Residents were largely split in their suggestions about what Yelm officials should do to address the homeless situation in the city at a recent council meeting.
A larger number of residents than usual attended the Feb. 27 meeting to talk about homelessness after Yelm City Councilor Trevor Palmer suggested earlier this year the council disband the city’s Homelessness Committee.
Stephanie Kimball, with Kimball’s Ranch in Yelm, said she feels community resources are available but underutilized to help those experiencing homelessness or mental health issues.
“Everyone deserves to have a place, and there’s plenty of room in this world for all of us,” Kimball said. “I do not believe us building homeless shelters and any more housing than what we have already that is not at full capacity in our surroundings, is going to help those that are already here anymore than they don’t seek help. Maybe some do, and if they do, the help is here.”
Resident Sherry Short said the community needs more homeless outreach, and the already-existing organizations should receive more funding for their services.
“I have been struggling to stay housed the last few years, and our family, we were living in our car in November,” she said. “There’s too many people in this community that aren’t homeless, who are one paycheck away from being homeless.”
Former Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza said the City of Yelm receives little assistance to address its problems.
“Regional Housing Authority collects about $9 million a year, whether it’s through state or Thurston County taxes,” Snaza said. “Almost all the resources that are available are available in the City of Olympia, mostly because of the bus routes and locations for all the resources that are needed to provide for homeless, mental health or addiction issues. Those resources are available in Olympia.”
He added there are no available resources in Yelm for long-term recovery.
“The unfortunate part about our crisis, that we all experience as citizens of this state, is that there are not resources dedicated to what is really needed: comprehensive psychological counseling, mental health treatment, and ways to promote individuals who are homeless, who are in addiction, who are in mental health, to get help and be able to recommit to the community they live in and to seek jobs. We don’t even have job resources,” Snaza said. “Unfortunately, we can’t control a lot of the things our legislators do. We can vote for them, but there’s a lot of stuff we cannot control. What I would ask is that the resources we’re asking for will cost this community a great amount of money, but in the end, what are you looking at accomplishing?”
Snaza, who sat on the regional housing committee until two years ago, said when resources are allocated to Yelm, more individuals will come in search of help. He said there is no diagram for success, which is the unfortunate part about offering these resources.
“There is no master plan about ‘how are we going to succeed’ or ‘how are we going to provide for these individuals’ so they can be a product of our community and where they can serve our community,” Snaza said.
Morgan Gosney, a lifelong Yelm resident, asked what the council is doing to address homelessness.
“I want to start off by saying, I recognize that homelessness is an issue, and if you have a committee and you’re dedicating resources to this issue, I want to know that we’re dealing with not suppressing a symptom, but actually providing a solution to the real problem,” Gosney said. She then asked Councilor Brian Hess the goal of the Homelessness Committee and what it is trying to accomplish. She also requested Councilor Tracey Wood answer why he does not support having the committee.
Hess said the committee is not demanding a homeless shelter be built or implementing other services like a shelter. Hess mentioned that housing programs available in the Olympia area were seeking local homeless, as a homeless individual from Yelm was turned away due to his location outside of the state’s capital.
“What the committee is doing is being the outreach that then can be an organized group that can go to the regional housing commission for additional funding to assist with people,” Hess said. “We need an outreach program that will provide some resources and give a voice to the homeless and unhoused in this area so the regional housing commission can start helping them with those resources available in Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater.”
Wood said he agrees with Snaza and Kimball, that resources do exist in the area already, outside of a homelessness committee.
“As Mrs. Kimball clearly stated, there’s a lot of availability based off her research she’s done prior to this meeting. What we’re asking to do is something that’s already being done,” Wood said. “We’ve already managed, in the state of Washington, to eliminate the cost of the bus service and system, so there’s really no legitimate reason behind these folks not using the existing resources…”
Following the meeting, Mayor Joe DePinto said the council has not made any decision about the future of Yelm’s Homelessness Committee. He said the council will discuss the topic at the council retreat next month.
