Thurston County outlines homeless-services and housing RFPs, details $18M funding pool and new vaping-prevention grants

Thurston County public health officials on Tuesday laid out how a patchwork of federal, state and local funds will be used for homelessness services and affordable-housing projects and opened a community vaping-prevention grant funded by a 2023 Juul settlement.

Jim Bridal, director of Public Health and Social Services, told the Board of County Commissioners that the county’s homeless-services funding portfolio includes federal HOME and CDBG allocations, roughly $13 million to $15 million in state funds and several million in local revenue, and that in total "we have about 18 a little over $18,000,000 that is funded for our homeless services activities." He said the county will issue two RFPs this week — one for homeless services and one for affordable-housing capital projects — with final awards depending on actual federal and state appropriations.

Why it matters: the presentation breaks down a complex funding matrix the county uses to support shelters, rapid rehousing and outreach and shows where discretionary choices will be made this year. Commissioners said the level of detail will help them evaluate trade-offs as grants and contracts are brought forward.

Staff said state-directed streams include the Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) program and consolidated homeless grants; a separate Encampment Resolution Program (ERP) funds state-approved encampment-response projects. Local funds, mainly document-recording fees and local-home revenue, provide flexible dollars for both services and affordable-housing capital.

Bridal and a colleague explained how the discretionary portion of homeless programming (about $7.5 million, by staff estimate) would be allocated if adopted: roughly $4 million toward existing shelter operations, about $1 million for permanent supportive housing operations, $1.5 million for rapid rehousing (rent assistance for people exiting homelessness) and a little over $1 million for outreach and unsheltered services (including funding for Sergio’s day center and a Built for Zero coordinator). Staff noted many awards are structured as two-year contracts with the second year contingent on available funding and satisfactory performance.

The briefing also included programmatic set‑asides: coordinated-entry system funding required by the Department of Commerce, a $200,000 emergency fund for unplanned needs, and other targeted reserves. Bridal said the county will present final HUD-related awards after federal appropriations are finalized and following the county’s public hearing and annual action-plan process in June.

On prevention and cessation, nurse manager Laurie Montoya presented the "Stronger Together" community grant project funded by a 2023 Juul settlement. Montoya said the settlement provides $804,000 in installments through 2028; the county is allocating $250,000 for community grants in this round, with awards "up to $50,000 each," contracts expected to start in April 2026 and the initial projects running about a year.

What’s next: the board will see specific RFP documents and project-level award recommendations after state and federal budgets are finalized; staff said RHC and other advisory bodies will make recommendations for ERP and other state-directed allocations in April and bring recommended contract extensions and awards to the board later this spring.

Clarifying details: federal HOME/CDBG funding was described as roughly $1.5–$2.0 million (annual, depending on Congress); ‘‘state funds’’ (CHG and ERP) were described as about $13–$15 million annually; local funds were estimated at $7–$9 million; total homeless-services funding was described as "a little over $18,000,000." The discretionary competitive pool for homeless services was estimated by staff at about $7,500,000.