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Residents urge support for unhoused services; council hears rising-homelessness concerns and future Good Samaritan plan
Summary
At the May 13 Puyallup City Council meeting, residents urged the city to allow services such as a weekly shower trailer at New Hope Resource Center. Council members reported rising homelessness and the city manager said the Good Samaritan master plan will return for first reading next week.
Residents and council members raised homelessness and local service needs during the May 13 Puyallup City Council meeting.
Sarah Blakely, a city resident and volunteer at New Hope, told council she has seen many unhoused people whose camps have been cleared and vehicles towed. She asked the city to be more compassionate and urged support for nonprofit services. Blakely suggested allowing a shower trailer to operate at New Hope ‘‘perhaps once a week,’’ saying the service would help people present themselves for job interviews and medical care. She also relayed an anecdote she said occurred recently, that a young man seeking treatment was unable to receive full care because he was not clean enough.
Another commenter, John Tontopowski, said he had emailed council and interpreted the lack of response as approval for temporary signage and for New Hope to park a shower or laundry trailer at its facility; during his three-minute comment he said, "I will take it as yes. New Hope Resource Center has the city's blessing to park a trailer, whether it's shower or light." The council did not, during the public comment period, issue an on-the-record staff authorization in the meeting minutes to corroborate that claim.
Councilmembers discussed the topic later in reports. Councilmember Whitting said homelessness has increased in the community, citing a rise in McKinney-Vento students in the Puyallup School District and growing numbers of seniors and veterans without housing. Deputy Mayor King said he and Councilmember Adler had recently met with congressional representatives in Washington, D.C., seeking funding opportunities for local projects and said the city will continue pursuing grant funding.
City Manager Steve Kirkley told the council the Good Samaritan master plan would be the main item on next week’s agenda for first reading, indicating staff plans additional action on homelessness-related planning.
No city-wide policy or funding decision was adopted during the meeting; council members asked staff to continue work and planning that will return to council for future consideration.
