Arlington Drive Youth Campus: 2024 Annual Legislative Report per 2023-2025 Operating Budget (ESSB 5187), July 2024
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Summary
The Arlington Drive Youth Campus 2024 annual legislative report, dated July 2024, from the Washington State Department of Commerce Office of Homeless Youth, submitted under section 129 (14) of the 2023-25 biennial operating budget (ESSB 5187). It covers the reporting period May 1, 2023-April 30, 2024 for the Tacoma campus operated by the Tacoma Housing Authority with Community Youth Services and the Y Social Impact Center. The report lists $2,140,460 in state expenditures and $1,551,537 from Tacoma Housing Authority, and states the campus served 228 youth and young adults with a 96.7% success rate in discharging youth to stable housing. It describes capital funding of $25 million, the Arlington Apartments waitlist, and longer stays at the New Directions crisis residential center. A table gives outcomes and cost per bed by program, followed by success stories and data sources.
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“Arlington Drive Youth Campus: 2024 Annual Legislative Report per 2023-2025 Operating Budget (ESSB 5187), July 2024.”
Original at app.leg.wa.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2024-final-commercereports-2024-hd-arlington-annual-report-4db2e651-271c-45/
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Arlington Drive Youth
Campus
2024 annual legislative report per 2023-2025 operating budget
(ESSB 5187)
July 2024
Report to the Legislature
HOUSING DIVISION
OFFICE OF HOMELESS YOUTH Director Mike Fong
v3.5
Acknowledgments
Washington State Department of Commerce
Kim Justice
Executive Director, Office of Homeless Youth
Housing Division
Christopher Hanson
Program Director, Office of Homeless Youth
Housing Division
Tacoma Housing Authority
Cacey Hanauer-Sutton
Director, Client Support and Empowerment
Community Youth Services
Avriel Burlot
Director, New Directions
Derek Harris
Executive Director
Y Social Impact Center
Amber Rowe Mosesly
Program Director III
Washington State Department of Commerce
Kim Justice
Kim.Justice@commerce.wa.gov
360-810-0322
1011 Plum St. SE
P.O. Box 42525
Olympia, WA 98504-2525
www.commerce.wa.gov
For people with disabilities, this report is available on
request in other formats. To submit a request, please
call 7-1-1 and ask to be connected to 360-725-4000.
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 2
Table of contents
Executive summary .........................................................................................................................................4
Background ....................................................................................................................................................5
Expenditure and results data ...........................................................................................................................9
Success stories.............................................................................................................................................10
Data sources and methods ............................................................................................................................11
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 3
Executive summary
Legislative mandate
This report is submitted pursuant to section 129 (14) of the 2023-25 biennial operating budget:
(14) $2,125,000 of the general fund—state appropriation for fiscal year 2024 and $2,125,000 of the general fund—
state appropriation for fiscal year 2025 are provided solely for the office of homeless youth to contract with one or
more nonprofit organizations to provide youth services and young adult housing on a multi-acre youth campus
located in the city of Tacoma. Youth services include, but are not limited to, HOPE beds and crisis residential centers
to provide temporary shelter and permanency planning for youth under the age of 18. Young adult housing includes,
but is not limited to, rental assistance and case management for young adults ages 18 to 24. The department shall
submit an annual report to the legislature on the use of the funds. The report is due annually on June 30th. The report
shall include but is not limited to:
(a) A breakdown of expenditures by program and expense type, including the cost per bed;
(b) The number of youth and young adults helped by each program;
(c) The number of youth and young adults on the waiting list for programs, if any; and
(d) Any other metric or measure the department deems appropriate to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of the
funds.
Overview
After receiving the $4.24 million biennial appropriation from the Legislature to continue funding the Arlington
Drive Youth Campus, Commerce renewed its contract with the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) to continue
operating the campus with its partners Community Youth Services and the YMCA Social Impact Center. The
Arlington Drive Youth Campus is the largest housing model for youth and young adults in Pierce County and is
a regional asset serving young people in crisis throughout the Puget Sound area.
Other jurisdictions have seen the model's success and are implementing similar features to build and/or
provide new housing options for young people in crisis. The campus opened in 2020, at the height of the
pandemic, with young people moving into both the apartments and Crisis Residential Center in the third and
fourth quarters of that year. Services were on site before young people moved into their units, and service
providers had months to fine-tune services and prepare to serve young people.
Program highlights
The due date of this report does not allow the reporting period to align with fiscal year dates. To capture a full
12 months of program data, the reporting period is May 1, 2023-April 30, 2024.
