we continue to offer support, resources and case management to everyone who’s been here.”
The Tacoma Rescue Mission said they’ll keep pushing to help as many people get out of homelessness as possible.
“I would love to see us not throwing every dollar available at this, but to find some common sense solutions that are working, like this one, and investing in those to see long term results,” said Bernard.
