South Sound News

Tacoma will allow temporary homeless shelters to run for up to a year

Homeless individuals huddle among their tents and possessions on a vacant lot in the 1000 block of South J Street in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. The News Tribune, file photo

TACOMA, Wash. — Temporary shelters now have a permanent place in Tacoma's municipal code.

The City Council on Tuesday approved permanent regulations that will allow nonprofits and churches to run temporary shelters to help the city address what it has called a homelessness crisis.

Those rules provide for a maximum of six shelters across the city, and they have to be spread across each of Tacoma's four police sectors. The shelters will be able to run for six months, can have a maximum of 100 residents, will allow children under 18 with a parent or guardian, and will require that residents undergo background checks and pre-screenings for warrants. No sex offenders will be permitted as shelter residents.

The council passed a modified version of its original regulations Tuesday that will allow shelters to extend their time for up to another six months — to operate for up to a year total — if they meet certain conditions, and with the blessing of neighborhood and community groups around the shelter.

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Councilman Ryan Mello has expressed concern about banning the lowest-level sex offenders from these shelters, and Councilman Chris Beale has said requiring background checks might exclude people who have committed minor, non-violent offenses from seeking shelter.

On Tuesday, however, they did not bring forward any amendments to address those concerns, as they had been expected to do. Both said they hope the community conversation around those concerns will continue, and said they didn't want to create additional barriers for faith groups or nonprofits who may want to apply to run shelters.

Since temporary regulations for the shelters were passed last fall, one church — Bethlehem Baptist on Tacoma's Eastside — has begun operating a shelter for homeless families in its gym.