Olympic Health and Recovery Services outlines outreach and barriers for Tumwater’s unhoused population

Olympic Health and Recovery Services (OHRS) presented to the Tumwater committee on outreach and services for people experiencing homelessness in Tumwater and the wider Thurston County region, describing a mobile, engagement-first approach and persistent barriers to sustained housing.

Joe Avalos, OHRS executive director, described the organization’s three primary program areas—crisis services, jail diversion and hospital diversion—and said the Tumwater Mobile Outreach team sits in the crisis services division. "My name is Joe Avalos. I'm the executive director here at Olympic Health and Recovery Services," he said, and he introduced clinical director Erica Donahue and HOST supervisor Leila Cardenas to explain program details.

Erica Donahue said outreach in Tumwater is complicated because encampments there tend to be dispersed and mobile, requiring staff time to locate individuals before engagement can begin. She cited the 2024 Thurston County point-in-time count, saying it identified 952 people experiencing homelessness across sheltered, transitional and unsheltered settings, and noted roughly 35% of that group were counted as unsheltered. She added the count likely underestimates the total because some people decline to be surveyed or are temporarily housed elsewhere during the count.

Leila Cardenas described HOST (Homeless Outreach, Stabilization and Transition) as a multidisciplinary, outreach-first team that includes mental-health and substance-use providers, an intensive case manager and a peer specialist; HOST partners with Providence for psychiatric nurse practitioner services. Eligibility is 18 years or older, unhoused or at imminent risk, and typically a current or historical substance-use disorder. HOST supplies engagement funds for immediate needs (sleeping bags, naloxone, medication co-pays), conducts warm handoffs and provides transportation and case management to reduce no-shows and build trust.

Presenters said Tumwater’s embedded community-based crisis team has engaged an average of 8–11 unhoused individuals per month over the previous three months and estimated about 30% of OHRS client contacts were with people experiencing homelessness. They described recent successes: arranging shelter placement and enrollment in services, coordinating transport and referrals for a transient individual back to Pierce County, and facilitating voluntary hospital admission and post-discharge housing supports for people with severe behavioral-health symptoms.

During committee questions, OHRS staff said programs such as HARPS (Housing and Recovery through Peer Services) provide peer supports and short-term stipends to help people transition from inpatient treatment, but emphasized that participation is voluntary and that housing supply, criminal-history screening and the complexity of obtaining Social Security benefits remain significant barriers.

Council members thanked the presenters and invited OHRS to return with updates; OHRS said staff contact details appear on their presentation for anyone who wants to report changing encampment locations.

The presentation did not propose new local ordinances or specific funding allocations; it was delivered as an informational briefing and the committee did not take formal action on OHRS recommendations at this meeting.