Expenditures
$2,140,460 in state expenditures
$1,551,537 from Tacoma Housing Authority in rent subsidies and operational costs
Youth and young adults served
Served 228 youth and young adults:
• 37 at the CRC/HOPE center
• 191 at living Arlington Apartments and/or LifeSet
The Tacoma Housing Authority's Arlington Drive Youth Campus has a 96.7% success rate in discharging
youth to stable housing (96% at the CRC/HOPE center and 97% at Arlington Apartments).
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 4
Background
Homelessness in Pierce County
During its 2024 annual Point in Time Count, Pierce County Human Services reported 2,661 individuals as
sheltered homeless (sleeping in emergency shelters or transitional housing) or unsheltered (sleeping outside
or living in places not meant for human habitation). This is a 23% increase in homelessness since the 2023
count. Of those reported as homeless in the 2024 count:
18% (468) of the individuals were youth and young adults (the same percentage as counted in 2023).
• 11% (294) were youth, ages 13-17
• 7% (174) were young adults, ages 18-24
7% (181) were unaccompanied youth and young adults, meaning they were experiencing homelessness
while not in the care of a parent or guardian.
Hundreds of Pierce County youth and young adults are homeless and/or without safe family or guardians.
Many leave Pierce County because they are unable to secure stable housing locally. The Arlington Drive Youth
Campus is part of the regional solution to ending youth and young adult homelessness.
Background on the Arlington Drive Youth Campus
Project overview
The Arlington Drive Youth Campus is a unique partnership between the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) and
two of the nation's premier social service providers to homeless young people, operating two programs:
Community Youth services (CYS) operates New Directions, a 12-bed Crisis Residential Center (CRC)/HOPE
Center facility for homeless youth ages 12-17, providing temporary shelter, permanency planning and
family reconciliation when safe and appropriate.
The Y Social Impact Center (YSIC) operates the 58-unit Arlington Apartments, which provide housing
support services to young adults ages 18-24. Services also support the children of young adult residents.
The CRC/HOPE center opened in June 2020, and the apartments opened in October 2020.
Project funding
Capital funding
The THA acts as the landlord on this project, as well as owner of both buildings and property manager of the
apartments. THA pulled together $25 million for construction costs:
The state Legislature invested $5 million from the capital budget
The City of Tacoma contributed $2.8 million
Pierce County contributed $670,000
The remaining $16.53 million came from private sources, tax credit investors, commercial debt and the
THA
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 5
Funding for services
State funding
The Legislature provided $4.25 million in the 2023-25 biennial operating budget to the Department of
Commerce's Office of Homeless Youth to provide youth services and young adult housing services on a multi-
acre youth campus. The initial funding for the operations of the project began in the 2019-21 biennium.
Tacoma Housing Authority rent subsidies and contribution
The THA also subsidizes rent on the apartments, making them affordable for homeless young adults. The THA
subsidized the apartments at a total cost of $653,987 during the reporting period. This subsidy ensures that
young people never have to pay more than 30% of their income toward rent, often meaning they pay as little as
$75 per month. Young people who leave Arlington Apartments in good standing (that is, are not evicted) will
also leave with a housing voucher they can use in the private rental market. These vouchers allow young adult
residents (and their dependents) who do not need intensive support services to leave, making the apartment
available for another young person who may have a higher level of need while ensuring the previous resident
can afford rent after their time at Arlington Apartments.
The THA built the Arlington Drive Youth Campus knowing that its ongoing costs would exceed the state's
potential support for services funding. The THA matches the state's contribution to ongoing operations by
nearly 70%. This 70% does not account for the cost of the housing THA will continue to subsidize as young
people move out into the private rental market with a housing voucher. Additional costs to the THA were
approximately $897,550 for the term of this report. This includes property management, administration,
compliance, facility maintenance, utilities, insurance, permits, and tax (among other line items). Combined with
rent subsidies, THA's annual contribution to ongoing operations was $1,551,537.
Young Adult Housing Program – Arlington Apartments
The Arlington Apartments have been operating at 100% capacity since February 2022. The YSIC intentionally
limits the waitlist to 40 to 50 young people to ensure they are not given false hope of availability. Young people
on the waitlist have submitted paperwork, while a separate interest list is less formal and does not include
paperwork.
As of the date of this report:
There are 43 young people on the waitlist and 19 on an interest list.
During this reporting period, 127 young adults applied to and were deemed eligible for housing at Arlington
Apartments.
Of those no longer on the waitlist, 27 stopped responding to several months of outreach attempts, 11
found other housing, and 27 became ineligible based on updated information.
