SPANAWAY, Wash. — The construction of the Good Neighbor Village in Spanaway has drawn concern from some citizens as construction begins.
When finished, 285 cottage homes will house Pierce County’s “chronically homeless.” Duke Paulson, the executive director of the Tacoma Rescue Mission leading the project, said it will be enough to house more than 25% of the County’s homeless population.
“Typically [it’s] where you’ve been homeless for so long or you’re elderly enough that you’re not going to be able go get a job, you’re not going to be able to rent an apartment again, your other option is to basically live and die in the street or come live with us.”
The permanent homes are based on a model in Austin, TX that has shown success. Pierce County staff had visited the site before the Spanaway project moved forward.
“We don’t have an issue with this group is attempting to help the problem but the location they selected is just the wrong location,” said Paul Lubbesmeyer, one of the organizers of the “Spanaway Concerned Citizens” group that has several hundred followers on Facebook.
Lubbesmeyer said he and the group are concerned about the creeks and wetlands that run through the 90-acre site.
“The residents here are not going to be required to be clean and sober and that increases the risk of potential contaminants,” he said.
Paulson said the housing development of the project will be limited to fewer than 25 acres further away from areas of water. Fencing will be built to protect the wetlands as well. Paulson said all environmental challenges to the project have been resolved.
“We don’t require someone to be clean and sober coming in because people coming out of chronic homelessness, that would be a significant barrier but we are going to provide support services, addiction-recovery programming, mental health services, all the support services that can help with that,” Paulson said.
Paulson also points to local laws around drug sales and drug possession that will be enforced in public spaces.
Lubbesmeyer said the rural tract of land the village will be—pushed up against the boundary of Joint Base Lewis-McCord, doesn’t have access to stores and he worries about transit access.
“They won’t have automobiles so they’re going to have to walk and or get some other form of transportation to get across the arterial for any kind of services,” he said.
Paulson has planned with that--working with Sound Transit and other shuttle options for something “similar what someone would do in a retirement village.” However, he points out that a bus line on Pacific Avenue is around half a mile away.
“We are going to have a medical care provider in the in the community. We are going to have services that are going to come on-site. So, I’m hoping people don’t feel like they have to leave a lot, but they absolutely can.”
Concern also comes from the other side of this project—that the more narrow scope of who will live in the village may limit services for those already living without a home in Spanaway.
“We’re a desert so we don’t have a lot of access to resources,” Pastor Samara Jenkins of Spanaway said. “What’s available to the folks in the village would just be available to the folks in the village. It might eventually become the draw to say, ‘Oh, this is a benefit to people and draw resources to the area, but right now that’s just something we’re doing on our own.’”
Jenkins has organized several services and resources to travel to the Spanaway Methodist Church to periodically help people. Jenkins said people often “want homelessness handled, but not near them,” when it comes to projects she’s established, like a safe-park site or others like the Good Neighbor Village
Paulson agreed and said Spanaway has some of the highest concentration of people experiencing homelessness than other Pierce County communities. He said they are working to house some of the people who are chronically homeless in the facility.
“We want to meet the needs in the local community first as well,” Paulson said, “So we’re going to target that as a priority for people coming into the village. But overall, we’re trying to serve the whole county and and people that have been experiences homeless here for a long time in Pierce County.”