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Residents and nonprofits discuss youth homelessness and animal-shelter services at public comment
Summary
Local residents and three nonprofit leaders told the Shelton City Council about ongoing homelessness concerns and services for youth and animals; Youth Connection provided intake and outcome numbers and the Humane Society offered a proposal to reduce shelter stays for dogs.
Several residents and nonprofit leaders used public comment at the April 1 City Council meeting to press for more proactive responses to encampments, to describe services for youth experiencing homelessness and to offer help reducing shelter stays for animals.
Why it matters: speakers described on-the-ground service activity, service outcomes and continuing community impacts — details that council members said they would consider alongside staff reports and upcoming agenda items.
Dean Jewett, identified in the meeting as a resident, urged a more proactive city response to graffiti, sidewalk obstructions and encampments, and criticized prior funding decisions that he said had gone to community organizations. He said volunteers are doing cleanup work where he believes city response has been slow. ‘‘We need a proactive approach,’’ Jewett said, urging regular cleanup of known trouble spots and faster enforcement of ADA obstructions.
Susan Kirchoff, director of Youth Connection — a local nonprofit that serves people ages 13 to 24 in Shelton and Belfair — told the council the organization signed in 467 young people in March, served 240 hot meals and handed out 47 food bags and other supplies. Kirchoff described a Housing First approach with an 86% success rate in preventing a return to homelessness among program participants and said her group secured permanent housing for three people in the prior month. ‘‘Our Housing First approach has highly been effective. We have an 86 percent success rate,’’ Kirchoff said.
Katherine Johnson, executive director of the Humane Society of Mason County, told the council the organization operates a low-cost spay-and-neuter clinic that performs roughly 35 surgeries a day and expects to complete its 10,000th spay/neuter since opening in 2022. Johnson said the Humane Society maintains a save rate of about 97% and partners with Mission Creek Correction Center to place animals in foster programs. She said the Humane Society has sent a proposal to the city to help reduce length-of-stay and improve outcomes for dogs at the city shelter.
Council response and context: Council members thanked speakers for their work and said staff would follow up. The mayor and other council members noted ongoing staff efforts at a location identified by speakers as a chronic encampment site; one speaker said outreach teams had temporarily cleared campers but that tents and cardboard structures had reappeared. Council members said they would look at proposals and continued coordination with county and state partners where enforcement and jurisdictional questions arise.
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