Managing the waitlist
The YSIC sends out updated eligibility forms once per month to all young adults on the waitlist to verify if they
are still interested and eligible. This allows potential tenants to move in quickly once a unit is ready. Each
applicant is contacted by email, phone and text with a request to update the form. Young people who don't
respond are removed from the waitlist or interest list after more than two months of no response, ensuring the
waitlist is current and as many eligible and interested young people are in the queue as possible (without
offering false hope).
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 6
In the last year, the YSIC had a 300% increase in referrals from community partners, reaching into King and
Thurston counties, indicating both a higher need in every community and recognition from cross-county
partners that the Arlington Drive Youth Campus is a significant part of the housing solution for young people.
Serving young parents and their children
In the last year, approximately 50% of the young adults living at Arlington Apartments are parenting babies or
toddlers. The Arlington Apartments is not only housing young adults, but also a new generation of children who
would otherwise be homeless. The YSIC works closely with young people to bring in additional family planning
and parenting resources, ensuring individuals have the support and agency to make informed decisions in the
best interest of their families.
Increased behavioral health needs
Growing mental health issues require support beyond the capacity of on-site therapists and behavioral health
services. Many young people are experiencing severe co-occurring mental health issues and are not accessing
services that match their needs. Many are skeptical of traditional mental/behavioral health providers and 1:1
talk therapy.
Fentanyl has become a significant concern with the vulnerable young adult population, including residents at
Arlington Apartments. YSIC staff are working with young people using a harm-reduction approach, offering
access to substance use disorder professionals, training on how to administer Naloxone, access to free
Naloxone, and psychoeducation on risks of drug use. YSIC and the THA have worked with the Tacoma Police
Department to identify dealers and have them trespassed from the building, and to increase patrols near
Arlington Drive.
Crisis Residential/HOPE Center – New Directions
New Directions, the Crisis Residential/HOPE Center, has had a busy year with significant challenges for both
the staff and residents. Per licensing regulations, staffing ratios are one adult to four young people, meaning
that to house 12 young people at once, CYS would need to hire one additional person per shift, without
additional funding, to meet licensing requirements. This has resulted in significant funding gaps and limited
the maximum capacity to eight young people.
Increased behavioral health needs
New Directions is housing youth with significant needs and behavioral challenges. Given the acuity of the
youth staying at New Directions, staff need more capacity than a one-to-four ratio allows, which ultimately
makes it difficult to even house eight youth at a time. That said, CYS and New Directions staff have been
pivoting to meet these challenges and new/different regulations.
Longer lengths of stay
Young people staying at New Directions have needed to stay for longer lengths of time. In 2022, the average
length of stay was 18.56 days. During this reporting period, that average length of stay has increased to 44.18
days, nearly three times as long. CYS attributes the longer length of stay to new legislation (Chapter 151, Laws
of 2023) that passed in 2023 which lengthened the allowable amount of time a youth could stay at a shelter, as
well as the lack of programs in Pierce County that offer the option of overnight stays for young people under
18 years old.
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 7
CYS has adapted to these changes to serve youth for longer, affecting their approach to case management.
With a longer stay, young people can enroll in services like counseling and school-based programs, since they
will be staying in one place for a longer period.
Referrals for older youth
New Directions has seen an increase in referrals for youth who are 17 years old. Typically, those young people
are not getting services from the Department of Children, Youth and Families, and they are not yet eligible for
many supports, like longer-term housing, until they are 18. New Directions staff have become a longer-term
placement to provide stability, and have been working diligently to support young people as they plan to
transition to adult systems.
Community partnerships
In the last year, New Directions was fortunate to work with new community partners, such as Hilltop Artists,
Tacoma Boat Builders, Tacoma Public Libraries and others. Enrichment activities like taking art classes from
artists and learning about building wooden boats have been incredibly impactful for youth at New Directions,
exposing them to more of what the world has to offer and helping them find pro-social activities of interest.
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 8
Expenditure and results data
The table below shows how many young people were served by Arlington Drive Youth Campus and explains
how many young people are on the waitlist, how many young people exited the housing from Arlington Drive
Youth Campus, and where they went when they left. "Permanent housing" means that a young person left
Arlington Drive Youth Campus and moved to a non-time limited placement. This could mean they leased their
own apartment/house, moved in (and were added to the lease) with family or friends, or secured safe and
stable housing without time limits in another manner.
Table 1: Outcomes by program
Measure New Directions Arlington Apartments
Total client enrollments 37 191*
Waitlist (approximate) N/A 19
Interest list (approximate) N/A 43
Total clients exited 32 24
Exits to permanent housing 20 12
Family reconciliation (under 18 at enrollment) 11 N/A
Cost per bed $559.31/youth/night $8,054.59/client/annually
* The 191 figure includes 68 current young adult residents, 29 babies/toddlers, 15 young adults who moved out, 9 children who moved out, 35 non-
resident young adults served via LifeSet, and 35 children served in LifeSet.
