Tacoma shelter expected to close, 100+ kids could be back on the street

The Tacoma Rescue Mission could be in jeopardy after the director said they received a letter from Pierce County letting them know the mission would not be receiving the nearly $2.5 million in funding it was expecting.

“It was just like all the air got sucked out because we were thinking of the 2200 people we serve a year, if we close for six months of the year that’s 1100 more people that aren’t going to receive services and will be on the street,” Duke Paulson, the executive director, said.

KIRO 7 obtained the letter that was sent by Pierce County Human Services. The letter says the mission may be selected for funding in the future if more resources become available.

However, Paulson said, he can’t operate on a maybe.

“I need to find out by next week because we need to notify our team, we’ve already told them what’s going on but layoff notices would be going out next week to team members if we don’t have confirmed numbers of what’s happening,” Paulson said. “So the state could say that money is going to come in October and I still have to figure out how to keep our doors open and what we’re going to do from July til October.”

Heather Moss, the director of Human Services for Pierce County declined an interview with KIRO 7 but sent this statement:

When we notified providers of their awards earlier this week, we let them know the state told us there would be additional homeless program resources to help sustain existing programming. Providers were notified that we would be making additional award announcements in the next 2-3 weeks once the state confirmed our scheduled award. We are confident this additional funding will have minimal impact on our system and do not anticipate hundreds of people returning to homelessness. As always, our commitment is to make thoughtful, system-based decisions across providers, programs, and funds sources, to get funds out quickly and responsibly, and to be transparent with providers and other partners as we go.

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