Pierce County Good Neighbor Village

Pierce County leaders are working to establish a planned community of micro homes, work opportunities, and onsite physical and mental health care, patterned after the stunningly successful Community First! Villate near Austin, Texas.
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Last October, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber convened local leaders to tour the Communities First! Village as part of the 2023 Aspire Intercity Leadership Conference in Austin. The program, first inspired by Mobile Loaves and Fishes in 2004, has now grown to include 51 acres of permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless people with plans to expand to 127 additional acres with room for 1400 more homes in the coming years.

This new community in Pierce County would address the biggest challenge to homelessness in Pierce County: permanent housing for the chronically homeless. No homeless housing strategy is credible without addressing the chronically homeless. 

Pierce County commissioned an advisory board to make recommendations on the feasibility and merits of the Pierce County Village project. The findings of this advisory board were overwhelmingly positive. Those findings include:

• This is an ideal location. There are no other properties available as well suited considering many factors including proximity to services, cost, size, or impact on neighbors.
• The environmental concerns have all been addressed in a way that is beyond the minimum needed environmentally to proceed with the project.
• The impact of the village development on the environment and land use is significantly less than the impact single-family housing would have, which is what the land is currently zoned for.
• The operations and capital funding budgets are solid.
• This is a fantastic opportunity to serve our most chronically homeless, and there are no other barriers from the Mission to serving all people who want help.

The Tacoma Resue Mission is looking for letters of support from the community. Please consider submitting a letter of support for the project by Friday, April 12, 2024.

SUBMIT LETTER HERE

To learn more about the Pierce County Village, view the timeline below and visit their website.

LEARN MORE