The table below shows expenses incurred/billed between May 1, 2023, and April 30, 2024. This timeframe
does not align with the state's fiscal year, so some of the funds noted below were billed during the previous
fiscal year and most funds during the current year. That said, expenses were relatively consistent throughout
the last two years, so the table is a reliable indication of a full year's worth of expenses and reimbursement
from the state.
Table 2: Expenditure data by expense type, May 1, 2023-April 30, 2024
Expenditure type CYS (New Directions) YSIC (Arlington Apartments) THA Total
Administrative costs $63,395.17 $142,760.53 $- $206,155.70
Salaries and benefits $406,292.28 $1,025,490.81 $130,794.64 $1,562,577.73
Program operations $20,454.54 $95,734.62 $- $116,189.16
Rental assistance and support services $3,271.17 $201,035.83 $- $204,307.00
Facility $28,912.46 $22,318.34 $- $51,230.80
Program expenditure $522,325.62 $1,487,340.13 $130,794.64 $2,140,460.39
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 9
Success stories
CYS provided the following success stores. The actual names of clients were changed and the stories have
been edited so clients remain unidentifiable.
"E"
E arrived to us directly from juvenile detention, and he was to turn 18 in just 12 days. When E arrived, he
settled in and quickly got to work with the case managers. E and the New Directions team made a list of
things he needed and prioritized them. The top of E’s list was recovering or applying for new
documentation, like his ID and securing housing for when he was 18. Documentation was submitted and
the search for housing began, meanwhile, E was making friends and applying for jobs. E said that before
he was in detention he had been living with mainly adults and in questionable situations, so it was nice to
be around people his own age and adults who care. We were able to secure a photocopy of his birth
certificate and work with a McKinney Vento liaison to apply for an ID and E went to the DMV just days
before his birthday. Also, due to our amazing case managers and community partners, a bed was secured
for him at a young adult shelter just a few miles away. We were able to get the two things on the top of his
priority list done, but E was able to accomplish so much more in his short stay with New Directions. He
made friends that he has stayed in touch with since leaving. E returned to school and is on track to
graduate. E has applied for a few jobs and mastered the bus system in Tacoma. He also got to celebrate
his 18th birthday with his favorite meal, cake, and people singing happy birthday to him! Our team
developed an after-care plan with E as well, we have stayed in touch with him, and overall he is doing well.
“N”
N was a 13-year old who had been in state dependent care since they were very young and had bounced
around between relative placements, foster homes, Behavioral Rehabilitation Services facilities and
various respite placements. When they were referred, it seemed like this was their last option if they
wanted to remain in Washington, which was preferred because they had begun visiting with mom again
and she was in the area. N brought a lot of energy and attitude to New Directions. N was with us for two
months and in that time, they mainly liked to play video games but also enjoyed playing basketball and
telling jokes. N also had their fair share of behaviors and our staff did a great job building rapport with
them and learning the best way to re-direct or reflect on the behaviors after the fact. However, one day
after a visit with mom went poorly, N returned to New Directions and damaged several items and property
in their room. After this, our case managers and staff were confident that this was just a bad moment and
it wasn’t going to be a regular set of behaviors. After speaking to N when they calmed down, they agreed
to enroll in counselling (this is after years of refusing). In the end, N was actually reunified with mom after
a new judge made the decision, which caught everyone off guard. N was thrilled when they received the
news and mom even came with their social worker that day to help them pack. Even though N refused
aftercare services, their mom took our cards and thanked everyone as they drove away.
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 10
Data sources and methods
Homeless Management Information System
The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is the primary data source for measuring the
outcomes of the Arlington Drive Youth Campus. Homeless housing service providers use HMIS to collect and
manage data gathered while providing housing assistance to people experiencing homelessness.
Contract Management System
The Contract Management System (CMS) is a data system Department of Commerce contract managers use
to create, track, and maintain contract and programmatic budget and reimbursement requests. CMS provided
data on program expenditures.
Narrative reports
A collection of narrative reports was used to speak to program highlights, challenges, barriers and successes
within a contractual period. The Office of Homeless Youth administers Performance Progress Reports (PPR).
The PPR is a methodology through which programs can speak to experiences within a project that may not be
quantified within the HMIS application. Programs are required to submit a PPR quarterly.
2024 ARLINGTON DRIVE YOUTH CAMPUS REPORT 11
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