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Nearly $6 million in eviction-prevention assistance has been requested in Pierce County since the beginning of 2024, according to a report from the Human Services Department.
More than 1,470 households applied for eviction-prevention assistance, according to a report given to the Pierce County Council’s Select Committee on Homelessness on July 10.
Valeri Almony, a social services program specialist with Pierce County, reported to the committee that 301 households at risk of eviction had been served since the beginning of 2024, with an additional 95 households recently referred to providers for assistance.
Pierce County Human Services created the Eviction Prevention (EP) program after implementing Rental Assistance during the pandemic to respond to continuing need. EP is provided by the Washington State Department of Commerce through RCW 43.185C.185 and is funded through Document Recording Fee revenue.
According to Almony, $5.8 million in EP has been requested since Jan. 1, 2024, with $2.8 million provided in that timeframe. Rent and utilities assistance made up $2.1 million of the funding provided.
Spending categorized as “Program Operations” totaled $187,534, which Human Services spokesperson Jordan Chames defined as paying for case-management staffing, data collection and entry staffing, intake and assessment staffing, outreach staffing and other operating expenses directly attributed to the program.
Another $255,180 was spent on administration costs, which Chames said included general organization insurance, machinery and equipment, office and operating supplies, as well as salaries and benefits on the administrative level.
Almony reported that the average amount of assistance provided per household was just under $7,000.
According to Human Services, 210 of the 301 households served through EP had a female apply for assistance, and 213 of the households had children under the age of 18 living in them. Households with more than three people living in them made up 172 of those assisted.
About one-third of the households that received eviction-prevention assistance reported domestic-violence survivors living in them.
BIPOC residents made up 179 of those who were served through EP this year.
Households making less than 30% of the area median income made up 185 of the 310 households assisted. Pierce County’s area median income is $93,400 per household, according to the county’s most recent data from 2022.
The county also provided a ZIP code breakdown of what households had been served across different areas. The two ZIP codes that accounted for the most households assisted through EP were in the South Tacoma and Lakewood areas.
ZIP code 98444 in the Parkland area accounted for 41 households, and ZIP code 98499 in the Lakewood and JBLM area accounted for 29 households. ZIP code 98409 in the South Tacoma area west of I-5 accounted for 26 households.
According to the county, applications for eviction-prevention assistance are typically processed within 30 days, with a lottery selection of applicants occurring the second Friday of each month. Almony reported that payment is typically issued to landlords within six days of a household being deemed eligible for rental assistance.
Those who applied for EP assistance but were not selected in the lottery are notified of other resources, including Tacomaprobono Community Lawyers, according to Almony.
“They get a pretty substantial list of ‘you’ve been denied, here is why you’ve been denied, here is other resources to try out,” Almony told the committee.
EP resources and applications are available in 15 different languages based on the most common languages spoken in the area, according to Pierce County.
“We also strongly encourage them to always communicate with their landlords because landlords in this are actually partners. They don’t want to evict people,” she said. “It’s very expensive to try to evict someone and you may not always be successful.”
In February, the county began conducting a randomized control study to test the effectiveness of Eviction Prevention strategies. According to Almony, the study is intended to compare the effectiveness of case management services to assist those who need EP to the effectiveness of hands-off financial assistance.
The interim results of the study are reported to be shared by the end of 2024.
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