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Walla Walla County unveils draft five‑year homeless housing plan; public comment set for October
Summary
County staff presented a draft five‑year homeless housing plan to the College Place City Council, citing point‑in‑time and administrative data that show hundreds experiencing homelessness countywide and outlining five objectives including better data, strengthened workforce supports, prevention, prioritization and housing access. A month‑long local
Walla Walla County officials on Tuesday presented the draft five‑year Homeless Housing Plan to the College Place City Council and invited local feedback during a monthlong public comment period in October.
Sam Jackal, human services manager for Walla Walla County Department of Community Health, and Becca Finkas, the county’s senior homeless housing coordinator, described the plan as a countywide framework to align funding, measure performance and reduce homelessness rather than manage it. "This is just the draft right now," Finkas said as she outlined the plan’s purpose and schedule for review and adoption.
Presenters cited multiple data sources. Jackal said the HUD point‑in‑time count identified 197 people experiencing visible homelessness on a single January night; a broader snapshot compiled from Medicaid, DSHS and the Homeless Management Information System counted about 1,127 people across the month of January, and the presenters said that figure could rise to roughly 1,600 when including couch‑surfing and households at imminent risk.
The plan adopts five state objectives that the county kept but annotated with locally defined actions: (1) promote an equitable, accountable and transparent homeless crisis response system; (2) strengthen the homeless‑service workforce; (3) prevent episodes of homelessness; (4) prioritize assistance for people with the greatest barriers and risk; and (5) house people in stable settings that meet their needs. Examples of concrete steps include publishing an annual Fund and Performance Report, recruiting a homeless housing data analyst, and adopting continuous improvement methods used in the Built for Zero initiative.
Council members focused questions on implementation. Council member Lopez asked whether people currently unhoused would occupy affordable rental units if they were available; Finkas said waitlists at local housing and the housing authority show demand but that county and local partners are still building capacity to answer that question with precision. Council members pressed staff about the single biggest lever to move outcomes; county staff said there is no single lever: improving case management capacity, creating real‑time quality data, and securing more local operating funds were all cited as priorities.
The county said the draft plan and a public forum series featuring Greg Colburn (co‑author of Homelessness Is a Housing Problem) will launch local outreach; staff will incorporate October comments and seek a Council on Housing recommendation before the Board of County Commissioners considers adoption and the county submits a final plan to the Washington State Department of Commerce by the December deadline.
Why it matters: The plan frames how local, state and federal homeless funds will be prioritized across jurisdictions, and it identifies staffing and data investments the county says are needed to better target scarce operating dollars. The county emphasized that development funding alone will not solve homelessness without accompanying service and operating investments.
What’s next: The county will open a one‑month comment period in October, host community forums, and present the revised draft to the Council on Housing and then to the Board of County Commissioners ahead of the Commerce deadline.
