Yakima City Council and County Joint Study Session on Homeless Coalition – April 22, 2025

The Yakima City Council and the Yakima County Board of County Commissioners held a joint study session on April 22, 2025, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:46 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers to discuss the Yakima County Homeless Coalition and its efforts to address homelessness. The session included presentations from county and city staff, extensive discussion among elected officials, and public comment.

Consent Calendar

• Roll call was taken; all council members and commissioners were present (Councilmember Leo Roy joined at 5:17 p.m. via Zoom).
• Mayor Byers recognized Yakima Police Department employee Matthew Sutton for his promotion to Captain and Yvette Inzunza as Police Department Employee of the Year.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Rick de Villa (City resident) suggested public forums include workforce development and employment, and engagement of families impacted by homelessness and addiction.
• Tony Sandoval (City resident) shared his personal experience of nearly becoming homeless and cited gaps in services provided by local agencies, including difficulty accessing rental assistance.
• Mike Kay (CEO of Grace City Outreach, which manages Camp Hope) announced the groundbreaking of a behavioral health center embedded in a low-barrier homeless shelter—a first of its kind. He highlighted the need for a county-wide regionalized shelter system, noting that all shelters are currently in Yakima, which concentrates problems. He also stated that in five years, police were called to Camp Hope 546 times (with 312 of those calls for the same person dropped off), and that the shelter has deployed Narcan only eight times in five years, arguing that centralized shelters reduce public safety burdens.
• Tony Courcy (City resident) commented on prior council issues and ongoing water rights concerns.

Discussion Items

• Esther Magasis (Yakima County Human Services Director) presented an overview of the homeless response system, including current funding categories: capital improvement, coordinated entry, outreach, permanent supportive housing, rental assistance, sanctioned encampment, and shelter. She noted that $3.6 million in rental assistance is state-funded over two years (June 2024–July 2026), with a 6% admin cap and at least 60% of funds going directly to rent. She highlighted that 57,068 exits to permanent housing have occurred since 2020 (housing nearly 6,000 people). She also discussed the street-level complex case management program (Project Pause), a proposed Downtown and First Street Cleanup Project (pilot: 30 hours/week for 10 weeks via People for People job training), and recent charter updates expanding the Homeless Coalition Executive Team and creating a City and Town Committee.
• Captain Chad Janis (Yakima Police Department) reported that in 2024, there were approximately 2,700 homeless-related calls for service plus 3,300 officer-initiated contacts, totaling about 5,000 responses. The police department invests about $500,000 annually in these responses. He noted that 36 jail booking refusals occurred in the last 32 days, 17 of which were homeless-related. He described a co-responder program with service providers, ride-alongs, and increased patrol vigilance, especially in the Natchez Parkway and North First Street stay-out-of-drug areas.
• Councilmembers and Commissioners engaged in extensive discussion. Key themes included:
  • The challenge of chronic homelessness, with 53% of the homeless population being chronically homeless, and 35% reporting mental health issues and 27% chronic substance use disorder.
  • Lack of accountability and restrictions in rental assistance programs, including landlords' reluctance to accept high-risk tenants due to damages and eviction costs.
  • The need for substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities, with Commissioner Linde noting that a bill to expand involuntary treatment passed the Senate unanimously and is awaiting the governor's signature.
  • The 2025 point-in-time count showed 72% of homeless individuals are from Yakima County, 12% from other counties, 8% from out of state, and 7% did not report.
  • Concerns about low-barrier policies: providers cannot require ID or sobriety for shelter, and the county contracts prohibit busing people in from outside the community but cannot refuse services to those who self-report as non-local due to state law.
  • Commissioner McKinney stated that the county has amended contracts to disallow hotel vouchers except for domestic violence, and to prohibit actively recruiting out-of-county residents.
  • Councilmember Brown questioned whether rental assistance recipients with high police call volumes should be held accountable, and suggested mapping crime data against rental assistance properties.
  • Councilmember Glenn emphasized the need for a consequence for illegal behavior, noting that chronic offenders often have no incentive to follow the law.
  • Commissioner Curtis noted that the city and county have been “paralyzed” by legal decisions and that the Grants Pass decision provides some discretion back to local governments. He advocated for a new jail to provide services and consequences, but Councilmember Brown expressed frustration that a jail is a long-term, expensive solution not yet realized.
  • Several officials agreed on the need for ongoing collaboration, aligning city and county codes, and engaging the faith community in cleanup efforts and supportive housing.

Key Outcomes

• Both legislative bodies agreed to continue discussions and seek potential opportunities for future collaboration on solutions.
• No formal votes were taken on policy or funding changes during the study session.
• The meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m. with a motion to adjourn to the next City Council regular meeting on May 6, 2025, beginning with an executive session at 5:00 p.m. The motion carried unanimously (7-0).