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Thurston County Board of County Commissioners delays renewal of homeless services contracts, placing 49 programs and the hundreds of people they serve at-risk

Updated: Jun 20

On Tuesday, June 16th, the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 to delay renewal of funding for 49 homeless services programs managed by 17 organizations. Unless this is resolved before July 1st, life-saving shelter, outreach, housing, medical respite, care coordination, rental assistance and eviction prevention services could be abruptly disrupted or halted for hundreds of Thurston County residents.


Please contact the Regional Housing Council and Thurston County Board of County Commissioners today and urge them to approve the recommended contract renewals immediately. See below for contact information for both bodies, along with a template letter.


What happened

On June 16th, the Thurston County BoCC was scheduled to vote on the second-year renewal of 49 homeless services contracts that were selected and approved for funding through a Request for Proposal process for a 2-year grant cycle that began in July 2025. The first-year contracts are set to end in less than 2 weeks, on June 30th. The BoCC’s delay of the second-year renewal for these contracts means that, as of this moment, these programs do not know if they will have funding to continue providing services on July 1st.


The delay followed a last-minute request from the City of Tumwater to pull the contracts from the agenda and send them back to the Regional Housing Council (RHC) for further discussion. The RHC had already voted to recommend these contracts for approval.


Check out the Olympian article about what occurred by clicking here


Watch the video of the meeting here (1st hour)


What is at risk

The range of services, programs, and people impacted is vast, touching almost every part of Thurston County’s homeless response system, including, but not limited to:

  • Eviction prevention and rental assistance programs

  • Outreach programs providing life-saving support for people surviving outdoors

  • Care coordination and case management services

  • Shelter programs serving adults, youth, families, and children and people in need of medical respite


OlyMAP alone operates 3 impacted programs, including:


  • The New Hope Village: A tiny home village shelter located at First Christian Church, which is currently providing 24/7 shelter for 7 high vulnerability individuals.

  • Stability Stays: A shelter program that provides temporary shelter for 20-30 people a year who are homeless and in need of medical respite or a temporary place to stay while awaiting substance use treatment, a shelter bed or housing.

  • Shelter-in-Place Outreach: An outreach program that provides vital, life-saving services for hundreds of people throughout Thurston County who are surviving outdoors, including the distribution of potable water, food, clothing, safe warming, shelter, medical and harm reduction supplies, in addition to connection to other needed social and health services. This program alone provided services for 688 people experiencing homelessness in Thurston County over the last year


Why the delay is unnecessary

These are not new programs or contracts. The 49 projects were selected for a 2-year grant cycle that began in July 2025, and many have operated for years as part of our community’s core homeless response system, including programs run by Interfaith Works, Family Support Center, Community Youth Services, OlyMAP, Catholic Community Services, Stonewall Youth, the Thurston County Food Bank, CIELO, Rebuilding Together, TOGETHER!, Safeplace, Rochester Organization of Families, Capital Recovery Center, Panza, LIHI, the Skoolie Foundation and City of Olympia.


For this grant cycle, proposals went through a rigorous approval process, led by subject matter expert committees, such as the Homeless Services Advisory Board and Thurston County’s Lived Experience Housing Steering Committee before moving to the Regional Housing Council and the Board of County Commissioners for final approval. Both bodies approved all 49 contracts for funding in spring/summer 2025.


This delay is also not based on known compliance or malfeasance concerns. To the best of our knowledge, there are no compliance concerns with any of the 49 contracts, which have already been recommended for renewal by the County’s advisory boards and by the Regional Housing Council.


What happens if funding is not approved

If this situation is not resolved and funding is not approved by July 1st, the community impact could be devastating. Life-saving shelter, outreach, housing, medical respite, care coordination, rental assistance and eviction prevention services could be abruptly halted, immediately jeopardizing the safety, stability, and survival of hundreds of people who rely on these services every day.


Providers are also deeply concerned about our staff who are already underpaid and overworked while supporting people through crisis and trauma every day, and who now face uncertainty about whether they will have jobs in less than two weeks.


What you can do now - your community needs you to speak up today.


Please contact the Regional Housing Council and Thurston County Board of County Commissioners today and urge them to approve the recommended renewals for all 49 homeless services contracts before July 1st. Every day of delay creates more uncertainty for providers, staff, and the community members whose lives and stability depend on these services.


The Regional Housing Council is holding a Special Session to discuss this matter on Monday at 4:30pm. There is no public comment period scheduled, so please send in your written comments asap! If the RHC votes, again, to recommend the renewal of the contracts, the Thurston County BoCC may be voting on the matter this upcoming Tuesday, June 24th at 2:00pm. Make sure both the RHC and BoCC hear from you before they meet!




Template advocacy letter

Subject: Please approve the recommended renewals for all 49 homeless services contracts before July 1


Dear Regional Housing Council Members and Thurston County Commissioners,


I am writing as a concerned Thurston County community member to urge you to approve the recommended renewals for all 49 homeless services contracts before July 1. These contracts support essential shelter, outreach, housing, medical respite, care coordination, eviction prevention, and rental assistance services across our community.


On June 16, the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners voted to delay approval of these contracts and send them back to the Regional Housing Council for further discussion. These programs had already gone through a rigorous review process and had already been recommended for approval by our community’s subject matter experts, including the Homeless Services Advisory Board and the Lived Experience Housing Steering Committee. Providers are now facing uncertainty with less than two weeks before existing contracts end on June 30. If funding is not approved before July 1, life-saving services could be disrupted or halted for hundreds of people experiencing homelessness in Thurston County. This includes people relying on shelter, outreach, medical respite, eviction prevention, rental assistance, and other core services that help keep people safe and connected to support.


All of the at-risk services, from eviction prevention, to shelter and outreach are critical for the safety, stability and well-being of our community. Rental assistance and eviction prevention services keep people housed. Shelter services provide vital protection from the elements and supportive services that give people the stability to leave homelessness. Likewise, outreach services are often the only consistent point of contact for people living outside, in vehicles, or in other unsafe conditions. Outreach teams provide life-sustaining support such as water, food, clothing, warming supplies, basic medical and harm reduction supplies, safety checks, and connections to shelter, health care, treatment, housing, and other stabilizing services. All of these services are especially important during hot weather and cold weather months, when extreme temperatures can quickly become dangerous or life-threatening for people without reliable access to shelter, water, cooling, warmth, or other basic protections. Without outreach and other life-sustaining programs, people who are already at high risk will be left with fewer options for survival and support.


Optional personal note: [Add one or two sentences about why this issue matters to you, your organization, your neighborhood, your faith community, your clients, your family, or your experience in Thurston County.]


I respectfully ask you to act with urgency and approve the recommended renewals for all 49 homeless services contracts before July 1. Every day of delay creates more uncertainty for providers, frontline staff, and the community members whose safety and stability depend on these services.


Thank you for your time and for your service to our community.

Sincerely,

[Your name][Your city/neighborhood][Optional: organization or affiliation]

 

 
 
 

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