Kitsap County’s efforts to address a growing homeless and housing crisis, including unauthorized encampments on public property, focus on a comprehensive response.

County commissioners and staff have developed a strategy leveraging community partnerships; the investment of local, state and federal funds; data gathering and reporting; and coordination of mental health, substance abuse and employment services. The goal is to support a response system that makes homelessness rare, brief and one-time.

Homeless encampment

Encampment Response Policy — In December 2021, county commissioners approved an Encampment Response Policy, outlining steps and coordination to govern its approach. It directs county departments, other public agencies and nonprofit social service providers how to coordinate efforts while adhering to legal requirements.

HEART coordinator — The county recently hired a Homeless Encampment Action & Response Team coordinator, a new full-time position dedicated to encampment response and implementing the response policy, coordinating groups and resources, and directing cleanup efforts.

Encampment outreach — The county is contracting with the Housing Solutions Center through Kitsap Community Resources for an additional two-person encampment outreach team to work with the HEART coordinator, providing consistent and timely outreach to people living in outdoor locations. The outreach team will focus on connecting people with shelter referrals, housing programs and other resources.

Increased shelter beds — Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the county has supported an additional 150 emergency shelter beds, operated by the Kitsap Rescue Mission and the Salvation Army. The increase has provided more than 750 people with shelter during the pandemic. Funding will continue through the end of 2023 as people are moved out of encampments and off the streets.

Hotel vouchers — The county is contracting with Kitsap Community Resources for a hotel voucher program to expand alternatives to house people living outdoors who can’t be accommodated with the limited shelter beds available. The program will include intensive case management and support services to assist people in moving from these brief hotel stays to permanent housing. The county also designated an additional $2 million for rental and deposit assistance toward this effort.

Mile Hill temporary housing — After purchasing a large building on Mile Hill Drive in South Kitsap, the county is working on renovations and expects to open the facility by 2023. The new shelter will provide 75 beds for 24/7 temporary housing with supportive services for people staying in the housing program. Kitsap Rescue Mission will operate the site. Services are anticipated to include meals, laundry, showers, mental health appointments, substance abuse treatment referrals, medical appointments, employment assistance and connections to benefits.

Permanent housing — Recognizing that many people living in encampments need long-term housing assistance and permanent support services, the county (and many other funders and social service partners) is supporting Pendleton Place, a new 72-unit housing complex targeted to people with severe and persistent mental health and substance use disorders that might otherwise be homeless.

Job placement and development — Job development, training and placement through Olympic Workforce Development Career One-Stop centers.

Veterans Park restoration — An integrated effort with county parks, public works and the Department of Human Services to restore the county’s 48-acre Veterans Memorial Park took place in early March. Partnering with the nonprofit Northwest Hospitality, 36 volunteers collected 35,000 pounds of trash and debris. The county hired a clean-up and hauling company to haul away the waste. Layland Construction brought in a 10-person crew to complete the park restoration. Northwest Hospitality will continue its weekly maintenance events to ensure the park remains clean. Additional response includes portable toilets in the park with weekly servicing, dumpsters and weekly trash collection, vegetation control, ecology blocks placed at road ends into the park, and consideration of fencing installation and security patrols. In total, 300 Northwest Hospitality volunteers have contributed close to 1,000 hours and cleared out over 56,000 pounds of trash at the park, and a smaller team of 23 volunteers has put in 130 hours, gathering over 27,000 pounds of trash during weekly maintenance events that began in November 2021.

The plan is to post the Notice of Intent to Close and the Notice to Vacate in April. That will allow the county to “trespass” individuals living in park properties.

Housing crisis

Homelessness in Kitsap County — A Point-In-Time Count of people living homeless during a 24-hour period in 2020 identified 533 people living without homes. Local school districts reported 414 homeless children during the 2020-21 school year. The 2022 Point-In-Time Count took place in February, and new data will be available soon.

The county recognizes that in recent years the numbers of those living without homes has climbed due to multiple factors including the increased cost of housing, stagnant wages, a lack of affordable and available housing, and barriers that make it difficult for those who are displaced from housing to find new places to live.

The average rent has increased 40 percent in the last five years while at the same time, vacancy rates have dropped. The most common causes of homelessness were eviction, health issues, and loss of job or the inability to work.

Preventing homelessness — Kitsap County’s housing crisis response is coordinated to increase housing stability by providing eviction prevention through rental and utility assistance, creating more temporary housing, and lowering barriers for people to move into permanent, affordable, supportive housing.

Helping people stay in their homes is a vital part of the county’s strategy. During the pandemic, the Kitsap Eviction Prevention Assistance Program distributed $13.8 million to help keep people in their homes, and an additional $30 million is allocated through September 2023. From September 2020 through January 2022, nearly 2,500 households were served with an average distribution of $5,600 in rental assistance and $815 in utilities assistance per household.

Increasing affordable housing — With the new affordable housing 1/10th of 1 percent sales tax commissioners approved in January, the county can provide funding for the construction and acquisition of housing to support families and individuals whose income is below 60 percent of the area median income. That can be used to leverage additional funding from state and federal governments. Collection of the tax began April 1.